WASHINGTON — Dwyane Wade is accustomed to getting the star treatment. But the Miami Heat guard found himself nearly speechless Friday when he fulfilled a long-time goal of meeting President Barack Obama at the White House.

“It was an unbelievable dream come true,” Wade said, a smile spreading across his face. “We are both from Chicago. I’ve always wanted to get the opportunity to meet him, just to see what kind of person he is.
“When he came in the room, he said ’D. Wade!’ The way his face lit up to meet me had me speechless. I’ve never been that excited to meet a human being before.”
Wade and former Heat teammate Alonzo Mourning gathered with notable fathers from around the country to help Obama project a message about the responsibilities of fatherhood.
They talked about mentoring and the need to inspire youth to reach for success. And they took a moment to chat about basketball.
“He talked hoops with all of us. It was myself and Alonzo. Etan Thomas from the Washington Wizards was there,” Wade recalled. “He (Obama) said, ’We’ve got a heckuva four right here. We’ll take on anybody.’ “
But they didn’t talk long, nor did they actually get out a basketball. They had work to do.
“We had to get out and do what we came here to do,” Wade said, “and that is talk to the kids and fathers. He (the president) said, ’We’ll get together later.”’
Wade and Obama didn’t get to play any basketball together ... this time.
“He asked me would I come back and play?” Wade said. “He said he had a commitment from LeBron (James). I said he had another one.”
Obama took nearly a full day from his busy schedule to focus on mentoring and the value of keeping fathers at home and families intact.
“I say that as someone who grew up without a father in my own household,” Obama said during a ’town hall’ discussion at the White House. “That’s something that leaves a hole in a child’s heart that the government can’t fill.”
Obama and Wade have much in common.
Both hail from the south side of Chicago. Both love basketball. And both are black fathers who achieved nationwide fame.
But while Obama has a solid marriage with two young daughters, Wade is struggling through a contentious divorce that limits his time with two young sons.
Wade filed for the dissolution of his marriage in the circuit court of Cook County, Ill., on Nov. 26, 2007, with his young sons Zaire and Zion spending the majority of their time with his wife, Siohvaughn, in Chicago.
In an April interview, Wade said, “Sometimes it’s all about patience, and at the right time, things will eventually come around. It’s tough. I love my boys. They are me.”
Mourning was a surprise late addition to the lineup of fathers who fanned out from the White House to meet with community groups that provide mentoring to boys.
Wade and Mourning went to a working-class neighborhood on the northeast fringes of Washington, a world away from the White House, to talk with about three dozen young boys, nearly all of them growing up without fathers present.
“The President really made you feel comfortable in his house,” said Mourning, who spoke with Obama at a Democratic fundraiser Thursday night and had breakfast with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi on Friday. “We walked into the White House like it was our own house.”
Mourning stressed the value of education, noting that his degree from Georgetown University gave him “a backup” once his basketball career had ended.
The NBA stars folded their long bodies into short chairs to form a circle with the boys, and they clapped together to the beat of an African drum.
“I grew up in the inner-city as well,” Wade told the boys. “I grew up in Chicago, where there was a lot of violence, a lot of drug use. I decided it wasn’t cool for me to do that. So I spent my time playing basketball. I befriended the basketball court. And that became my home away from home.”
The boys gave Wade an honorary soul name: “Righteous Warrior.”
Wade raised his right fist in the air to salute them, then went around the circle to shake every child’s hand.