NBA's Caron Butler warms up the day: Gratitude from Mitchell students puts Wizards star into an 'emotional high'

By Brent Killackey

Saturday, September 30, 2006 2:16 AM CDT

RACINE - Heading into a sixth-grade assembly at Mitchell Middle School Friday morning, Kadiijza Patton - like most of her classmates - didn't know the identity of the day's guest speaker.

She was more than pleasantly surprised when school officials introduced NBA player and Racine native Caron Butler.

"That's when my heart just dropped," Patton, 12, said. "I'm his number one fan."

Patton said her day had been "kind of shaky, but when I saw his face, that's when I got all warmed up."

And making sure students stayed warm was the theme of Butler's visit. He stopped at his former middle school to launch Caron's Coats for Kids, an initiative to distribute coats, hats and gloves to the school's students.

Butler teamed up with Nike and Wal-Mart to distribute 450 coats and 450 hats and gloves sets. Students got one or the other, depending on their luck with randomly distributed tickets. Patton received a blue jacket that included a Caron's Coats for Kids small circular patch with his picture.

At the end of the assembly, Principal Bob Wilhelmi asked the sixth-grade students to thank the Washington Wizards player. In unison, the hundreds of students screamed out a near-deafening "thank you."

"At the end, that was real genuine - hearing the kids scream (thank you). I'm at an emotional high now," Butler said in an interview after the sixth-grade assembly. He planned to repeat the coat giveaway at assemblies later in the day with seventh- and eighth-grade students.

In the past, Butler has given away hundreds of bicycles to young people in the community. The Wizards public relations department approached him about a coat giveaway and he liked the idea, he said.

Initially, the Wizards staff envisioned something in the Washington, D.C., area, but the timing wasn't working out, Butler said.

"I thought it would be a great idea to do at home," Butler said. That brought him to Mitchell.

Butler may do a giveaway in the D.C. area in December, according to Daren Jenkins, public relations coordinator for Washington Sports & Entertainment.

Butler, who sees it as his responsibility to give back and set an example for the community's children, said it was rewarding to see the kids faces light up.

"It's one of the best things I've done in my life," Butler said. "It's rewarding to me just to see the kids smile like that."

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