The Mayor of Tucson, Regina Romero, was proudly present along with city councilman Paul Cunningham.
Bob “Big Bird” Elliott, who helped make Tucson a basketball town when he played for Fred Snowden in the 1970’s, stopped by to offer assistance.
Arizona great Reggie Geary was a coach as was former Wildcat basketball and softball standout Felecity Willis, now a respected college hoops referee.
Pima men’s basketball assistant Marsharne Flannigan and women’s assistant Sydni Stallworth, one of the best to play the game from Tucson, also served as coaches.
Tucson native and longtime Arizona staffer Briana Felix, who has a background of working as the assistant coordinator for the women’s basketball program, also volunteered her time.
NBA trainer and former director of player development for the Houston Rockets’ G-League affiliate Rio Grande Valley Vipers Kameron Law, Charlotte Hornets assistant coach Nick Friedman and former Houston Rockets assistant Mahmoud Abdelfattah, now the head coach of the Sydney Kings of the Australian professional league, offered their spirited coaching style.
World-class distance thrower Carla Garrett, one of the best athletes to attend Arizona, broke away from preparing for her 18th year as Salpointe Catholic’s strength and conditioning coach to run conditioning drills.
This type of involvement indicates the immense importance of Joseph Blair’s mission of helping underprivileged youth with a basketball camp free of charge for parents and guardians.
Although the coaches and volunteers were star studded, the focus of attention on Friday and Saturday at Desert View High School’s gym was on the campers.
The Mama Blair Basketball Camp, named after his late mother Judith Blair, is a rekindling of Joseph’s basketball camp that ran for 18 years to 2018 — right before his NBA coaching career began as an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers.
The previous basketball camps were organized and funded through the Blair Charity Group, which is no longer in operation due to Joseph’s time focusing on building his coaching career.
Tucson’s Easterseals Blake Foundation approached Joseph about providing assistance with the sponsorship and coordination of the camp.
“I’ve got to give a lot of love to the Easterseals Blake Foundation,” Joseph said. “They knew about the camp in the past. They reached out to me as a partner to bring it back. They knew what a great thing it was for the community.
“It’s really working through them. Not having the Blair Charity Group any more obviously limited what I could do. They were willing to not only support with staffing, but also be to be a fiscal agent to bring sponsorship, which is a big deal.”
The honoring of Joseph’s mother for how she impacted the community with the way she brought awareness to organ donorship made his return to helping kids in Tucson “a no-brainer to me,” he said.
Adjacent to the court where Blair and the digntaries worked with the young basketball players were large placards that displayed plans by the City of Tucson, spearheaded by Cunningham, for the renovation of Palo Verde Park to include basketball courts covered by a metal canopy bearing Judith’s name.
Donations can be made toward the funding of the basketball courts by clicking here.
Cunningham mentioned that the softball and baseball fields near the basketball courts will also undergo renovations. The park is located in central Tucson, within the block of Broadway and 22nd (north and south) and Kolb and Wilmot (east and west).
“It’s special to me in so many ways,” Joseph said of the Palo Verde Park project. “First of all, it is something I know that my mother would be taken aback about. She would be honored with a project like that, first and foremost.
“As I look and see the way she grew up, without many opportunities to play sports as a female, and not have the opportunity to go to parks and play … even for myself I know I used to play pickup basketball in people’s driveways until they told me get out of there … having a park with this kind of project and naming it after my mother is truly special,” said Joseph, who was raised along with his brother Jonathan by their mom in Houston.
Judith passed away at age 71 in 2019 after a bout with lung cancer.
In addition to being known as the mom of Joseph, a fan favorite with a jovial personality when he played for Lute Olson at Arizona from 1992-96, Judith was revered for donating one of her kidneys to Dr. Michael Burgoon, a University of Arizona professor whom Joseph knew during his Arizona career.
“To have a park that we could do something like that (with the covered basketball courts that will have electronic scoreboards and bleachers) and name it after my mother, that’s very special,” he said. “It can also help improve that area.
