By Xavier Sanchez
Correspondent
Back in the summer of 2019, Max Strus gathered with family and friends for an NBA Draft party.
The night did not go quite as planned for the Hickory Hills native and Stagg graduate, who had that spring completed his college career with DePaul and was hoping to get a shot to play in the NBA.
Strus went undrafted, but after playing with the Boston Celtics Summer League, his dream eventually come true when he suited up for his hometown Chicago Bulls during the 2019 season.
He went on to play for the Miami Heat, competing in the 2023 NBA Finals, and this fall will begin his second season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now, Strus pays his success forward, including with an annual youth basketball camp, which this year was held July 15-18 at Stagg.
A youth at the Max Strus Basketball Camp is mobbed by other campers after beating two NBA players in a game of knockout. Photo by Xavier Sanchez
Roughly 400 boys and girls attended the third annual camp, from which all proceeds went to the Andrew Weishar Foundation. The charity named in honor of Strus’ childhood friend Andrew Weishar provides financial assistance to adolescents and young adults battling cancer.
The camp raised $15,000 in 2022, $30,000 in 2023 and $50,000 this year. Two checks for $10,000 each were presented at this year’s event to beneficiaries of the Foundation.
Strus grew up playing basketball with Andrew Weishar’s younger brother, Nic, and grew close to the brothers. After a battle with colorectal cancer, Andrew, died in 2012 at 21 years old.
“For him to continuously choose our foundation is inspiring to our family,” Jean Weishar, Andrew’s and Nic’s mom, said about Strus. “The impact that maybe Andrew did have on him and his growing up in his life was so special to him, that is why he picked the Foundation.”
Max Strus listens to a boy telling a story at Strus’ annual youth hoops camp, held July 15-18 at Stagg High School in Palos Hills. Photo by Xavier Sanchez
The four-day camp was split into two sessions, one for second- through fifth-graders and another for sixth- through eighth-graders. Campers were immersed in basketball and learned valuable lessons that can be applied on and off the court.
Andrew Choi, Strus’ college roommate at DePaul, was among the camp staffers who led sessions and spread the camps’ message.
“A lot of these coaches and myself live by these themes: working hard, making sure to be the best version of yourself, and to pay it forward,” Choi said.
Los Angeles Lakers guard Gabe Vincent, who played with Strus in Miami, stressed the lessons being shared and the importance of leading by example.
Max Strus presents an Andrew Weishar Foundation beneficiary with a $10,000 check. Photo by Xavier Sanchez
“They do a lot of great things by applying interdisciplinary education with it and teaching different things that apply to life,” Vincent said. “It’s a lot easier to preach what you live.”
Vincent helped out at the camp for a third straight year.
“To support [Strus], something like this and it be for such a great cause, it’s great to be a part of,” Vincent said.
Weish4Ever executive program director Maggie Strus, Max’s sister, plays an integral role planning and organizing the camp.
“To be able to meet new beneficiaries and award them the opportunity to be more financially stable through their own battles is something really near and dear to Max’s heart,” Maggie said. “To be able to incorporate Andrew’s spirit into it is all the much better.”