Derrick White hosts an annual basketball camp to further the cause of Chauncey Billups.
The torch lit by Chauncey Billups is in good hands with Derrick White.
After attending Mr. Big Shot’s camps as a kid and later coaching at them, White is hosting his fifth annual basketball academy this week at the Parker Fieldhouse. Turnout is better than ever following a breakout season for White, who made a second consecutive All-Defensive team and played an integral role in the Celtics’ record 18th championship.
“It’s kind of crazy to me, because I grew up coaching the Chauncey Billups camps at this same gym,” White said between the morning and afternoon sessions Tuesday. “He’d get turnouts like this. He brought in some stars, too, and they had turnouts like this. It’s cool just to be a part of something like that.”
White didn’t just throw his name on the camp and spectate from afar. He walked through the lines as campers stretched and worked on footwork at the start of the second session. Once the campers were divided by age groups throughout the fieldhouse, White bounced between the courts where skill development took place to the turf fields where strength and conditioning was the emphasis.
“I grew up here. This is where I fell in love with the game of basketball, so hopefully with this camp and week of basketball … maybe someone else falls in love with the game of basketball or they make a friend – whatever it might be,” White said. “Any chance I can to come back and just be around the kids and joke around and have fun, I just feel kind of comfortable doing it, because I feel like I’ve been doing it my whole life. It’s pretty cool having it be my own camp.”
The hope is some of White’s Celtics teammates will help him run the camp in future years. Until then, White enlists his father, Richard, handles logistics while Marcus Mason, White’s trainer, helps run the whole thing. There are also longtime friends, former teammates at University of Colorado Colorado Springs and other Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foes from the area. For now, it remains a hyperlocal operation. White said he’s working with Mason to find ways to continue to highlight the talent that often gets overlooked in Colorado.
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“Chauncey gave back. Derrick, he started as a camper. Then, he was a coach. Now, he’s, after Chauncey retired, Derrick’s taking over the camp,” White’s father, Richard, told the Denver Gazette.
“For the people in this community here, they have one of their own that’s doing this. It’s always really good if you go through and have somebody that is from where you are do something really, really exceptional.”
In the weeks leading up to camp, White signed a four-year contract extension to stay in Boston worth $126 million. He could’ve continued his championship celebration anywhere in the world, but he chose to come back home for camp. That’s a move that should make the King of Park Hill proud of what’s going on down in Parker.
“Chauncey’s one of the best guys. I mean, obviously, he’s a hell of a player. I remember being in this room and just hearing stories that he was telling. … Just hearing the stories, hearing how he talked and just hearing what he’s been through, I think it was just motivating, and I was just thankful that he, like, kind of let me stay around, just kind of hang around. I’ve learned so much from him,” White said.
“To be put in his shoes, I would say, try to carry on the torch from him, I think it’s just a blessing. I’m just going to try to do it the best I can.”
