Dwyane Wade pledging $3 million donation to Marquette

Dwyane Wade is donating $3 million to Marquette just over two decades after leading the Golden Eagles to their last Final Four appearance.

Marquette announced the gift Monday as the Hall of Fame guard attended the 17th-ranked Golden Eagles’ game with Villanova.

“I’ve always talked about, when a door opens, not squeezing through that door and letting it close by me – holding it open,” Wade said at a halftime news conference. “This is an opportunity to hold that door open for our next generation.”

Wade’s gift will grow the school’s summer reading program for Milwaukee children, establish a Wade Scholars program benefiting low-income students and expand the university’s athletic and human performance research center, which will include a new practice facility for the men’s basketball program.