Former Marquette University’s men’s basketball teammates Dwyane Wade and Travis Diener have maintained strong ties to their alma mater and to the Milwaukee community since leading the Golden Eagles to the Final Four in 2003. For the past few years, that’s included working together to put on the annual Wade vs. Diener summertime charity event and golf outing benefitting local literacy programs and Marquette athletics.

Now in its fourth year, the event returns next month with a new name and expanded format intended to broaden its community impact and support for youth-focused initiatives across Milwaukee.

Wade and Diener have partnered with Visit Milwaukee and Marquette University to launch the inaugural Wade & Diener Home Court Weekend, July 16-18, to raise money for the Tragil Wade-Johnson Summer Reading Program at Marquette University, the Visit Milwaukee Foundation and other Marquette initiatives. Visit Milwaukee’s partnership with the Wade family also includes the inaugural Wade Scholars Program. The program’s first recipient, Marquette student Kennedi Luckett, is currently working as an intern at Visit Milwaukee.

The newly formatted fundraiser includes two signature, ticketed events that showcase downtown Milwaukee’s culinary scene, while still keeping the spirit of competition between the former teammates front and center. The weekend kicks off July 16 with Court to Cork, an evening at Central Standard Crafthouse & Kitchen during which Wade and Diener will compete for tips as guest bartenders. The following evening is Pages & Plates, an intimate, four-course wine dinner at Lupi & Iris featuring a culinary competition between Wade and Diener to create the best dish. The event’s third signature event is a youth basketball clinic at The Facility in Mequon. Organizers are seeking additional sponsors for the event. More information is available here.

Wade’s major philanthropic investments in Marquette date back to 2015 when the NBA Hall of Famer donated $195,000 to launch the Tragil Wade-Johnson Summer Reading Program. Named for his sister, who Wade credits with teaching him how to read as a child, the program focuses on improving reading skills among local youth and combating the “summer slide” that often affects student learning.

In 2024, Wade committed $3 million to Marquette to grow the summer reading program, establish the Wade Scholars program and support a new men’s basketball practice facility in the expanded Athletic and Human Performance Research Center.

Wade was in Mequon Monday to pay a surprise visit to the youth girls basketball players participating in Diener’s elite basketball camp at The Facility sports complex. The pair also spoke to the media about their upcoming Home Court charity event. Read their brief conversation with BizTimes associate editor Maredithe Meyer below.

BizTimes: Tell me more of the backstory of Home Court Weekend and how it evolved from your previous Wade Vs. Diener charity event?

Wade: “We’re just trying to grow up a little bit. We think the Wade vs. Diener was a good look into the competitive nature of Travis, and I think it made sense. We’re just trying to evolve the event and grow it and make it more than just Wade and Diener, really make it about the city of Milwaukee and the community and so it’s a good time to evolve it, and we’ve done a few years now where we’ve all been able to see the things that have worked for us and see the things that may have not and so we wanted to change it up and and grow it.”

Diener: “We’re just trying to evolve a little bit. We’ve (done Wade vs. Diener) for three years, and this will be the fourth year, so just trying to improve it in any way possible, realizing some things that maybe we want to do a little differently, while maintaining what makes the event special, which is the relationship side of it and the community side of it.”

What was the thought behind incorporating business and hospitality into the weekend, with events at Central Standard and Lupi & Iris? Why was that important for the growth of this event?

Diener: “It’s involving the city and the community, which means so much to me personally because, you know, I live here and I’ve spent a lot of time here over the last 20 years since I graduated. Obviously we went to school here. But just involving Central Standard and Lupi & Iris and just getting down in the city and doing more of the event down there and being a part of what makes this city so unique and special.”

Wade: “And also, shout out to Visit Milwaukee and the team who worked on (the event). We’re always trying to find ways to connect. And I think sometimes your vision of what you think is gonna work and then you bring other people in that help you understand like, ‘Hey, these are the things you’re trying to accomplish. Let’s try these things as well.’ And so just trying to make sure that we build events that feel community-like and feel like a space where they can get a little bit more of Trav and I, they can get a little bit more of each other as well, and put them into those environments. And I think every year we’ve made an adjustment that’s felt better and better, and that’s what it is as well. It’s just really fine-tuning, understand, like, hey, these are the things that we think are cool. These are the things we feel will breathe what you guys are trying to do. We trust the group that was put together to help us with this event as well. And so change is good, and this is gonna be a good change for us.”

What’s your ultimate goal for this event as far as dollars raised, exposure and continuing to get the message out about literacy and how important it is?

Wade:  ”I think it’s a combination of it all. I think first and foremost outside the event itself, the ultimate goal for Travis and I was to team up, to come together. We have a great legacy here in Milwaukee. We’ve done an incredible job of doing that and we did it on the basketball court so many years ago and now we’re into our next life. What legacy do you wanna leave? And Travis has done an incredible job with everything he’s doing here at The Facility and all the things in girls basketball, but also his other legacy that you wanna be a part of and so that was first and foremost.

“From there, because I was doing something already here, … I’ve been working to make sure that we have the right people in place to be able to help that program grow. But that’s not the only program and the only help that is needed. And so, yes, we want exposure, we wanna build it, and we want community to understand that we need them to help us build it, so we can put those funds and those resources back into this city that has done so much for us, and I’m sure has done so much for everybody that will be attending the event and have a lot of Milwaukee ties.”

Why does literacy remain an important cause to you?

Wade: “It  comes from my family and my sister and I just really understanding that, yes, like basketball is what everyone knows me from. But my sister was always on me about my education and she’s the one who taught me how to read first and foremost, right? We’ve been in the foundation work since 2006, a couple years into (my career in) the NBA we started doing a lot of foundation work and, you know, I think we’ve done a lot of work to understand where the most important need is and where we feel we can come in and assist at, and it’s at the reading level. And we had our own case with my nephew that was living with us who was having trouble with comprehension and his reading level was not up to par the way we needed it to be. And so, it was kind of a personal journey for us that went off into others. It started there for us, and we understand the importance of kids understanding how to read at a very young age as we continue to talk about the foundation that is set for you, and that foundation is huge.

“We’re thankful for Marquette, for the last few years that we’ve been able to team up with them and bring kids to Marquette University. That was something that was important for me as well, to make sure that they can walk the grounds of a university, they can see themselves there because seeing is believing and we wanna make sure that they see it before they can believe it. And then once they believe it, the work is on the adults to help them actually reach that goal.”