For San Antonio Spurs forward Harrison Barnes, "Home Club" is the Boys & Girls Clubs of Story County in Ames, Iowa. Ames is a small city of about 66,000 people, about half of whom are students at Iowa State University.
Barnes became the No. 1 player in the nation at Ames High School, winning back-to-back Iowa 4A state championships. A city with cold winters and basketball courts that once left much to be desired.
While Barnes can't fix the cold, he is changing the basketball scene in Ames. Barnes helped back the Club's $7 million expansion, increasing capacity and better serving children in the area. Barnes' name isn't on that court, but it's on several others.
The latest court to don Barnes' name is the outdoor court at the Boys & Girls Home Club on the Sheth Family Campus in Austin, Texas, roughly 100 miles Northeast of the Frost Bank Center.
"This is significantly nicer than anything I had growing up," Barnes said Wednesday to the Club Kids sitting in clumps awaiting their chance to be the first to play on it. "I hope you guys appreciate that."
Just moments after Barnes cut the ribbon to officially open the Harrison and Brittany Barnes Community Funds court, kids lined up on both ends of the court to participate in shooting drills with the veteran and the Spurs Coyote.
They missed often, just as Barnes once did, as a former Club Kid himself. It's what has kept him coming back to Boys & Girls Clubs across the nation during his 13-year NBA career.
"I've been in their shoes," Barnes said. "To be able to, all these years later, come back to Boys & Girls Clubs in different markets that I've played in and give back, it (makes) me smile."
Barnes' contributions to Boys & Girls Clubs date back to his time with the Golden State Warriors, who drafted Barnes with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. Barnes served on the board of trustees for the Club in Oakland from 2014 to 2024.
Once he and his wife, Brittany, got married in the summer of 2017, following his first season in Dallas, the couple began donating to Clubs in Oakland, Dallas, and Sacramento through their community fund.
Despite only being a Spur for one season thus far, Barnes has added San Antonio and Austin to that list. To Barnes, continuing a long-standing Spurs tradition was of paramount importance.
"The Spurs are synonymous with their community," Barnes said, "whether it's Austin or San Antonio. Continuing that tradition of being a Spurs player and giving back is important to me."
Barnes first left Ames in 2010, going to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to compete for the UNC Tar Heels. Over a decade later, Ames High School now features the Harrison Barnes Gymnasium and Court, where Barnes regularly hosts basketball camps.
"I’m a living example of the happiness and success that our young people can achieve when they’re supported and cared for," Barnes said. "I wouldn't be here, not only without the Boys & Girls Club, but without all the people that helped me and poured into me."
Barnes continues to be an inspiration for kids in Boys and Girls clubs around the nation.
"When you see the success of someone like Harrison, for the kids, it's: 'I can do that, too,'" Austin Area Boys & Girls Club CEO Zenae Campbell added. "At the club, we're able to nurture that ... that's what we want to instill."