Shelton Hawkins returned to his hometown of Easton, MD, and noticed that the basketball court at Idlewild Park was empty. When he was growing up, kids of all ages spent every minute of their free time at that court. Older kids let the younger ones play and even join in sometimes. The younger kids played hard, hoping to be seen and let into the next game. It was the heart of the community, everyone belonged. But when Shelton went back home to Easton after college and a year abroad, nobody was there.

Shelton’s vision is to continue to create inspiring and beautiful basketball courts that will draw their own audiences, and bring kids back onto courts in parks every day with regular basketball youth clinics onsite. He intends to build more of these courts, with teams of neighbors and friends, partnering with local communities.