“My goal is always to try to bring people together to go know each other. That’s what basketball does, number one, but also that’s what parks do. The more we can make that a better park that people can congregate at with lights and a top over the courts, it’s all something I know my mother would be proud to be associated with.”
When the campers gathered to listen to Romero speak to them, she talked about Judith, nicknamed “Mama Blair” because of her endearing style not only to her sons but others in the community.
“She was a mom to all of us,” Romero said. “She truly, truly loved Tucson. She truly, truly loved the University of Arizona. She truly loved basketball and brought us in with it. (The camp) is a beautiful tribute to Mama Blair.
“We hope that this camp lives on in her memory for all of us.”
.@cityoftucson mayor @TucsonRomero talks with the youth taking part in the Mama Blair Basketball Camp, operated by former Arizona standout @MrJosephBlair. This is a rekindling of the free basketball camp Blair ran in previous years for underprivileged youth in our community.… pic.twitter.com/WXPJBBBlWG
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) July 27, 2024
Romero also spoke to the youngsters about the importance of giving back to the community, using Joseph as an example for what he has done now in Tucson with his camps for almost two decades.
“You really see a lot of happiness in him and it’s because he serves others,” Romero said. “Research shows that when you volunteer, when you give to others, it actually makes you a happier person.
“You all have something to give. I hope you have individuals in your life that give you that reassurance that you are worthy, and what you give back to others, it returns to you tenfold. You are part of a community that is important, one that you contribute to.”
Joseph, who has gained popularity as part of the vegan movement, known as a the Vegan Coach, said he will continue to host the Mama Blair Basketball Camp annually “for as long as possible.”
Joseph presently is in between coaching positions. His contract as an assistant with the Washington Wizards expired and the team’s new coach, Brian Keefe, brought in his own staff.
Joseph was with Washington for three years after spending a season as a Minnesota Timberwolves assistant in 2020-21. Before that, he was with the 76ers in 2019-20.
He served as a graduate assistant at Arizona under Sean Miller from 2013-15. He worked as an assistant with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers from 2015-18. He was the head coach of the Vipers in 2018-19.
“I’m a free agent. Right now, I’m just seeing what door God will open next,” Joseph said of his next coaching position.
Although busy as an NBA assistant coach the last few years, Joseph said he has watched how Tommy Lloyd has continued Arizona’s esteemed winning tradition since taking the head coaching job in 2021-22.
“When you think about it, we’ve never really skipped a beat whatsoever,” Joseph said. “I would say in Tucson we’re spoiled when it comes to basketball — ‘We’re not in the Final Four. We didn’t win the championship’ — but to continue to have the record we’re having, to win the conference championships that we have, to get to the NCAA tournament, to represent our conference, our city, our university so well … those are big deals. We can’t take that for granted.”
He added that he gained more of an appreciation of Arizona’s success after being in the NBA around players from other programs.
“I look at some of the players and it’s like, ‘You didn’t make the tournament. You didn’t make the tournament. You made the tournament once in the last 10 years.’ You really start to get a better grasp and understanding of the amazing accomplishments we’ve had as a university and also Tommy — come on now, a first-time head coach — comes in and does what he’s done so far? That deserves a lot of recognition.”
Joseph resides in Houston, home of Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars, who are now a Big 12 rival of Arizona’s after the Wildcats’ move to that conference following the end of the Pac-12 as we know it.
“It is tougher basketball,” Joseph said. “There’s much more travel as well and having to get acclimated to different styles of play. It’s not really West-coast basketball anymore. It’s all types of basketball.
“You’ll see more defensive teams, more aggressive teams, more fast-paced teams … so I’m going to be very interested to see how it all transpires. I’m confident in my university. We’re Arizona, come on. We’re going to be okay.”
Joseph then flashed his familiar smile.
Yes, everything is going to be okay, especially with the return of his admirable effort to give back to the Tucson community.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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