Rubama: Norcom grad Michael Fletcher isn’t an athlete, but he’s worked with some of the world’s top athletes. Now his story is on PBS.

Michael Fletcher gained national attention last summer after one of his fashion designs was seen at the NBA Draft.

Fletcher designed a special sports coat for Chesapeake basketball player Cam Thomas, who was invited to attend the draft in New York.

Fletcher watched the draft in a Los Angeles sports bar.

Thomas was drafted by the Brooklyn Nets with the 27th overall pick. As he was being interviewed on ESPN, he opened the sports coat that Fletcher designed, revealing a tribute to late NBA great Kobe Bryant, Thomas’ favorite player. The inside of the jacket showed Bryant walking into a tunnel with his jersey numbers 24 and 8 and included many of Bryant’s accolades: his five NBA championships, MVP trophies, NBA Finals award and Academy Award.

“As I looked around the sports bar, every television set in the bar was showing my jacket,” Fletcher said. “I should have recorded it with my phone, but I didn’t think about it at the moment.”

The moment, however, caught the attention of WHRO multi-media producer Kendrick Hopkins. He’s not only a big sports fan but promotes local artists.

“I watched the draft,” Hopkins said. “I saw all over the internet when Cam Thomas flashed his jacket with the Kobe tribute. Not too long after that, I saw an article about Mike.”

Hopkins got the idea to do a special segment on Fletcher as part of the station’s local artist series. He wanted to take a special look at Fletcher’s life, accomplishments, art and inspiration.

He convinced his bosses to travel to Los Angeles to do stories on Fletcher and Swamp Dogg, a music artist from Portsmouth, who also lives in Los Angeles.

Hopkins and Fletcher spent three days taping the segment, and Fletcher didn’t disappoint.

“To me, it’s his energy and his passion and his willingness to not want to fail,” he said. “He’s a pure testament about not giving up. There’s a lot of people who say they’re going to do something, but from the moment he knew what he wanted to do, he’s just attacked it with 110% effort.”

Fletcher, 30, has blown up. He created his own brand called Necosuper, which gave him the ability to nurture his own passion for fabric, color, and design, while instilling a sense of confidence, ownership, and originality in every piece and design he creates.

Besides his work with Thomas, he’s also worked with other athletes, including NBA great Dwyane Wade, Pittsburgh Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb, Dallas Mavericks teammates Luka Dončić and Boban Marjanović, Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden and Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro.

He’s also done work for rapper, producer and business moguls Sean Combs and Master P, rapper A$AP Rocky, actor Jaden Smith, actress Jamie Chung, model Ashley Graham and others.

He’s also designed work for NASCAR, Nike, BET, D.C. Comics and Warner Brothers.

“It doesn’t feel real sometimes,” Fletcher said. “It’s the wildest thing because I remember I used to be in class thinking about this, but not knowing how it was going to happen. I wanted to be someone that others would look up to. Now it’s come to life, and I’m seeing my work on TV.”

Hopkins hopes WHRO viewers will get a true appreciation for what Fletcher has achieved through this project, which will be shown Friday at 8:30 p.m. on WHRO, but also can be seen at WHRO.org and https://youtu.be/-LgK2JI7X_A.

He wants it to inspire other artists.

“I hope it makes them realize that if you want something bad enough, you can get it,” he said. “You just have to work harder than everybody else and you gotta put yourself in those situations to be able to achieve those dreams. And I think Mike is the perfect example of that.”

Fletcher said he just wants to share his knowledge and gift with others so they, too, can achieve their dreams.

“Whatever you do, don’t give up on what you want to do,” he said. “I did it and you can do it to. You just have to be focused. You have to see yourself doing it and you’ve got to believe.”

Larry Rubama, 757-446-2273, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com Follow @LHRubama on Twitter.