The following story is from the Summer 2026 edition of the "Roar Report" that came out July 7. It is authored by Gary D'Amato, the former longtime sportswriter and columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who joined the staff as the feature writer for the Roar Report in the Fall of 2018.

Three Paths, One Purpose
 
They were three of the best basketball players to come out of Wisconsin high schools in the late 1990s.
 
Julian Swartz, a 1999 graduate of Waukesha South, scored 2,123 points for the Blackshirts, was the Associated Press Player of the Year as a senior and was inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2021.
 
Jose Winston, a 1998 graduate of Milwaukee Vincent, led the Vikings to three consecutive WIAA state titles (1996-'98) and a 92-11 record over that span. He was ranked as the fourth-best point guard in the nation as a senior.
 
Ben Walker, a 1996 Oak Creek graduate, went on to be a four-year starter at Creighton and helped the Bluejays reach the NCAA Tournament in three consecutive seasons before embarking on a professional career.
 
Now, flash forward more than a quarter-century. When you look at end of Milwaukee's bench, you'll see the trio sitting together. In a rare confluence of three prep stars of the same vintage returning to their roots, all are assistant coaches on head Coach Bart Lundy's staff.
 
"To have Coach Lundy as our leader and have Ben and Julian as assistant coaches, as well, and then you add the rest of the staff … it's been an incredible experience for me," Winston said. "I wouldn't change this experience for anything in the world."
 
Winston and Walker joined Lundy's staff in May and August of 2022, respectively. In 2024, Winston was elevated to associate coach and Walker to associate head coach. Swartz joined the program as a special assistant to Lundy in 2025 and recently was promoted to assistant coach.
 
It's not as if the three didn't know each other before winding up on the same college staff. In fact, it's a reunion of sorts.
 
Winston and Swartz played on the same AAU basketball team as pre-teens. As a high school freshman, Swartz faced Walker, then a senior, on the football field. And Walker knew he was following in the footsteps of two outstanding athletes.
 
"I knew Jose more than I knew Jules (Swartz)," Walker said. "We'd be in the inner city, playing at Lincoln Park and McGovern. I always ran into Jose, and a few of his friends were friends of mine growing up. Jules said he got me when he was a freshman. I just don't remember it."
 
Winston was a three-year starter at Colorado before transferring to Milwaukee for what turned out to be a memorable final college season. He was a member of the 2002-'03 team and helped the Panthers claim the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.
 
"For me, it was a year filled with ups and downs," he said. "I had a lot of things going on in my family. But it was one of the most memorable years I've had in basketball. I played with amazing dudes, amazing guys. … To be the first (UWM) team to play in the NCAA Tournament and to represent the university and the city and the state, it's one of my fondest memories, by far."
 
Walker brought more than 20 years of coaching experience at the NCAA Division I and junior college levels to Milwaukee. He was an assistant at Jackson State, South Dakota State and, most recently, Tennessee State from 2018-'22.
 
Walker's professional career included stops in Qatar, Latvia, Australia and Norway. He also suited up for two teams in the Continental Basketball Association and had tryouts with the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers.
 
"I think those experiences helped me relate to different people, different nationalities, different cultures," he said. "I had to learn different languages. I had to learn different players and different styles of play. And so, I think it's really helped me, being able to build relationships with different people."
 
Walker also was a standout running back at Oak Creek, though he played only his senior season. In a story that sounds almost apocryphal, one of the coaches took one look at Walker in gym class and asked him to join the team.
 
"I said, 'Sure, I'll do it,'" said Walker, who lived in Milwaukee and bused to Oak Creek as part of the Chapter 220 Program. "It was something to do to keep me out of the inner city."
 
Said Swartz, "As good as Ben was at basketball, he could have been even better at football. He was electric. He could have gone on to play for the Badgers and in the NFL. He was that good."
 
Walker had football offers from seven Big Ten schools, but was not tempted.
 
"Not at all," he said. "I knew I wasn't going to play football. I got hit one time playing Mukwonago in high school. I still remember it to this day. A linebacker hit me. He was a Big Ten linebacker. Hit me so hard it changed my whole mind about football in general. I was like, no way I'm going to play that game."
 
Swartz, a member of the University of Wisconsin team that advanced to the 2000 Final Four, has more than two decades of coaching experience at the NCAA Division I level, most recently at Georgia Tech (2016-'23). He lost his job when head coach Josh Pastnor was fired in March 2023.
 
"And so, I came back to Milwaukee," he said. "I had been gone 11 years, four at Memphis and seven at Georgia Tech. And I'm single, so what really brought me back was family. I came to some practices and games and got to know Coach Lundy a little bit. I just became a huge fan. I thought I'd volunteer and become part of the program."
 
Swartz, Winston and Walker obviously have deep roots in Wisconsin and strong ties to Milwaukee. Their institutional knowledge of basketball in the state and friendships with many high school coaches are a bonus when it comes to recruiting. Winston, in fact, had successful coaching stints at Brown Deer High School and at Kenosha St. Joseph.
 
"When you're recruiting and you're talking about Milwaukee, you've got three guys that have lived it and they bleed Milwaukee," Swartz said. "It's not like you're coming from a different place and you're trying to sell it. I mean, this is home for all three of us. You talk about pride, of being at a special place and just bleeding it and how much we love it … and ultimately, we want to make it a success."
 
All three were drawn to Milwaukee in large part because of Lundy.
 
"I think he is an elite coach," Swartz said. "I think he's a Hall of Fame coach, but an even better person. In the practices and the games, watching from afar, that was somebody I would love to have as a mentor."
 
Winston said Lundy "is a guy you want to put your kids around. He treats the players fairly. He allows everybody in the organization to have a voice. I think Milwaukee is very lucky to have Bart Lundy. I think he's one of a kind."
 
The players on Milwaukee's roster might not be familiar with the prep exploits of Swartz, Winston and Walker, which occurred before they were born. But they see three men who have a passion for coaching and for Milwaukee. And they see three men who have the utmost respect for one another.
 
"Oh, man, it's awesome," Winston said. "Working with people that you know, people that you have a relationship with, that you have a history with, that you have a lot of respect for, men that you would be comfortable putting your own kids around, it's been absolutely incredible. It's a dream come true for me."