# ABCD Camp

The ABCD Basketball Camp was a youth basketball camp founded by Sonny Vaccaro that was held from 1984 to 2006. The camp gathered the highest ranked high school players of the United States, and was considered one of the top events of high school basketball. ABCD stood for Academic Betterment and Career Development.

## History

The ABCD Camp was founded in 1984 by Sonny Vaccaro and was sponsored by Nike. The camp took place every year in the month of July usually lasting 4–5 days, and was held in different locations in the initial years, among which the Bren Events Center at UC Irvine in 1992 and at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1993 before moving to the Rothman Center, at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Hackensack, New Jersey, where the camp was held from 1994 until its final edition in 2006.
The camp was sponsored by the corporations Vaccaro was signed to: from 1984 to 1992 Nike was the sponsor; in 1993 the camp was under the Converse brand, while from 1994 to 2003 Adidas was the sponsor. After 2003, Vaccaro had a deal with Reebok that lasted until the last edition of the camp in 2006. Several college coaches attended ABCD Camp during their recruitment process of high school players: among them Bob Bender, Jim Boeheim, P. J. Carlesimo, Joe Harrington and Mike Krzyzewski. NBA scouts also participated and in some cases, camp participants were drafted out of high school, for instance Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Jermaine O'Neal, Tracy McGrady, Kwame Brown, Eddy Curry, Sebastian Telfair and Gerald Green.

## Sponsorships

* 1984–1992: Nike
* 1993: Converse
* 1994–2003: Adidas
* 2004–2006: Reebok

## Camp MVPs

| Year | Class | Player | High School | State |
| 1992 | Seniors | Antonio McDyess | Quitman | Mississippi |
| 1992 | Underclassmen | Felipe López | Rice | New York |
| 1993 | Seniors | Willie Mitchell | Detroit Pershing | Michigan |
| 1993 | Underclassmen | Lester Earl | Glen Oaks | Louisiana |
| 1993 | Underclassmen | Stephon Marbury | Abraham Lincoln | New York |
| 1994 | Seniors | Stephon Marbury | Abraham Lincoln | New York |
| 1994 | Underclassmen | Tim Thomas | Paterson Catholic | New Jersey |
| 1995 | Seniors | Kobe Bryant | Lower Merion | Pennsylvania |
| 1995 | Underclassmen | Khalid El-Amin | Minneapolis North | Minnesota |
| 1996 | Seniors | Dion Glover | Cedar Grove | Georgia |
| 1996 | Seniors | Anthony Perry | St. Anthony | New Jersey |
| 1996 | Underclassmen | Clarence Gilbert | Dillard | Florida |
| 1996 | Underclassmen | Stromile Swift | Fair Park | Louisiana |
| 1997 | Seniors | Rashard Lewis | Elsik | Texas |
| 1997 | Underclassmen | DerMarr Johnson | Maine Central Institute | Maine |
| 1998 | Seniors | Leon Smith | Martin Luther King | Illinois |
| 1998 | Underclassmen | Alton Ford | Milby | Texas |
| 1999 | Seniors | Taliek Brown | St. John's Prep | New York |
| 1999 | Seniors | Avery Queen | Maine Central Institute | Maine |
| 1999 | Underclassmen | Apolinar Fernandez | Artesia | California |
| 1999 | Underclassmen | T. J. Ford | Willowridge | Texas |
| 2000 | Seniors | Billy Edelin | Oak Hill Academy | Virginia |
| 2000 | Seniors | Mo Williams | Murrah | Mississippi |
| 2000 | Underclassmen | Lenny Cooke | Northern Valley Regional | New Jersey |
| 2000 | Underclassmen | Charlie Rodríguez | Clovis West | California |
| 2001 | Seniors | DeAngelo Collins | Inglewood | California |
| 2001 | Seniors | Antonio Lawrence | San Joaquin Memorial | California |
| 2001 | Underclassmen | LeBron James | St. Vincent–St. Mary | Ohio |
| 2001 | Underclassmen | Sebastian Telfair | Abraham Lincoln | New York |
| 2002 | Seniors | Travis Outlaw | Starkville | Mississippi |
| 2002 | Seniors | Charlie Villanueva | Blair Academy | New Jersey |
| 2002 | Underclassmen | Sebastian Telfair | Abraham Lincoln | New York |
| 2002 | Underclassmen | Darius Washington Jr. | Edgewater | Florida |
| 2003 | Seniors | Shaun Livingston | Peoria | Illinois |
| 2003 | Seniors | Josh Smith | Oak Hill Academy | Virginia |
| 2003 | Underclassmen | Tasmin Mitchell | Denham Springs | Louisiana |
| 2003 | Underclassmen | Brandon Rush | Mount Zion Christian Academy | North Carolina |
| 2004 | Seniors | Danny Green | St. Mary's | New York |
| 2004 | Seniors | Monta Ellis | Lanier | Mississippi |
| 2004 | Underclassmen | Derrick Caracter | St. Patrick | New Jersey |
| 2004 | Underclassmen | Greg Oden | Lawrence North | Indiana |
| 2005 | Seniors | Damion James | Nacogdoches | Texas |
| 2005 | Seniors | Greg Oden | Lawrence North | Indiana |
| 2005 | Underclassmen | Kevin Love | Lake Oswego | Oregon |
| 2005 | Underclassmen | O. J. Mayo | North College Hill | Ohio |
| 2006 | Seniors | DeAndre Jordan | Christian Life Center Academy | Texas |
| 2006 | Seniors | Taylor King | Mater Dei | California |
| 2006 | Seniors | Kevin Love | Lake Oswego | Oregon |
| 2006 | Seniors | O. J. Mayo | Huntington | West Virginia |
| 2006 | Seniors | Bill Walker | North College Hill | Ohio |
| 2006 | Underclassmen | William Buford | Libbey | Ohio |
| 2006 | Underclassmen | Drew Gordon | Archbishop Mitty | California |

