CHICAGO "” As Dwyane Wade prepares to come home to play for the team he grew up watching, home began preparing for his return.
Upon hearing the news Wednesday that Wade had agreed to sign a two-year deal with the Bulls, Daisauni Doty figured it was time for a wardrobe addition.
The 13-year-old budding point guard, whose father was a classmate of Wade"™s at Kolmar School in Midlothian, Ill., and who met Wade and his father, Dwyane Sr., years ago at a local basketball camp, said she intends to add to her collection of "œfive or six" Wade jerseys with a Bulls version when they hit the market.
Doty, like many residents of the south suburban community of Robbins, Ill., where Wade cut his teeth on the courts against much older and larger men, has been steeped in the lore surrounding her hometown"™s favorite son for as long as she can remember.
"œI"™ve heard many stories about (how) Dwyane Wade would always beat my dad in basketball," said the eighth-grader, who has preserved the custom-made Wade T-shirt her mother outfitted her in as an infant.
As Robbins Mayor Tyrone Ward said, "œEveryone (in Robbins) says they have a connection to Dwyane," who was born in Chicago on Jan. 17, 1982, to Dwyane Wade Sr. and Jolinda Wade.
His parents separated when Wade was four months old and eventually divorced.
Wade lived with his mother and sisters Tragil Wade and Deanna Wade on the South Side until he was 8, when he moved in with his father. A year later they moved to Robbins, a time Wade called "œthe most important part of my life" in a 2013 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
"œMy mom was on drugs and my family was in the gang environment, so it was a rough childhood," Wade said then. "œIf I would have stayed (with my mom) "¦ I would have been next in line to sell drugs, to join the gang."
Jolinda, who had problems with substance abuse, was in and out of prison until 2003. Wade recalled during an interview with ESPN how he saw his mother shoot up heroin and how police raided the family"™s residence when he was 6.
Jolinda, who didn"™t return a telephone message left by the Tribune on Thursday afternoon, is now a pastor at a church Wade bought for her in Chicago called The Temple of Praise.
"œEverybody thinks I"™m the miraculous story in the family. I think she is," Wade told the Associated Press in 2008. "œI think what I"™ve done means I"™ve been very blessed, but she"™s been more than blessed. She"™s been anointed."
By living with his father, whom Wade called "œmilitant," Wade said he "œgot an opportunity to be a kid."
Wade Sr. coached his son"™s summer league games in Blue Island and was known to show up at practices at Richards High School wanting to play himself.
Dwyane Sr."™s marriage to Bessie McDaniel helped shape Wade, who quickly bonded over athletics with stepbrothers Demetris, Darnell and Kodhmus McDaniel.
"œHe wanted to play sports all day like me. He was a good kid, a very curious kid," Demetris McDaniel said. "œWe got a little more stable when my mom and his dad got married."
The family moved into a house and the boys went on to attend Richards High School.
"œWe all just fell in line, and we started playing basketball and it went from there," Demetris said.
Before Wade reached Richards, Demetris already was a standout there. Wade attended practices and games, catching the eye of John Chappetto, one of the school"™s coaches who now helps run Wade"™s basketball camp each summer in the Chicago area.
Chappetto, who later became head coach at Richards before stepping down in 2014, said he "œalways felt like there was something special about the kid" and described Wade as "œrespectful of adults "¦ quiet and observant."
He also was small.
Chappetto remembers watching Wade play a pickup game against his brothers when he was in seventh grade.
"œHe and his two brothers really used to go at each other," Chappetto said. "œThe first time I saw him play, I thought, "˜Wow, he"™s pretty good for a little guy."™ Then he grew and grew and kept getting bigger and stronger."
Wade didn"™t become a regular in the varsity basketball lineup until he was a junior, after he sprouted three inches during the summer. Suddenly, the 6-foot point guard was a 6-foot-3 power forward. But he still was eager to absorb all he could from his older teammates.
"œI thought he should play, but we had a great team," said McDaniel, two years Wade"™s senior. "œEvery position was filled, so it was kind of hard to get him a lot of minutes. I kept telling Coach, "˜My brother is going to be good."™ "œ
McDaniel was right.
Wade cracked then-coach Jack Fitzgerald"™s starting lineup as a junior and averaged 20.7 points and 7.6 rebounds. He raised those numbers to 27 points and 11 rebounds his senior season.
"œHe watched and he knew how to mimic certain things, and he fell in love with the game and became a very good high school player," McDaniel said.
While he made it look easy on the court, Wade struggled in the classroom.
As a result of his academic struggles, Wade wasn"™t heavily recruited by colleges. He sat out his freshman season at Marquette after falling short of the NCAA"™s Proposition 48 standards.
Wade played two seasons at Marquette, during which he averaged 19.7 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. He led the Golden Eagles to the Final Four in 2003 before the Miami Heat selected him fifth overall in the 2003 NBA draft.
Along with LeBron James, Wade helped lead the Heat to three championships and was selected as an All-Star 12 times during his 13 seasons there. He"™s averaged 23.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game during his career. Wade was the league"™s scoring champion in 2008-09, when he averaged 30.2 points per game.
Back in Robbins, a town of 5,400, the legend continued to grow.
Garry Moore, 49, said he met Wade at the town"™s community center when Wade was 10. At first he was skeptical about the boy"™s ability to compete against men more than twice his age and size.
That quickly changed, though, after Moore said Wade shot his "œlights out" and "œdestroyed" him on the court.
Moore remembered seeing a shirtless, 13-year-old Wade "œjogging like a track star "¦ for miles" through the streets of Robbins in 90-degree heat, trailing behind a group of teens on bicycles.
"œAll day long," Moore said. "œI think that was probably the most memorable thing about him in Robbins was just seeing him train and train and train.
"œNobody was telling him to. Nobody was forcing him to. This kid was just that kid, where he knew he had that "˜it"™ factor of being physical and athletic, and he let it show."
Now 34, Wade has made his way back home a three-time champion, an Olympic gold medalist, a husband and a father of three. He will wear a Bulls jersey again, just like he did when he was a kid honing his skills in his family"™s driveway.
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