How Heat’s Udonis Haslem became Mr. 305: ‘I’m literally living a dream’
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Mr. 305: Hometown Hero
Udonis Haslem has been part of multiple NBA title teams on the court, but his off-the-court work has been equally impressive.
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Udonis Haslem has achieved a lot during his NBA career spent entirely with his hometown Miami Heat. Three NBA championships, the franchise’s all-time leading rebounder and 15 consecutive seasons as a Heat captain are among his basketball accomplishments.
But the list of what Haslem has done off the court around South Florida might be longer.
Haslem, 41, was honored with the Don Shula Sports Legend Award in 2019, which is for individuals who have accomplished a lot in their respective sports but also have been significant contributors to the community. And last week, the Miami native was named Sports Illustrated’s male 2021 Hometown Hero.
None of this has happened by accident.
“This is a goal that I’ve been putting together for a long time to be in this position right now,” Haslem said. “Playing the long game. Why haven’t you left Miami? You can go play somewhere else. Why don’t you do this? Why don’t you do that? This has all been a part of my plan. This has all been a part of what I wanted. It’s all starting to manifest right now.”
Haslem has spent each of his 19 NBA seasons with the Heat. He’s only the fifth player to spend an entire NBA career lasting at least 19 seasons with one team and the only one to do it in his hometown.
Haslem’s unique situation has empowered him with a unique opportunity and influence in South Florida that he’s determined to take full advantage of.
“He’s beloved in this town and deservedly so because of how much he really does give back,” Heat president Pat Riley said. “UD is Miami. He’s South Florida. He’s the state of Florida. I think everybody respects him for his honesty and his integrity when it comes to that. I know I do.”
STEPPING UP
One of Haslem’s first contributions to the community as an NBA player was when he founded the Udonis Haslem Children’s Foundation in 2005, just two years after he signed with the Heat in 2003 as an undrafted free agent.
The mission of Haslem’s foundation is “to promote youth development and self-confidence through programs and services designed to enable them to reach their full personal and educational potential.”
The foundation hosts an annual Christmas Honor Roll, which is when Haslem takes children from Miami-Dade public schools shopping for toys and supplies. He has done it for years and will do it on Dec. 22 at a Walmart in Hollywood.
“When UD first started that event and he told me, ‘Meet me in Toys ‘R’ Us in North Miami,’ I just thought UD was going to be with me buying toys and then we’ll bring them back to the arena and give them out to the kids,” said Steve Stowe, the vice president and executive director of the Miami Heat Charitable Fund. “I didn’t realize his vision at the time was to bus in kids from different neighborhoods, give them donuts, food and spend hours at Toys ‘R’ Us.”
For Haslem, the motivation to continue the event is simple.
“I remember those days when Christmas wasn’t easy for me, and I had to depend on my aunt and different people to chip in,” he said. “I remember putting stuff on layaway and having to wait to get it off. I know what that feels like, so for me I wanted to just provide kids with the opportunity to not feel like that.”
Already an established leader in the community, Haslem’s influence was also needed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. He wrote an essay for The Players’ Tribune in March 2020 titled, “The Real Miami,” that shined a light on a vulnerable population that he felt had gone overlooked in the first few weeks of the pandemic: Children in families living below the poverty line.
Just hours later in a City of Miami Commission meeting, Commissioner Ken Russell brought up Haslem’s message and called for action to help feed children in need during the pandemic. The result was a commitment to allocate $1 million to feed families in need around the city and launch a “Power Forward Through Hunger” initiative.
“Sometimes it’s still hard to realize and believe the influence that I have because I still consider myself an everyday working man,” Haslem said.
A few months later in June 2020, Haslem was among the community leaders who spoke at a news conference held at the City of Miami Police Department in an effort to calm the community in the wake of protests following the death of George Floyd.
“I just remember during the protests around the world and I remember when everything was going down in Miami,” retired Heat great and Haslem’s close friend Dwyane Wade said. “I was watching TV and I remember UD popped up on my TV and I was listening to his words of what he was saying and how he was standing up there at that press conference and speaking to the city and for the city. At that moment for me, I even saw him in a different light. My eyes saw him different as the leader of South Florida.”
