HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-9-22 Euless Articles
NBA player Myles Turner pledges up to $2M to
HEB ISD as Trinity arena takes his name
by Matthew SgroiSeptember 18, 2026 5:00 pm
A little orange ball has taken Myles Turner around the world.
It’s bounced him from Bedford to the University of Texas at Austin, through a decade with the
Indiana Pacers and now to the Milwaukee Bucks. But Turner told Hurst-Euless-Bedford trustees
that basketball has always brought him back to the place he calls home.
“Somehow I always found myself back in HEB,” Turner said.
Now — just 12 years after he graduated — the district where Turner grew up and learned the
game will put his name on the arena where another kid could start a journey of their own.
HEB ISD trustees Sept. 14 approved an agreement naming Trinity High School’s new arena the
Myles Turner Fieldhouse. The naming was paired with a pledge from the 2014 Trinity graduate
and NBA veteran of up to $2 million for athletics across the district. The vote was 6-0, with
trustee Becky Ewart absent.
Dobie Williams, deputy superintendent of business operations, told the Fort Worth Report the
pledge is the largest donation he has seen during his time with HEB ISD.
“Legacy is something that’s very important to me,” Turner told trustees. “It’s something I want to
carry as I watch the next Myles Turner, the next person in this community, make it to the next
level.”
That “next level” does not necessarily mean professional sports, Turner said. It could mean
becoming a doctor, firefighter, police officer or another person who brings community together.
Mark Villines, Turner’s former Trinity basketball coach who still leads the Trojans today, choked
up talking about his former student. He took a pause to compose himself, and told trustees that
Turner has remained connected to the community that helped shape him.
“No matter how far basketball has taken him, he has never forgotten where he came from,”
Villines said.
Turner plans to contribute $100,000 annually for 20 years through the HEB ISD Education
Foundation. He intentionally chose a long-term investment instead of giving the full amount at
once.
“I didn’t want it to be just a one-year, $2 million thing because when you can actually depend on
that funding year by year, you can start to plan stuff for the future,” Turner told the Report.
The money will stretch well beyond Trinity.
Each year, Trinity and L.D. Bell high schools are slated to receive $30,000 each for boys’ and
girls’ athletics, and Bedford, Central, Euless, Harwood and Hurst junior highs will each receive
$8,000. The district can also combine portions of the money for shared athletic equipment.
Turner wants students across the district to benefit, particularly at the junior high level, where he
began coming into his own as a star athlete, he said.
“I’m always going to be biased for Trinity, of course. But equal opportunity, to say the least,”
Turner said.
The $2 million pledge does come with a caveat. Since it is voluntary and not a legally
enforceable promise to pay, Turner can modify, suspend or terminate the pledge at any time.
Turner fully intends to make all 20 payments, he said.
“I feel like that’s just kind of lawyer talk and lawyer language,” Turner said, describing the
provision as protection for both sides.
In return, the district granted Turner exclusive naming rights to the arena. HEB ISD will install
the Myles Turner Fieldhouse name on the building and commission a relief sculpture of Turner
for the arena.
Renderings shown to trustees depicted Turner’s name above the entrance to the fieldhouse and
a display inside traced his path from Trinity to the Texas Longhorns and to the NBA. Students
would even be able to stand against a life-size graphic of the 6-foot-11 -inch athlete to compare
their wingspan with Turner’s, like measuring themselves against an eagle at the zoo.
“Measure up to Myles!” Superintendent Joe Harrington joked.
The arena is nearing completion and could begin hosting volleyball within about a month,
athletic director Mike Fielder said.
Turner wants his presence to extend beyond the name on the building, he said. The agreement
allows Turner and his nonprofit, Work as Role Models, or WARM, to use the arena for basketball
camps, practices, clinics and other activities through a separate facility-use agreement. He told
trustees he plans to return for basketball camps each summer.
“Being in person leaves such an impact that you can’t measure,” Turner told the Report. “If I’m
actually here, boots on the ground, making an impact, that’s, I think, the most important part
beyond that financially.”
He was once a “scared little sophomore” walking Trinity’s halls, unsure of what was ahead, he
told trustees.
“It still doesn’t feel real,” he said of seeing his name attached to the fieldhouse. “Still feels very
surreal.”
This upcoming NBA season, the 30-year-old Turner will be one of the Bucks’ most experienced
veterans, a role that could come with increased leadership responsibilities on a retooled roster.
He was also recently elected vice president of the National Basketball Players Association by
his peers. Turner credited HEB ISD with helping shape how he leads today.
“It wasn’t only being taught leadership, but being shown leadership,” Turner said. “Amazing
coaches, amazing teachers. They helped me shape who I am today.”
Trustees also approved a separate $15,000 donation from the Turner family for a grand piano
that district officials said is already being used by Trinity’s choir program.
Supporting the arts, alongside athletics, was another way of showing students that they do not
have to define themselves by one pursuit, Turner said.
“Basketball is not the only thing that makes me myself,” said Turner, an avid Lego lover.
“There’s a lot of other things that make me Myles Turner. I always want kids to know that.”
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at
matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1.