The Great Escape

His close friends noticed a change in Butler, though, after he attended the Spiece Run 'N Slam AAU Tournament at Purdue University in 1998. He led Bray Center to the tournament title and won MVP honors, besting teams featuring future NBA players Darius Miles, Corey Maggette, Quentin Richardson and Dwyane Wade. "He was a totally different dude," West said. "He said, 'I got something to prove.' He wasn't the same person."

Butler realized, finally, that he needed to leave Racine.

He asked a local drug dealer, James "J-Fee" Harris, for nearly $5,000 to pay the tuition at Maine Central Institute, a prep school Ghuari recommended to Butler when his eligibility with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association expired before his senior season. "He said, 'Get off these streets,' and gave it to me," Butler said of Harris. "No strings attached."

Harris is now imprisoned in Indiana.

Butler spent two years at MCI in tiny Pittsfield, Maine, to repair the academic transcripts damaged by his incarceration and to polish his skills on the court.

Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun was familiar with Butler's past but never had any concerns while recruiting him. Coming from South Boston, Calhoun said, he could "sympathize with the streets a bit. With Caron, all you had to do was meet him. He was one of the best people I've ever coached."

After leading Connecticut to the round of eight in the NCAA tournament and scoring 32 points in a loss against eventual champion Maryland, Butler declared for the NBA draft following his sophomore season. The Miami Heat selected him 10th in 2002. He was traded twice in his first three seasons -- to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Wizards -- and says Washington has become a second home for him.

He lives in Centreville with his wife of more than two years, Andrea, and their 3-year-old daughter, Mia. His two other children, Camary, 12, and son, Caron Jr., 7, live in Racine. Butler provides financial support and visits them when he goes home in the offseason. He bought his mother a home on Lake Michigan in the northeast section of Racine, the city Butler refuses to abandon.

In the absence of the injured Gilbert Arenas, Butler has taken a greater leadership role and is having his best season as a pro, despite an injury that will keep him from playing in today's game. Butler still keeps memories of his friends close to him, though. After scoring 29 points in a win against Toronto on Dec. 1, Butler walked out of the locker room, slipped a newspaper out of his suit and smiled.

"Guilty," Butler said as he rolled up the paper and gripped it tightly. The day before, a jury had found Davion Davis of Racine guilty of shooting and killing another one of Butler's friends, Robert Nellom, in May 2006 at the Two Six Two Lounge, just a few blocks from Hamilton Park.

Last August, a fourth member of Butler's original group of friends, Antonio Strong, also was shot and killed.

"You see all that and you see people before they die, it's a question you ask yourself, like 'Why did God spare me like this, when I was out doing the same thing?' I can't stand going home and having to bury one of my friends. This gotta stop," he said.

"I just try to live life, live it the right way, live every day like it's your last. Seeing all the crazy stuff in the world, you've got to truly, truly take advantage of the time you're given here."

In September, Butler gave away about 700 coats to children at Gilmore Middle School in Racine after doing the same thing at a different school a year earlier. He also has given away bicycles and held a basketball camp. Such efforts led Racine Mayor Gary Becker to proclaim June 8 "Caron Butler Day." Emotional during much of the ceremony, Butler finally broke down, openly weeping upon receiving a plaque from Becker.

After the coat giveaway, Butler walked through his old neighborhood. Drivers passing by honked or shouted, "CB!" Butler waved and shouted back.

"I was [doing] some wild stuff out here," Butler said, pausing on the corner of 18th and Howe. "I walk this corner so proudly because I came from this block. I skipped school to be out here. My history is right here. Some things have changed [for me] from a growth standpoint and a money standpoint, but I'm still humble.

"I'm going to do whatever I can in my ability to not mess this up. . . . You try your best to do positives, do the right thing, influence kids not to go down the path you went down. When are people going to learn? You don't always have to be the same as you once was. That's why they call it mature. People change. People grow up."

In the years following his decision to set Butler free, Geller's colleagues often expressed their disapproval, believing Butler would never reform. The shouts that he would regret his decision eventually quieted to whispers, Geller said.

Geller runs into Butler's mother every so often in Racine and the two are on good terms. Geller and Caron have not spoken since that day. A few years ago Geller's wife, Heidi, bought him an autographed picture of Butler and it now sits on his desk. He often attends Milwaukee Bucks games and last month when they played the Wizards, he and Heidi were in the stands with their son, Sawyer, 10. Sawyer is only allowed to wear two NBA jerseys, the one worn by Bucks star Michael Redd and the one worn by the player his father could have arrested a decade earlier.

"The good that has come out of it has benefited this community a whole lot more than Caron's arrest would have," Geller said. "There is the thought, once a thug, always a thug. That isn't true. I've come to learn that."