He was most recently a regular starter during the 2005–06 NBA season. In 2010, he signed with the Heat and entered his 17th NBA season, during which he reached the playoffs for the sixth time and made his first career NBA Finals appearance. He remained with the Heat the following season and won his first NBA championship during the 2012 NBA Finals. He returned to the Heat for part of the following season, and won a second championship. Howard has developed a reputation as a humanitarian for his civic commitment. Howard's grandmother, Jannie Mae Howard, was the daughter of sharecroppers from Belzoni, Mississippi. She had four daughters by her 19th birthday, including Howard's mother Helena. Helena was an employee at a Chicago restaurant when she became pregnant with Juwan. Howard's father, Leroy Watson, had just returned from the Army to a phone company job in Chicago. The two married quickly once they realized Helena was pregnant. For Howard's first week of life, his high school junior mother kept him in a drawer at Jannie Mae's house. Helena, who was 17 years old, did not want to be restricted or burdened raising her child, so Jannie Mae adopted him. His biological father, Leroy Watson Jr., wanted to name him Leroy Watson, III, but his grandmother rejected the suggestion, insisting on Juwan Antonio Howard. Although his mother visited on occasion as he was growing up, his grandmother raised him, along with two cousins. Howard has no siblings and is not close to his biological parents; his grandmother was the primary influence in his life. He moved with her to several low-income Chicago South Side projects; she kept him out of trouble and away from gangs as he was growing up. One of their residences was a three-bedroom apartment on 69th Street on the South Side of Chicago. As he blossomed under his grandmother's influence and discipline, he became her "pride and joy". Howard went to Chicago Vocational Career Academy, where he went on to play three seasons of varsity basketball. Vocational had an unheated gym and no locker rooms, which required that the team dress for games in a history classroom. Nonetheless, Howard went on to be named a 1991 All-American basketball player by "Parade" magazine and won McDonald's All American honors. He was also chosen for the National Honor Society and served as Vocational's homecoming king. During recruiting visits by college coaches such as Illinois' Lou Henson, DePaul's Joey Meyer and Michigan's Steve Fisher, Jannie Mae Howard did most of the questioning.