How did Haslem end up at that news conference? He was on his way to take photos with his family when he called Keon Hardemon, who was then part of the Miami City Commission, and asked him how he could help.
“No conversation about me being on stage, none of that,” Haslem said. “So I finished the photo shoot with my family. Before I know it, I’m literally speaking on a platform in front of the whole world. Speaking from the heart about what’s going on and everything like that. It wasn’t planned.”
Haslem was also one of the first athletes to visit the memorial fence near the collapsed Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside in June to pay his respects.
Haslem continued his community work Sunday morning, hosting a push-up challenge in Coconut Grove benefiting his foundation and Make-A-Wish Southern Florida just hours before he traveled with the team to Cleveland for the start of its current trip.
“On my days off when I got free time, I take time to go sit down with [Miami Mayor Francis Suarez]. I take time to sit down with Commissioner Hardemon and [Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava],” Haslem said. “I take time to go sit down with all these different people and that’s why I get those things accomplished because I build those relationships.”
Through her meetings with Haslem, Levine Cava has noticed he’s “very dedicated to young people” and believes that “investment and mentorship is critically important for young people’s development.”
“The very fact that he wanted to talk to me about his personal interests and see how we could partner. I have no others in the sports world who has had that conversation with me,” Levine Cava said.
WHERE IT COMES FROM
Haslem was born in North Shore Medical Center in Miami and grew up in Liberty City. He moved to Jacksonville for six years from fourth grade until he returned to play at Miami High as a sophomore.
“I’m a person who both my parents struggled with drug addiction and adverse circumstances,” Haslem said of his mother, Debra Haslem, and father, Johnnie Haslem. “They were both fortunate enough to come back from those circumstances and recover and become great people and model citizens and role models in my life. But through those times, there needed to be other people present.”
That’s when Haslem’s stepmother, Barbara Wooten, entered the picture.
“I hate using the word stepmother because she’s literally just another mother to me,” he said. “If it wasn’t for her, this picture doesn’t turn out like this.”
Wooten took in Haslem and helped raise him. Her job moved her to Jacksonville and Haslem followed.
Haslem points to Wooten as the one who showed him the importance of giving back and helping others.
“We’re talking about a woman who has two kids and she’s raising her sister, and she opens up her arms to raise another child,” he said. “I learned early what it means to have compassion and to give with no regard, without asking for anything in return and to just have a good heart and be a good person. Because if it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be here.
“She was just a rock for me. I understood early how important it was to give and to be there for people and all those things. I understand that very early because that was my lifeline. That’s why I’m here today because somebody reached out and did something for me that they didn’t have to do. She had a good job, she had opportunities and things that I needed as a young kid to be able to put me in position to be successful and keep me safe.”
Wooten helps run Haslem’s foundation and is still one of the constants in his life. She texts him a prayer before every game to read when he wakes up from his afternoon nap.
When speaking about Wooten these days, it reminds him that she’s “basically all I have left” after Johnnie recently passed away on Aug. 30 and Debra died of cancer in July 2010.
“I’m just taking pictures out of pages of the people I’ve grown up around,” Haslem said. “When you talk about how I lead and how I impact and the passion I play with, that’s my father. When you talk about the consistency, that’s Barbara. She’s Ms. Consistent and that’s the consistency I have every day.”
Haslem has put the lessons he learned from his parents to use as a husband to wife, Faith, and father to three sons, Kedonis, Elijah, and Josiah.
NEVER LEAVING
Haslem had opportunities to leave Miami. He knows that and Riley knows that, but Haslem never left the Heat.
It’s well-documented that the Heat’s Big 3 of Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Wade needed to give up a small portion of their own salaries to create space to re-sign Haslem in the summer of 2010.
But Haslem also seriously considered leaving the Heat in the 2016 offseason after Wade left to sign with the Chicago Bulls.
