Q&A: Milwaukee Bucks icon Marques Johnson discusses relationship between his recovery and community involvement

Aug 25, 2024 10:47 pm

MarquesJohnson.08232024 — Marques Johnson. Photo submitted by Serenity Inns

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Last updated Aug 28, 2024 10:27 pm

Marques Johnson, a former Milwaukee Buck and five-time NBA All Star, turned his recovery from drug addiction into a mission of helping others. Johnson serves as a board member for Serenity Inns’ capital campaign for its new facility. Serenity Inns, a treatment center for men struggling with substance use disorder, recently hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony

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Marques Johnson, a former Milwaukee Buck and five-time NBA All Star, turned his recovery from drug addiction into a mission of helping others. Johnson serves as a board member for Serenity Inns’ capital campaign for its new facility. Serenity Inns, a treatment center for men struggling with substance use disorder, recently hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new 14-bed facility in Milwaukee’s Walnut Hill neighborhood. Johnson attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony before flying back home to Los Angeles, where he grew up and played basketball for UCLA. He has been a television broadcast game analyst for the Milwaukee Bucks since 2015. The team retired his number eight in 2019. BizTimes reporter Samantha Dietel spoke with Johnson about his involvement with Serenity Inns and how it aligns with his own path to recovery. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Can you tell me the story of how you got involved with Serenity Inns? “They were on my radar for years. I’ve been in recovery, active recovery, for 22 years now. And actually when I came back to Milwaukee in 2008, I went to a recovery based meeting in the morning on Prospect Avenue, and really liked the place. I was in town for just a short period of time. I got sober in 2002, so that’s about six years in or so. And so when I came back this time around, I was like, let me try and find this place that I went to that I enjoyed so much. It was a struggle initially. I saw a listing for a place on Prospect … and it turned out to be the place. And so this is like my regular place where I will go to meetings when I’m in town. My point is that there were a lot of minorities, African American, Hispanic, white, you know, the whole gamut. But a lot of African American men who were just getting started out in recovery, and they would always mention Serenity Inns — how they’re at Serenity Inns now, and working to go to a program at Serenity Inns. That’s how it first came on my radar. Last year, Ken Ginlack, the executive director, reached out to me and told me he wanted to talk to me, and so we met, and he told me about what was going on with the new recovery home that was a residential treatment facility that was opening up and how he wanted me to be involved in that, and they needed to raise funds for the completion and to keep it up and running. So it was just kind of a natural fit for me because of my familiarity with Serenity Inns and from so many guys that I had interacted with during my last 10 years in Milwaukee, became friends with, exchanged numbers with, called and talked to during their recovery process. So it was a natural fit for me, and when he asked me to come on board and just do what I could to help and be a part of the cabinet that’s trying to raise money for the new treatment facility. It was a no-brainer. “I think about the opioid issues that have plagued the Midwest — in all of America, but especially middle America — over the last 10 years or more, whatever it’s been. It was a dire need, in my mind, for as many opportunities for people who want to get into recovery as possible to take advantage of. The thing about Serenity Inns is that it’s the only facility, I believe, in the Milwaukee area that if you don’t have the insurance or the finances to pay for it, they don’t turn you away. And that’s really important because a lot of times with addiction and substance use disorder, we find that the financial aspect is one of the first things, along with the dignity and your self-dignity and everything else, but that’s always a recurring issue, just keeping gainful employment. And so it’s just so many things about Serenity Inns that I’ve heard about the last 10 years, and then when I started doing a deep dive into it when I got involved with Ken and the organization, it just made me even more confident that this was the place that I needed to be.” Can you tell me more about your service as a board member for this campaign? What do you bring to the board? What does your service on the board look like? “I got to give credit to Ken and the people that actually do the day-to-day … legwork to raise the funding necessary to make this a first-class facility. Basically, I’m using my name and my notoriety as a Bucks player, a Bucks player who had his number retired, as a Bucks announcer who was — as Peter Feigin, president of the Bucks, likes to say — kind of one of the faces of the Milwaukee Bucks, because of my presence in the media. … That’s mainly my role, and to do whatever I’m asked to do. And that’s just been basically to suit up and show up to different events, to speak when I’m asked to, to do TV interviews, when I’m asked to do print interviews, radio interviews. “I try to generate as much public relations, good PR, for Serenity Inns as possible so that when people think about giving money, donating, whether it’s from the corporate level or individual level — not that they need any stamp of legitimacy, but just that name recognition will be more prevalent, and maybe something that could help them decide to whether to give or not give, or how much to give or not give, based on the fact that not only am I associating with Serenity Inns, but because of my personal story. I’ve gone through recovery and dealt with substance use disorder myself, and put together 22 years of sobriety. And just a big proponent of the recovery process and the good it can do, how it can change your life around, change my life around from where I was 22 years ago to where I am now. I think people look at that as a testament of good and are willing to commit financially more so in that area.” What does your involvement with Serenity Inns mean to you? “It just means that one of the big tenets of recovery is that it’s an altruistic of a process. So we like to say, ‘You’ve got to give it away to keep it.’ When I was in the throes of my substance use disorder, I had a guy come by my house at the behest of a high school friend of mine, and he had overcome a heroin addiction, and so he came by my house, and spent a good two hours talking to me about his time in recovery. He had 20 plus years sober at that time, and his name was James. He came and talked to me and just kind of walked me through what the process was about. And then after it was over — and here’s the part of the story that’s most important. I’m ready to pull out my checkbook and ask, you know, ‘Well, how much is this costing for you to come by and talk to me?’ He said, ‘It doesn’t cost you anything.’ He said, ‘I’m doing this more for myself than I’m doing it for you. This is part of my recovery process. It keeps me sober, reaching out to other people who are going through what I went through.’ And so that’s my outlook on what I’m doing now. It’s all about giving back to a program, to a process that may have saved my life, but at the very least has enhanced the quality of my life — so much that I can’t even describe — these past 22 years. This gratitude that I have for the recovery process is what drives me, is what motivates me. I want to see … other people that are struggling with this disease find a way to recovery and make their lives better, make their family lives better. Serenity Inns with this holistic approach of dealing with the mind, body, dealing with the finances, I mean, just the whole gamut — it just really does a tremendous job of bringing back some dignity, some self-dignity, to people who are in the throes of this disease. And that’s the first thing that goes. Your dignity goes out the window. And so we can bring a little bit of that back and help men in the Milwaukee area recover in the process.” How does your personal journey with drug use influence your efforts to support others who are struggling? “It’s a natural connection because I understand better than someone who has not been down this road just how difficult it is to get a handle on substance use disorder. It’s a tough, tough situation to kind of pull yourself out of. And without the love and support, first of all, starting with family and friends and people that are close to you, but then having outreach groups and support groups around, and groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and Cocaine Anonymous, groups like that, having that around to help support in the process of trying to stay on this road to recovery. The bottom line, more than anything, is that here I am, 22 years into it, and this is the best life that I could ever imagine in terms of just what I’m doing, working for a great organization, … but to then be put in a position where I can get out into the community and interact and interface with substance use disorder sufferers on a daily basis and exchange phone numbers, and communicate and talk and support and walk through difficult times, and share the benefit of my experience and how I walk through what I walk through. It gets overwhelming when I think about just how privileged I’ve been to be in this position to give back what I can give back, and most of that is my time and my experience. We call it our experience, strength and hope, is what I give back more than anything else. And again, Ken Ginlack and the other people, they do a lot of the footwork. What I do is just try and be there to support in any way that I can.” What are your thoughts on the opening of the new Serenity Inns facility? “Man, I was blown away, just in terms of the participation, the people that showed up. It was a packed house. … I was there on behalf of myself, on behalf of the Bucks to support it. When you have an event like this, and I’ve been knowing about the ribbon-cutting for months now, you just never know if it’s going to be a sparse turnout of 15 to 20 people, or if it’s going to be a jam packed room. And we were blessed to have a jam packed room and great media coverage. I think Ken, he told me that they raised a substantial amount of money just that day to help support the cause, and that’s what it’s all about, just continuing to keep the coffers full, because there’s so many good things that that financial assistance can bring to bear. We’re trying to get some money to expand the weight room and the gym that’s in the facility. Now, the whole deal is that you want to have a first-class operation, because you want these men who are suffering from substance use disorder to feel good about themselves and come into a place that’s brand new, that’s got brand new equipment, that’s got all of the amenities in it already. That costs money, but they’ve got all the amenities, and that’s a place that’s going to be a magnet for guys that are going through what they’re going through. And they’re going to tell people that they know that maybe want to get some help, that this is the place you need to come to, because it’s first-class. They do a great job, and it’s really helped me. So that’s the whole concept is that you want to try and bring as much positive attention as possible to places like Serenity Inns so that it does become this magnet, this place where men in Milwaukee can go to get the help that they need.” Why do you think the opening of this new facility is important? “Well, just additional space to help more people. I think the number is about 56 to 60 additional men can be served during the course of a year. And that it doesn’t make a major dent in terms of the overall number of men in the Milwaukee area, probably, that need help, but at the same time, you do what you can do. And so they, I think, expanded to another 14 beds or so, but also just the other things that they’re doing in terms of job training, in terms of physical fitness, in terms of helping guys connect with whatever spirituality that they want to connect with on their terms, to try to help them stay sober. It’s just so many good things that happen out of a place like this and so that’s the importance of having the city donate the land, and the fundraising efforts to provide the finances to build, and then the ribbon-cutting to open up. I’ve talked to, in my interface and interaction, with guys who were struggling with substance use disorder, and when you ask them about Serenity Inns, their faces light up in terms of what that place has meant to them and their recovery. So that’s when you know that it’s doing some positive good, and that’s when you know that you’ve associated yourself with the place that has been a real positive in the Milwaukee area.” Is there anything else about your involvement with Serenity Inns or anything about the new facility that you think is important for me to know? “I’m just honored and privileged to be able to take what I’ve been through, to take a negative that was in my life, and to turn it into something positive, and that’s what the recovery process is all about. It’s given others the benefit of your experience, whether it’s through verbal communication, whether it’s through action, whether it’s a combination of all the above. And so that’s where I’m really excited and privileged to be associated with a place like Serenity Inns, because it gives me that opportunity, it gives me that foundational centerpiece type of an organization to associate myself with. They do such great work that it’s just a privilege and an honor to be associated with them.”

Q&A: Milwaukee Bucks icon Marques Johnson discusses relationship between his recovery and community involvement

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