Michael Jordan in Superior? One man is hoping to make it happen.

Brian Edwards, who grew up in High Point, N.C., has been in talks with the University of Wisconsin-Superior to bring a Michael Jordan basketball camp to the Twin Ports. Edwards recently moved to Superior and has worked with Jordan in the past to hold camps, most recently in 2008.

"We've been really considering bringing a camp here to the Twin Ports," Edwards said. "I think it would be good for the youth and for the general public to have a camp of that caliber here in the area."

UWS men's basketball coach Matt Siverling said he has met with Edwards to discuss the camp, but nothing has been finalized yet. Edwards and Siverling plan to meet again Monday, and Siverling said he should know by the end of the week if the camp will become a reality.

"We'd definitely bring in quality players, former and current NBA players. We've always done that," Edwards said. "The camp usually goes Monday through Friday, but the Sunday before the start date of the initial camp we have an open house for the general public so they can come in and meet some of the guys, get autographs, take pictures. We try to incorporate the general public wherever we do a camp at."

If the camp goes ahead for this year, Edwards said it would likely fall between the end of June and the second week of July, or it could be pushed back to August.

Timing will be the key issue, Edwards said. Coordinating the schedules of players and coaches involved is always a challenge, and the availability of UW-Superior's facilities adds another variable to the equation.

"We usually like to have everything set up and on paper at least three, four months out," Edwards said. "There's always guys getting hurt, so we've got to consider that. Plus we've got to book hotel rooms for the guys that come in. A lot of times the guys won't stay for the whole week, so they may come in a day or two days just to speak, and then more guys will come in, so we've got to configure all of that."

Meeting a legend

Since he was a boy, Edwards has made a habit of helping others.

"All your good deeds, it may not come tomorrow or the next day, but it will come back around," Edwards said.

It was one of those acts of kindness that led Edwards to meet Jordan.

As a 16-year-old boy, Edwards was a budding high school basketball player in North Carolina. His skills drew the eye of Gene Littles and earned him an invitation to Littles' summer basketball camp at Page High School in Greensboro, N.C.

Littles played college basketball for High Point University (N.C.) and then moved on to the American Basketball Association. After retiring as a player, he coached in the NBA, including a stint from 1986-87 when he served as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls.

Edwards attended the camp and, over the course of the week, struck up a friendship with another player. That young man, Larry, was confined to a wheelchair.

"Because of insurance purposes, whenever we did certain drills they would take him to the far end of the court and separate him from the rest of the group," Edwards said.

However, Larry remained upbeat and enthusiastic.

"Every evening he would roll to the gym doors and prop them open with his wheelchair and shake everybody's hand," Edwards said. "And he'd be the first one there in the morning, shaking everybody's hands."

On the final day of the basketball camp, a banquet and awards ceremony was planned for the participants. Unbeknownst to the players, Jordan heard of the event and asked Coach Littles if he could stop by . . . without anyone knowing.

The young athletes were oblivious to Jordan's presence as he watched the awards ceremony safely out of sight.

"So we went through the banquet, and of course the last award of the night was the MVP of the camp," Edwards said. "I was fortunate enough to be presented with that big gold ball, so they called me up to receive the award and asked if I had any words to say."

As he stood on the stage, Edwards thought of his wheel chair-bound friend, and the 16-year-old made a decision.

"Something came over me and I said I felt there was somebody more deserving of this award than myself, and I had Larry come up," Edwards said. He then presented his friend with the trophy stepped aside.

From where he was watching, Jordan witnessed Edwards' kind gesture and asked Coach Littles if he could meet the young man.

"So Coach Littles came to me and my mother and my aunt, who was in attendance, and said there's somebody in the back of the house in the kitchen who wants to meet you," Edwards said. "My aunt looked at me and said, 'Brian, maybe the chef wants to give you a steak or something for what you did.'"

When Edwards walked into the kitchen, there stood Jordan with his hand extended.

"My eyes were big as snowflakes," Edwards said. "I shook his hand and he said, 'I like that gesture that you did; that was wonderful. We need more young men to do good things like that.' And then he asked me about my aspirations and my desires pertaining to my future going to college and everything. Then he said, 'Give me your number and I'm going to give you mine. Call me in a couple of weeks.'"

A bit star-struck, Edwards exchanged numbers with Jordan and then headed home to High Point.

Week after week, Edwards looked at Jordan's telephone number, but he couldn't find the courage to call.

Then about three weeks into the NBA season, Edwards stepped off the bus after school to find his aunt waiting for him, excited and out of breath. His aunt had received a call that day from Jordan's people asking Edwards to call right away.

"We didn't have a phone at the time, so I gave him (Jordan) my aunt's number," Edwards said. "She was all panicky and huffing and puffing, so me and my mother jumped in her car and went up to her house."

When Edwards called Jordan, the NBA player asked why he hadn't stayed in touch.

"I said, 'Well, Mr. Jordan, I was scared you know. It ain't every day you get to meet somebody like you,'" Edwards said. "And he said, 'No, just call me Michael or MJ.'"

Edwards kept in touch with Jordan after that first phone call.

The NBA star invited Edwards and a group of his friends to a Chicago Bulls game, and eventually Edwards met Jordan's family in Wilmington, N.C.

After high school, Edwards had dreams of playing basketball, but he delayed his entrance into college to stay home with his mother.

"I had to work," Edwards said. "It was just me and my mother, so I had to help her out."

Two years after graduating from high school, Edwards enrolled in Barber-Scotia College in Concord, N.C., only an hour and a half from his hometown. The school was a good fit, allowing him to attend classes while continuing to help his mother.

Edwards stayed at Barber-Scotia College until 1990, when his basketball coach, Anthony Odom, received the head coaching job at Southwest State University in Marshall, Minn.

Odom asked Edwards to follow him to Minnesota, but Edwards declined. His mother was ill, and he refused to leave her.

Edwards continued to care for his mother until she died in November 1990.

"After that I decided to transfer to Southwest State," Edwards said. He played for the Mustangs for the 1991-92 and 1992-93 basketball seasons.

It was around that same time Edwards first teamed up with Jordan to host summer basketball camps.

After college, Edwards played and coached basketball in Europe for a time, and he ended his basketball career in as an assistant coach in 2008.

A fresh start

Edwards came to Superior by a long and winding route, but his beliefs and priorities have changed little along the way.

He'd been living in St. Cloud before moving to Superior and relocated to the Twin Ports to be closer to family and to create a good home for his seven-year-old son.

"This is basically like a fresh start for me and my son," Edwards said. "I went through a divorce a couple years ago, and my son's grandmother and a lot of uncles and cousins on his mother's side live in the area. So now if I have to travel and need to be away, I have someone to lean on."

Monday through Thursday, Edwards spends his days volunteering at the Northwest Wisconsin Community Services Agency. He also volunteers with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, delivering furniture to needy families in the area, and coaches basketball at the local YMCA.

"I love it," Edwards said of his volunteer work.

And as the Superior man can attest, good deeds will be rewarded in time.

Tags: sports, basketball, preps, superior, updates