“It was a struggle when Dwyane left,” Haslem said. “When Dwyane moved on and when he was thinking about moving on and having those conversations, there was a thought in my mind that maybe it was time for both of us to move on and make our presence felt elsewhere. That was a reality.”
It was a reality that never came to be in part because Haslem understood his value to South Florida.
“What people don’t understand is that there’s a lot of hard work and sacrifice to be able to live my dream,” Haslem said. “For me, I’ve had to sacrifice some money. Not going and playing for other teams. Sacrificed playing time, obviously not really getting as much playing time as I probably could have gotten somewhere else. All those things have been frustrating. That’s not easy sitting on the bench every night, it’s not.
“But I understand my role and I understand the bigger picture. I understand I can be even more valuable with the power of my voice and with the power of my influence.”
Even when Wade left the Heat in 2016, he made clear that he didn’t want Haslem to follow him.
“I never wanted him to ever leave,” Wade said. “That’s why I’ve always done everything in my power to talk to him and make sure he understands his voice and his importance in the community and also in that organization. He is the Miami Heat. You’re going to have LeBrons, you’re going to have Chris Boshes, you’re going to have Dwyane Wades, you’re going to have these guys that come like Jimmy Butler. But a guy that’s born and raised there, that grew up wearing that jersey, that grew up idolizing the city. That’s the face of the franchise.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Haslem doesn’t play many minutes at this late stage of his career, but he isn’t done on the court yet. He has a goal of reaching 20 NBA seasons.
Haslem, who resides in Southwest Ranches in Broward County, also isn’t done off the court.
The two biggest needs in South Florida? Haslem believes they’re affordable housing and jobs, and he’s working to address both.
Haslem is involved with a real estate venture that will offer affordable housing in Wynwood and North Miami. And he owns businesses all over South Florida like Subway and Starbucks locations that help provide jobs.
“When I’m done, I hope people remember me for the things that I was able to do in the community first and secondary basketball,” Haslem said. “I hope they remember me for the affordable housing and the jobs and the way I treat people and the things that I’m going to continue to do in South Florida.”
Haslem laughs when he’s asked if he wants to get into politics. “I got to sleep at night. I can’t sleep at night if I’m a politician,” he says.
But Haslem has serious interest in joining the Heat’s ownership group when his playing career comes to an end. He believes he can be an asset in that role because of the respect he has earned from his peers and his close association with the organization and city.
“The legacy is Mr. 305, the man of the city,” he said. “When I consider being called that, it’s because of how I take care and what I do for the city. I’ve been loyal and I’ve held it down from every aspect. You talk about sports, I won championships. You talk about the community, I give back. You talk about jobs, I provide jobs. You talk about housing, I provide housing. And I stay 10 toes down in the inner city.”
There have been more talented athletes to come through South Florida, but Haslem could be one of the most important.
“I don’t think you’re going to see somebody like that come around again. Not here,” Riley said. “With the Dan Marinos and the Dwyane Wades and the people who stay here, UD is going to be — once his basketball career is over — he’s going to be thought of as one of the great players and people that have ever come out of the area. He has never been a 20-time All-Star and all that stuff. But he’s so respected in this league, his voice is so respected by the players and that’s why he’s here.
“Everybody thinks he’s here because we’re just trying to get him to 20 years. No, he has a great voice with our team. He’s a great extension of Erik [Spoelstra] in the locker room and of mine, and I just love him to death. That’s how I feel about him. I want him to get to 20, I want him to round that off and do something really unique and special for the guy because he deserves it.”
Deserves it because of the work Haslem has put in for years on and off the court, not always knowing where that work would lead him.
“This city has always meant so much to me,” he said. “I look at going and sneaking in people’s backyards, sitting on the wall watching Dan Marino play on a big screen and now I’m sitting on the same stage and shaking hands with Dan Marino, going to Dolphins practices, playing for the Miami Heat.
“I don’t take any of this for granted. I don’t take it for granted at all. I’m literally living a dream. But while I’m living it, I got to continue to pursue and keep it going. I can’t just stop. None of this has happened over night. We’ve planted these seeds for a long time.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
