By Joe Vincent | FAB44TV Insider

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On a late August morning in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the 25th Street gym buzzes with something more than the echoes of bouncing basketballs. A line of children snakes out of Northside High School, clutching white camp T‑shirts and pizza coupons. Parents mill around under banners that read “Shooters Shoot,” talking about an NBA championship that, for the first time, belongs to their town’s own son. Inside, Isaiah Joe waits under one of the rims, grinning as he laces a camper’s high-tops. At 26, Joe has already fulfilled a childhood dream by bringing an NBA title back to the state that raised him public.fortsmithchamber.com. Now he’s here to plant more of them.

Joe, a 6-foot-4 marksman who grew up shooting jumpers in Fort Smith parks, spent this summer climbing basketball’s highest mountain. Drafted 49th overall in 2020 and waived once before catching on with the Oklahoma City Thunder, he turned into one of the league’s most lethal bench snipers, drilling 41.2% of his threes and 82.1% of his free throws during the 2024‑25 season basketball-reference.com. When the Thunder toppled the Indiana Pacers in a seven-game Finals classic, Joe became part of Oklahoma City lore. Three days later he was back home, riding in an orange convertible down Garrison Avenue, the Larry O’Brien Trophy tucked in his arms as Fort Smith mayor George B. McGill declared July 24 “Jaylin Williams and Isaiah Joe Day”. “We would not be able to do it without you guys,” Joe told the crowd kuaf.com.

But Joe’s mission isn’t just about parades and proclamations. Ten summers ago he was one of the skinny kids at camps like this, dreaming of playing at Bud Walton Arena and beyond. He made that dream come true, leading Northside to a 7A state championship, earning Gatorade Arkansas Boys Basketball Player of the Year honors and breaking Arkansas’ single-season three-point record for a freshman at the University of Arkansas dosouthmag.com isaiahjoe.com. Those who watched him remember the ritual: 1,000 makes after practice, relentless sessions with his father, Derrick, and coach Bill Ingram.

“He’d shoot until his arms were sore,” his high school coach Eric Burnett once said dosouthmag.com. The work ethic turned Joe from a local legend into a pro.

So when Joe and his family announced the “Shooters Shoot” camp two years ago, people listened. The idea was simple: open Northside’s gym to boys and girls ages 6–14 for a day of shooting instruction, ball handling drills and life lessons public.fortsmithchamber.com. It costs $50 for younger kids and $75 for older ones, but 15 spots in each session are reserved for Fort Smith Boys and Girls Club members, and scholarships were added this year for a new Spirit Squad, an inclusive cheer group that gets the same T‑shirt, meal and photo op as the players. A free camp T‑shirt and water bottle sit on every chair; pizza arrives between stations fortkidschildrensmuseum.com. The mission statement stresses that 100% of the proceeds go to local nonprofits isaiahjoe.com “we’re going to impact the people who impacted me,” Joe says.

Fort Kids Children’s Museum was the chosen beneficiary in 2025, and the camp raised $30,000 toward building a hands‑on museum on the banks of the Arkansas River 5newsonline.com. Sarah Strom, Fort Kids’ founder, stood near midcourt as Joe high-fived his way between drills and said she couldn’t have scripted it better. “We want every kid to be able to come in and find something that sparks their curiosity,” she said of the museum’s STEM and art exhibits 5newsonline.com. “Partnering with the Joe family was an easy choice”5newsonline.com.

The coaches joining Joe on the floor included a rotating cast of professional trainers, local high school legends and members of the Arkansas Hawks program, which Joe’s father now runs as president isaiahjoe.com arkansashawks.org. They worked through step-back drills and footwork sequences as Joe pulled aside players to adjust elbow angles or foot spacing. During one break, he explained the importance of repetition: “If you want to shoot 40%, you better make 40% of your reps in here.” He laughed when a boy asked to see the championship ring. “Still at the jeweler,” he said. “Next year.”

As the afternoon wound down, Joe gathered the camp at half court. He reminded them that he was once the kid sneaking into gyms during Arkansas summers, that the difference between potential and reality is time and belief. He talked about the late nights on Northside’s wooden floor, the burn in his shoulders from those thousand-shot routines. “You have to love the process,” he said. And then, a nod to his younger self: “Don’t let anyone tell you dreams born in Fort Smith are too small.”

What makes Joe’s homecoming resonate isn’t just the presence of a trophy or a headline. It’s the confluence of legacy and future. His father, Derrick Joe, keeps the Arkansas Hawks pipeline humming; Bill Ingram, founder of the Real Deal in the Rock and now chairman of the Hawks, offers a network that has sent dozens of players to college arkansashawks.org. The Hawks’ vice-president, Selandria Jackson, led the camp’s energy, encouraging kids and keeping rotations on track, though she’d deflect any credit.

With Northside’s scoreboard turned off, the camp shifts the emphasis from outcome to process, from points to possibilities.

At a glance, the camp is a tidy snapshot of an NBA star giving back. But zoom out and it’s something bigger. Joe’s Shooters Shoot camp stands as a bridge between Fort Smith’s past and its future. It celebrates a local kid who became an NBA champion and now invests that success into his hometown. It seeds a children’s museum that could inspire another generation of engineers, scientists and artists. It renews the connection between Arkansas’ grassroots hoops community and the pros it produces. It says, without pretense, that dreamers from small towns can do big things—and then come back to build more dreams.

Sources

• Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce listing detailing date, sessions and partnership with Fort Kids public.fortsmithchamber.com.
• Session schedules and scholarship information from the same listing public.fortsmithchamber.com.
• Camp mission, coach composition and charitable pledge from Isaiah Joe’s official site isaiahjoe.com.
• Fort Kids event page outlining camp amenities fortkidschildrensmuseum.com.
• 5NEWS report confirming the camp raised $30,000 and quoting Sarah Strom 5newsonline.com.
• Do South Magazine profile highlighting Joe’s high school achievements and work ethic dosouthmag.com.
• Isaiah Joe camp biography and college achievements isaiahjoe.com.
• Basketball‑Reference statistics for Joe’s 2024–25 shooting percentages basketball-reference.com.
• KUAF transcript of “Thunder in the Fort” noting Joe carried the trophy and the mayor’s proclamation kuaf.com.
• Arkansas Hawks leadership listing confirming Bill Ingram, Derrick Joe and Selandria Jackson’s roles abcladyhawksbball.com.

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