Ilgauskas gets lifetime achievement award

At the 18th Greater Cleveland Sports Awards, former Cav Zydrunas Ilgauskas was presented the award for lifetime achievement.

The most conspicuous person at the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards dinner Jan. 20 also received the organization’s most prestigious recognition.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 7-foot-3, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for work that goes beyond playing basketball for the Cavaliers for 12 years.

“This city has given so much to me and my family,” Ilgauskas said before the awards ceremony began. “I can only hope to give back half as much. I’m just humbled to be here.”

Ilgauskas joked about receiving a lifetime achievement award at age 42, but there was nothing funny about the true humility he feels.

Ilgauskas, picked by the Cavaliers 20th overall in the 1996 draft, was a study in perseverance during his career with the Cavaliers. A foot injury limited him to five games in 1998-99 and robbed him completely of the 1999-2000 season. He played only 24 games the next season, but after that played no fewer than 62 games.

“If I can be an inspiration for others, I’m glad I can help somebody that way,” Ilgauskas said. “I was no special physical specimen. If I can come back, anybody can come back.”

Ilgauskas recovered from more than physical injuries. In 2007, his wife, Jennifer, lost a set of twins when they were born three months premature. Two years later, Zydrunas and his wife adopted a pair of brothers from Ilgauskas’ native country of Lithuania.

Ilgauskas started 673 of 771 games he played with the Cavaliers. He averaged 13.8 points and 7.7 rebounds over 12 seasons. He played with the Miami Heat in 2010-11 before retiring.

The Cavaliers retired Ilgauskas’ No. 11 jersey in 2013.

“He was a multi-talented guy but an even greater person to be around every day,” said LeBron James, a teammate of Z’s for seven years with the Cavs. “He came to work every day, showed up every day and he gave everything he could to this franchise.

“You talk about adversity and what he had to go through when he started his NBA career with the foot injuries he continued to go through, the foot surgeries he had to go through being that size and at some point thinking he’d never be able to play a game and to see him getting all the way back to him becoming an All-Star while I was here being the impact player that he was.”

Ilgauskas now works as a volunteer basketball coach with St. Ignatius.

Kluber honored

Indians pitcher Corey Kluber was chosen as the Pro Athlete of the Year over LeBron James of the Cavaliers, Joe Thomas of the Browns and Jose Ramirez of the Indians.

Kluber, the 2017 Cy Young Award winner, was not present. Catcher Roberto Perez accepted the award on Kluber’s behalf.