Meaux Park Gets New ‘Connaughton Courts’

(Left to Right) Parks Director Guy Smith, Runing Rebels founders Victor Barnett and Dawn Barnett, Ted Kellner, Milwaukee Parks Foundation Executive Director Rebecca Stoner, Pat Connaughton and County Executive David Crowley. Photo taken Nov. 21, 2024 by Graham Kilmer.

Six newly refurbished basketball courts were unveiled at Meaux Park Tuesday

The courts were fixed up thanks to a $200,000 donation from Milwaukee Bucks player Pat Connaughton‘s namesake foundation and Ted and Mary Kellner‘s Kelben Foundation. The donors worked with the Milwaukee County Parks and the Milwaukee Parks Foundation to fund new asphalt surfacing, striping, hoops and fencing.

Through his foundation, Connaughton has built several “Connaughton Courts” at schools and community centers across Milwaukee. The courts in Meaux Park are the first outdoor courts the foundation has funded in the city. They are branded with the clover insignia used by Connaughton’s foundation and real estate firm Three Leaf Partners.

“I think this court is a shining example of what happens when community, philanthropy, leaders come together and say it is worth us having a vibrant and equitable park system and we’re gonna invest in it,” said Rebecca Stoner, executive director of the parks foundation.

The Meaux Park courts are home to the historic Warning League, a youth basketball league organized by Running Rebels, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. The league attracts roughly 500 youth every summer to Meaux Park, which sits on the northwestern corner of Lincoln Park.

“This actually brings back a lot of memories,” County Executive David Crowley said at the ribbon cutting Tuesday. “Because I spent a lot of time in these parks, and I was just joking with both Ted and Pat that you weren’t a real basketball player in the city of Milwaukee if you did not play basketball right here at Meaux Park.”

Crowley thanked Connaughton and the Kellners for their support, adding that Connaughton has demonstrated a commitment to Milwaukee beyond “hitting a game winning three to help us win games with the Milwaukee Bucks.”

Ted Kellner said that sports are a “great teaching mechanism,” and that the new courts created a nice environment for young people to congregate in the park. He added that Connaughton and his teammates on the Bucks aren’t just world champions, they’re also “world class people.”

The Connaughton Foundation was created to improve student-athletes’ access to athletics through new courts and basketball clinics. Public outdoor courts are a great place for youth to learn hard work and foster other life skills, Connaughton said, adding that he hopes the courts at Meaux Park and the Warning League will provide a setting for “the next generation of student athletes to continue to grow, not just in their basketball skills, but those translatable to life skills.”

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