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LeBron James is moving on, but his new school ensures his legacy in Ohio

LeBron James’s I Promise School in Akron, Ohio, intends to change the lives of underprivileged children. (Phil Long/AP)
by Jerry Brewer Columnist July 30 at 8:46 PM Email the author

AKRON, Ohio — LeBron James stood before his city one more time, gray suit and white shirt gleaming, thick beard groomed just right. He peered through black-rimmed glasses and gripped a microphone as he spoke. It looked like a pencil in his big, basketball hands.

“In closing, thank you so much,” James said.

“We love you!” the crowd shouted.

“I love you, too,” he replied. “I really do. I really do.”

And when the cheers softened, The Kid From Akron ended a day in which he strengthened his commitment to his hometown by doing something seemingly contradictory. He said goodbye.

“And know, no matter if I’m playing in Los Angeles or not, Akron, Ohio, is always home for me,” James said. “Always.”

James called Monday perhaps the greatest day of his life. He celebrated the opening of the I Promise School, the offspring of an enterprising partnership between his foundation and Akron Public Schools that intends to change the lives of some of the city’s most underprivileged children. But this was also his first public appearance since he left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Los Angeles Lakers in early July. And so if this was the greatest day of his life, he also admitted it was bittersweet.


“On one hand, I’m opening up a school where I would love to be here every single day when my schedule permits,” James said late Monday afternoon, standing in a classroom in the stunning facility. “And then on the other hand, I’m starting a new journey in my life where I’m on the other coast. But when you have the support system and you have the people around you that’s helped you along the way, you know you never travel alone. So it makes the transition easier.”


James is moving away. And he is staying forever. In his world, this is neither contradictory nor unorthodox. He doesn’t feel the need to choose. He can be King James and The Kid from Akron. He can live in just one place, but his impact can be ubiquitous. He can satisfy his worldly curiosity while keeping his promise to uplift his home region. As James’s two passions clashed on this day, it was also clear what allows them to operate jointly: ambition. Whatever the persona or pursuit, it is ambition that makes James the quintessential American sports superstar. In everything he does, he refuses to settle, and he dreams a little differently. So it figures he would be the fish that wants to swim in the small and big pond simultaneously.

On Monday, he made history at home and fantasized about adding to the tradition of the Lakers, one of the NBA’s historic superpowers.

“There’s no reason you should become a Laker, become a Yankee, become part of Man U, become part of some franchise or clubs like that, and you don’t think about winning championships or winning at the highest level,” James said. “That’s what the history is all about.”

But for the most part, James kept his reasoning for signing with the Lakers understated. He talked a little about it to appease the media, which he thanked for coming to Akron to cover the school opening. But he was adamant about focusing on the I Promise School.

When James returned to the Cavaliers four years ago, he was intent on fulfilling a promise. He wanted to deliver a championship, which he did in the most dramatic manner possible in 2016, upsetting the 73-win Golden State Warriors after falling behind 3-1 in the NBA Finals. But he also wanted to make more of a difference at home.

A few years ago, James was brainstorming with Michele Campbell, the executive director of the LeBron James Family Foundation. They were talking about making an even greater impact. In 2011, the foundation established its I Promise program, taking on a class of third graders and giving them the resources, incentives and support — academically and emotionally — to thrive. Campbell’s idea for a school was the extension of that concept. She thought she was just thinking out loud — couldn’t we help more kids and families with an entire school? — but James reacted seriously.

“Well, why aren’t you doing that then?” James said, according to Campbell.

The I Promise School has begun with 240 students, 120 each in the third and fourth grades. The plan is to expand gradually and serve students from kindergarten to eighth grade by 2022. The students being served have dire academic and emotional needs. They are some of the lowest-performing students in the district. The mission is to turn around the children’s academic lives by changing the lives of everyone in their families. The school provides services to assist children dealing with trauma and to support and educate parents trying to survive poverty. At the school, there are opportunities for parents who didn’t graduate high school to study for their GEDs. There is a pantry with donations from a food bank, and parents can pick up groceries to take home and prepare meals. They call this approach “family wraparound support.”

“I think the missing link in public education is that family wraparound support,” Principal Brandi Davis said. “Because our students come to school, and they’re worried about things at home. It could be a wealth of issues going on at home. Just to know when I drop my child off at school I can go down the hallway to the family resource center and get the support I need, that just takes so much off of a parent, so much off of a child. And that’s what that trauma-informed support is all about. We want to create that safe, that secure and that caring and loving environment for our families and our students so that our kids can focus on education. And that’s what we’re all about.”

This is James’s vision, right down to having 240 bicycles available so that every student has a free bike to ride. As a child, James found freedom on his bike. It helped him flee his dangerous neighborhood and venture to the parts of the city where he could play basketball, engage in productive activities and allow the community to help him.

The thoughtfulness of James and his mother, Gloria, is evident in the school. They were able to turn their past pain into a crystallized understanding of what impoverished families need. James can recall missing 83 days of school as a fourth grader and being in danger of becoming “a statistic” before members of the community helped him.

