Tracy McGrady and former sneaker industry titan Sonny Vaccaro exchanged a festive reunion hug during their "adidas ABCD" camp relaunch, held at the PHHacility basketball complex in Phoenix from July 30-Aug. 1.
The prestigious invitational camp, which Vaccaro began in 1994and halted in 2007, hosted 47 of the nation's and international top high school boys basketball recruits.
The ABCD (Academic Betterment and Career Development) camp also drew former and current NBA players. Jerry Stackhouse, the Houston Rockets' Jabari Smith Jr., VJ Edgecombe and ex-Arizona Wildcats standout Dalen Terry of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Utah rookie Darryn Peterson and the Brooklyn Nets' Mikel Brown Jr. served as camp coaches, alongside Buckeye native and NBA player skills
trainer Phil Beckner.
"Sonny has been a mentor of mine, a guy that's changed multiple lives throughout the generations of ABCD," the Hall of Famer McGrady told The Arizona Republic. "And I mean, it's only right that we partner with Adidas to bring ABCD back because it's such a rich history and which he created just an opportunity for guys to gain that exposure and to test their skills all across the country against the top players."
After a 20-year hiatus — himself and the camp — from basketball, Vaccaro told The Republic that he joyfully wept during a group photo with McGrady, his wife, Pam Vaccaro, the campers and coaches.
"I can't believe what I'm watching and I never thought I would see this day, and now it's here," Vaccaro said. "And what Tracy has been able to do with the camp is almost ... I can't tell you. It's like a miracle."
NBA TV aired the camp's on-court action with former player Austin Rivers interviewing the players. In addition, there were NBA team scouts from the New Orleans Pelicans, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, Golden State Warriors and Utah.
"Growing up before social media, I remember reading about ABCD in 'Slam Magazine' and hearing about people, Sonny Vaccaro and players like T-Mac, (Derrick Rose), Kobe, it was the camp that made high school players pros," PHHacility founder and director John Ortega said. "Seeing T-Mac and Sonny in our gym is something special."
Asked Sonny Vaccaro — basketball shoe industry icon who signed Michael Jordan to Nike, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady to adidas out of high school — about his thoughts on the adidas ABCD Camp’s revival at @ThePHHacility in Phoenix after 20 years. Vaccaro founded the camp in 1994. pic.twitter.com/QYZh7KogDP
— Dana Scott (@mr_danascott) August 2, 2026
Adidas ABCD Camp's star power was because 'we gotta go young'
The camp ushered in the fleet of 1990s high school stars who skipped college for the NBA, including McGrady, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O'Neal and LeBron James. McGrady and Bryant signed their first shoe deals under Vaccaro at Adidas as NBA rookies.
Vaccaro's influence revolutionized the athletic footwear industry. He convinced Nike to sign an unproven NBA rookie, Michael Jordan, and bet the company's future by creating the "Air Jordan" shoe in 1984. Vaccaro left Nike in 1991, then joined Adidas in 1993.
Certain memorable moments at the camp's former location on Fairleigh Dickinson University's campus in Hackensack, New Jersey, made Bryant, McGrady and James into high school phenoms.
In 2001, James was 16 entering his junior year when he outplayed then-No. 1 recruit Lenny Cooke in a highly anticipated matchup, and then James graced the cover of Sports Illustrated with the famous headline, "The Chosen One."
Bryant won the camp's MVP award in 1995 entering his senior year.
McGrady was a lithe 6-foot-7 swingman who arrived at the 1996 camp as the "last camper" invited, alongside future NBA stars such as Lamar Odom, Elton Brand and Mike Miller. McGrady's astonishing and-one windmill dunk during the camp's All-Star game helped him ascend from an "unknown player" to the nation's No. 1 recruit.
"It's my first camp ever," he said. "I've never been to many camps and I'm walking into this camp like, 'Yo, I want to see what's out here' because I feel like I'm nice, right? But I don't know, because I only played against Florida guys. Now I get to play against guys, you know, all around the country.
"And I was impressed with the talent that I saw. But also, I felt like once I played that first game that I belonged."
Tracy McGrady’s and-1 windmill poster dunk at the 1996 ABCD camp!
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) August 1, 2026
(via @Hoopmixtape) pic.twitter.com/Wwn6XlTigx https://t.co/Olz9sYzbUf
Why Adidas ABCD camp stopped for 20 years, revived in Phoenix
Vaccaro said in his 2025 memoir "Legends and Soles" and ESPN documentary film "Sole Man" that he left Adidas when the company low-balled its endorsement deal offer to James, who subsequently joined rival Nike. Vaccaro departed Adidas for Reebok in 2003. Reebok was acquired by Adidas two years later.
Vaccaro told The Republic his passion for finding new talent waned at Reebok after he signed former top recruit Shaun Livingston to a Reebok deal.
“We were coming back from something, (Pam) and I, and just turned to her and said, ‘It’s time for us to go,'" Vaccaro said. "And she said, ‘I know, Sonny.’ By then, the whole world was changing on signing the athlete, getting the next Michael, getting the next Kobe, whatever it was.
“I ended up with Shaun. That was the kid. That was the one that I knew and all that sort of stuff, but I said to myself, ‘I can’t do this anymore.”
When Vaccaro resigned from Reebok in 2007, the adidas camp also dissolved.
Twelve years after McGrady retired in 2013, he announced in September 2025 that the camp would return. Ortega and Adidas Basketball grassroots executives Bo Rodriguez and Dash Sperling connected at Atlanta-based star prep hoops league Overtime Elite a few years ago, and began talks to bring the camp to The PHHacility.
The stars aligned to bring in the adidas ABCD originals, McGrady and Vaccaro, for the relaunch.
“It’s legendary," Cam Mason, Adidas Basketball's head of sports marketing, said. "You got the person who started all of this in the sneaker industry is Sonny Vaccaro, period. That sets the mark and T-Mac, if you just look at it, he’s one of the greatest of all time in terms of scoring and putting kids back in, giving back, next generation. ... I learned a lot and that’s why we brought this back.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why McGrady, Vaccaro revived Adidas ABCD camp in Phoenix | Exclusive
