Denver Gazette16%
Derrick White returns to old stomping grounds at second camp with Hillside Connection 2%
By Hugh Johnson1%
8/2/2026, 4:31:19 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 12 faulty reasoning types, including Halo Effect, Hasty Generalization, and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 7.9% saturation with 68 hits. Analysis detected 389 faulty-reasoning hits from 861 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 9% and a BS Rank of 2% (25,068 of 25,564 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 98.10% of the article peer group.
Even Derrick White can’t believe how much Colorado Springs has grown.
The Colorado native turned UCCS basketball star turned Boston Celtics guard was in town on Sunday for his second consecutive youth basketball camp with Hillside Connection, a community organization that uses the sport to create opportunities for kids living in Southern Colorado Springs.
“My career, Colorado Springs has something to do with where I’m at right now,” White said during a media availability session before the start of the camp at Mitchell High School.
“It’s always great to come back and see how the Springs has changed.
Was driving down Academy today just looking at restaurants I went to when I was in college.
… They got everything now.
When I drive by, they’ve got this, they got that.”
Back in his college days, Noodles and Company and Sunday breakfast burritos at a shop akin to Taco Express were must-stop places for White.
On the court, he became the Mountain Lions’ first all-American in program history in 2014, helped UCCS capture a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament championship in 2015 and set a conference record for most points in a single season with 851.
He joined the Colorado Buffaloes in the 2015-2016 season, and after an NCAA-mandated redshirt season for transferring, he proved himself in the 2016-2017 season, leading the Buffs in points with 615 and earning All-Pac-12 first-team honors.
He was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs with the 29th overall pick in 2017 and in 2024, captured an Olympic gold medal with Team USA in Paris and won an NBA championship with the Celtics the same year.
But long before each step of his amazing basketball journey, White was a kid not unlike Deree Jackson’s kids.
Jackson’s children, Madisyn and Mars, could barely contain their excitement on Sunday as they prepared to go to the camp.
“My kids were super excited this morning,” Jackson said.
“When I told my son, he jumped up and down and ran around the house.”
Jackson’s kids were two of about 175 kids who attended the event.
The camp featured several coaches alongside White, including former Harrison standout turned international pro basketball player Xavier Ford.
Terrell Brown, who played for Palmer and then Montana State University, is the founder and president of Hillside Connection.
Ford and Brown are two players who grew up alongside White and inspired him to be his best.
“I looked up to Terrell, I looked up to “X” out here in the Springs,” White said.
“Obviously, Chauncey (Billups) is the gold standard of Colorado basketball and just being around him and be able to go to his camps and see him up close and personal.
I think it did a lot for me.
It helped me get to where I’m at and so hopefully I can help inspire these kids and if basketball doesn’t work, just to be great people.
Terrell is a great example of what you can do in your community and how to give back.”
A $50 donation gave kids access to the camp, a T-shirt and lunch, but for families who couldn’t make a donation, Brown and Hillside Connection met them where they were at.
“It’s donation-based; the kids are Hillside kids, but if the kid needs it, we provide scholarships because it’s not about that,” Brown said.
“There’s folks who donated either $50 or less.
There’s a handful of about 15% people who got in at no cost because we’re putting the kids first.”
Derrick White, a former UCCS basketball star turned Boston Celtics guard, was in town on Sunday for his second consecutive youth basketball camp with Hillside Connection, a community organization that uses the sport to create opportunities for kids living in Southern Colorado Springs.
(Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette)
Per a news release, Hillside Connection serves 1,200 local youth each year through events like Sunday’s camp.
The organization partners with local entities, including the City of Colorado Springs, Harrison School District 2 and Colorado Springs School District 11.
Hillside Connection’s mission is aimed at youth, but its impact extends beyond the children to the parents and the greater community as well.
Thomas Vallejo used to play as a shooting guard for Mesa Ridge in his high school days.
Now, he’s a dad who still has a passion for the sport and plays against Ford on the basketball court in his men’s league.
Vallejo has passed that passion to his eight-year-old son Noah, who attended his first basketball camp on Sunday.
As Noah works on his hustling, he’ll be able to hear from someone like White who turned his childhood dreams into a reality.
“It just shows that no matter where you come from, where you’re at, you always have a chance.
You just have to work hard, you have an opportunity to do great things and Derrick White shows that,” Vallejo said.
“There’s not a lot of athletes that come out of Colorado, Colorado Springs and for him to come out and for my son to see that, it’s just great.
Just to show him he can do it too.”
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