## Notable players

The players mentioned have at least 1 All-Star selection in the NBA or were lottery picks in the NBA draft.
* Shareef Abdur-Rahim
* Cole Aldrich
* Carmelo Anthony
* Gilbert Arenas
* Chauncey Billups
* Carlos Boozer
* Chris Bosh
* Kwame Brown
* Kobe Bryant
* Marcus Camby
* Sam Cassell
* Derrick Coleman
* Mike Conley
* Eddy Curry
* Mike Dunleavy Jr.
* Jonny Flynn
* Randy Foye
* Kevin Garnett
* Ben Gordon
* Eddie Griffin
* Penny Hardaway
* Tim Hardaway
* James Harden
* Allan Houston
* Dwight Howard
* Juwan Howard
* LeBron James
* Brandon Jennings
* DerMarr Johnson
* Joe Johnson
* DeAndre Jordan
* Jason Kidd
* Christian Laettner
* Shaun Livingston
* Rashard Lewis
* Kevin Love
* Stephon Marbury
* Kenyon Martin
* Jamal Mashburn
* O. J. Mayo
* Antonio McDyess
* Tracy McGrady
* Alonzo Mourning
* Jameer Nelson
* Joakim Noah
* Jermaine O'Neal
* Shaquille O'Neal
* Greg Oden
* Lamar Odom
* Tony Parker
* Paul Pierce
* Jason Richardson
* Glenn Robinson
* Derrick Rose
* Jalen Rose
* Jerry Stackhouse
* Damon Stoudamire
* Stromile Swift
* Wally Szczerbiak
* Sebastian Telfair
* Isaiah Thomas
* Tim Thomas
* Robert Traylor
* Antoine Walker
* Gerald Wallace
* Rasheed Wallace
* Chris Webber
* Chris Wilcox
* Yi Jianlian