Marquette Journal Profile of Wade and His Recruitment

[Macallan 18]

Not sure if anyone else has read this, but a great profile of Wade and stories from his recruitment to Marquette - https://marquettewire.org/4006080/sports/dwyane-wade-recruit-basketball-marquette-3/

Wonder if Wojo should start carrying a a chart, an arena model and a shoebox on recruiting visits:

Then-Marquette head coach Tom Crean, who succeeds Deane in 1999, comes into Wade's house to visit him, his future mother-in-law Darlene Funches and Fitzgerald.

Growing up, Wade's father isn't heavily involved in Wade's life while his mother is in and out of jail. As a result, Wade spends a lot of time with the family of his girlfriend Siohvaughn Funches, who he eventually marries and divorces.

Crean has three things: a shoe box, a chart and a model of an arena, as Fitzgerald remembers it.

"I saw a lot of presentations (with other kids), but I really thought Tom Crean gave one of the best home visits I've ever seen," Fitzgerald says. "Everyone kind of gives the same spiel about the dorms and campus life."

The chart has every AAU game Wade played in. Next to it is which Marquette coach watched the game. Each and every one had a complementing name.

"That kind of impressed me that they were really interested that they've been to every one of Dwyane's AAU games," Fitzgerald says.

The model is a replica of the United Center, where the Chicago Bulls play. A miniature Wade stands in the middle of the court with his high school number, 25.

"Dwyane got a big kick out of that. He said, 'Can I have that?'" Fitzgerald says. "Crean says, 'Well, no. I can't give you anything.'"

The coaches tell Wade to put what's in the shoe box on. It's a cap and gown.

"It looked like a pair of shoes, and I'm here thinking, 'These guys can't give him a pair of shoes. ... I know that can't be legal,'" Fitzgerald says. "He comes out wearing a Marquette cap and gown, and that impressed the mother-in-law, so they hit all three of us during the visit."