Michael Redd will hold his summer camp at Franklin High School from June 23-25. (Getty)

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June 16, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee Bucks fans voted Michael Redd one of the top 20 players in the team’s proud history during the franchise’s 40th anniversary celebration last season.

He ranks sixth on the team’s all-time scoring chart with 10,596 points and among the top 10 in 11 other categories.

He is in the running to become a member of the elite team that will represent the United States in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

When one considers that Redd was not selected in the 2000 National Basketball Association Draft until the Bucks took a flyer on him in the second round, with the 43rd overall pick, one can begin to fathom what a daunting climb he has made to reach the peak of his profession.

And he has not stopped.

Area boys and girls ages 6 through 15 will get the opportunity to hear Redd’s story and follow in his footsteps for three days when he oversees the Michael Redd Basketball Camp from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, June 23 through 25, at Franklin High School.

The participants will no doubt be excited when Redd walks through the gymnasium doors for the first day of the camp. And so will the man whose name the camp bears.

“I’m excited about going back to working with the kids,” Redd said. “I’ve been running a camp in the Columbus (Ohio) area for about eight years. This will be my third in the Milwaukee area.

Redd never had an opportunity to meet and learn from a professional basketball player when he was a youngster. He knows he would have been thrilled if he had.

“I never had the opportunity to go to a camp like this as a kid,” he said. “There was no pro team in the Columbus area, plus my family couldn’t have afforded it. I wish I’d had the chance to have a pro basketball player come in and give a camp. I would have loved to have been impacted like that.

“That’s why it’s such a privilege for me to be able to do these camps today.”

Though Redd was never tutored by a pro basketball star, he did learn the game from a respected authority. His father, James, was an all-city basketball player during his high-school years in Columbus.

James Redd went on to become a pastor. He and his wife, Haji, taught their son the right way, both on and off the basketball court.

Michael still applies the life lessons he learned from the his parents, and he generously passes them on to others.

“We teach basketball fundamentals,” Michael said of his camp staff, which will include college and prep coaches and players, “but also character and integrity, which will take you a lot further in life than basketball alone.”

Redd will be at the camp on each of the three days, but he will not be domineering.

“I will be there every day, involved,” he said. “At times, that can be a distraction that gets in the way of what the instructors and coaches are trying to do, but we made it work.”

As soon as the camp completes its three-day run, Redd will be off to Las Vegas to convene with the other prospective members of Team USA and its coaching staff.

The hopefuls will then await the selection of the team, which will be off to Beijing in late July.

Redd, the third-leading scorer for Team USA during its dominant run to the 2007 FIBA Americas gold medal, hopes his impending summer will be as memorable as his last one.

“My involvement with Team USA last summer was a great experience,” he said. “It was such a great atmosphere. I was truly blessed to be a part of it.”

Redd will no doubt have some rewarding camp experiences to reminisce over someday, too.

“Some of the campers keep in touch,” Redd said. “It’s really great when you hear from the campers years later. Some of them have gone on to do well and go to college.

“The purpose of the camp is not only to teach them about basketball, but to help them out in life.”

Such an assist is far more valuable than any that show up in a box score.