“School didn’t mean anything, obviously, back then,” James said of himself. “It was a surprise to me when I woke up and I was actually going to school. A lot of empty days, a lot of empty nights.”

Look at him now. He’s a superstar of superstars. He knows he’s special, but he also thinks he’s lucky. He encountered people who cared, and they put him on the right path. Then basketball took his life to another level.

“That’s what kids want to know, ‘Do you care about me?’ ” James said. “And we do here.”

The goal for the I Promise School is the same as the rest of James’s goals: Be great. The challenge is tremendous, but with one tour of the school, you can see clearly that the investment is serious. From the moment you walk in and see 114 of James’s game-worn shoes hanging from the walls in decorative fashion, you think about what dreamers can do with proper support.

“Limitation is not in my vocabulary,” Davis said. “There’s always a way to get around. Working with the LeBron James Family Foundation, they have truly removed all barriers in more ways than one.”

As James departs for Los Angeles, perhaps for good, he leaves behind a legacy that will outlast him. Monday was incredible — and bittersweet. But if this school lives up to its promise, time will erase any conflicted feelings.

King James is moving away. The spirit of The Kid from Akron is staying forever.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/le...m=.1347120fab6f

I feel the the term role model is a severe understatement when talking about he many things Lebron has done for the community, specifically the kids.

I mean he was already paying for a ton of kids to go to college, and now building a school?

Legendary.

I think I read that any student who graduated gets their college paid for? Any truth to that? How the heck would they pay for that?

how are they choosing the students to be accepted?

how are they choosing the students to be accepted?

I believe there are only 3rd and 4th graders there. I think that is because falling much further behind after those years makes it next to impossible to ever catch up.

You should click on that second link I provided. The little dude's face is so great. He's so happy. So awed. It does the heart some good.

There are so many places I want to take this thread. I really wanted to put it in the political forum and I hope to kinda move the thread in that direction because I think LeBron is a guy that anyone [w/a fair mind] can get behind.

ESPN is concentrating on kneeling, Jerry Jones, the Cowboys, etc and ignoring what James is doing. The dude is making a true difference.

I'll post some of his quotes about Trump later, but damn it, I know I listen when he speaks. Dude backs up his comments w/action!!!

Like you said...........legendary!

Go ahead, bro. I was going to wait a bit in order to ensure that people really understand how legit LeBron's political and social views are, but go right ahead.

I was definitely going to go in that direction because I think it's important that guys who talk the talk also walk the walk. LeBron is doin' some walkin', now!

He isn't kneeling and pretending that will make a positive change in how we treat social injustice. He's doing HUGE things.

LeBron has earned the right to be heard. And the only people who wouldn't listen to him are narrow-minded bigots whose minds would never be changed under any circumstances.

Man, I really, really wanted to post this in the Political forum but I was afraid it would get moved before we start talking about the political and social ramifications of what Le'Bron and his foundation are doing.

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world

But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be
All right, all right, all right

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we can

But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be
All right, all right, all right

You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead

But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right

Really hurts that he’s gone

j/c:

I have a question for all of you, but especially those of you who are minorities.

Why do you think that the mainstream media pays more attention to the social and political views of guys like Kap and Marshawn Lynch rather than the social and political views of guys like LeBron and Warrick Dunn?

j/c:

I have a question for all of you, but especially those of you who are minorities.

Why do you think that the mainstream media pays more attention to the social and political views of guys like Kap and Marshawn Lynch rather than the social and political views of guys like LeBron and Warrick Dunn?

I had a more sinister reason in mind, but you are probably right. Good point.

Odd because Lebron views are the same exact political stances as kap and lynch. The only difference is he didn’t kneel.

People weren’t even aware of lynch sitting for the anthem despite him always doing it. He never said a word about it, and only got highlighted once Kap hit the national spotlight with his protest.

And the mainstream media absolutely follows Lebron, in general. Why do you think there was such a backlash when Fox News went “shut up and dribble”?

Odd because Lebron views are the same exact political stances as kap and lynch. The only difference is he didn’t kneel.

He's not gone. He just plays basketball in a different town.
He's always here as long as that school is open and people are getting help.

They are similar and that is kind of my point. I'm actually on your side here, Swish. I yi yi yi.

What is/was your reason?

LeBron James has a message for Donald Trump: sports should unite, not divide.

During a wide-ranging interview with CNN’s Don Lemon on Monday — hours after the opening of his I Promise School in his hometown of Akron, Ohio — the four-time NBA MVP spoke out against the president.

“You know, we are in a position right now in America where this race thing [has] taken over,” James, 33, said. “I believe our president is kinda trying to divide us. He is — I don’t want to say kinda. He’s dividing us.”

“I can’t sit back and say nothing,” James added.

As an example, James cited the controversy over NFL players kneeling during the national anthem, a movement San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started back in 2016 to draw attention to the continued oppression of people due to their race in the United States.


https://people.com/sports/lebron-james-donald-trump-sports-divide-nation/

Why do you keep saying your on my side?

Never mind, Swish.