DALLAS — Before there were any bright lights for basketball phenom Cason Wallace, there was the humble place he came from. The Hamilton Park area in Dallas played a huge role in the young guard's development.
"If you're here in North Dallas you know what H-P-T means," said Tevar Watson, a football and basketball coach in the Hamilton Park neighborhood.
The Hamilton Park and Richardson High School product made history being drafted 10th overall in the 2023 NBA Draft. He was picked that night by the Dallas Mavericks but was part of a trade to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
But people can't stop talking about the jacket he wore on draft night. In just three letters, H-P-T embroidered all over his jacket and in the colors most recognizable around the area.
"There's a lot of pride in that red and black. He represented in a positive way... to the max," said Watson.
"He's really proud of that as I am... just really excited that he was able to represent and say thank you to the neighborhood," said Wallace's uncle Windell Yancy on draft night.
If you know anything about Hamilton Park, you know it has a storied past.
Hamilton Park is one of the first planned Black neighborhoods in the country where Black families moved to escape racial hostility and bombings in south Dallas in the 1950s.
"There's a lot of history out here he just made some more history and added to it... added to the legacy," said Watson.
The legacy around Hamilton Park is deeply rooted. But to wear it for the whole world to see, that's special.
"It made all of us proud. It made the whole community proud. The whole neighborhood is proud of him," Watson said.