James returns home to open school
AKRON, Ohio — LeBron James stood on a stage near one of the streets he walked as a troubled kid and looked at thousands of faces. He felt connected to every one of them.
While his 3-year-old daughter, Zhuri, played at his feet, James watched as his mother, Gloria, raised a flag in front of a school that is perhaps his greatest triumph.
His extraordinary life. Full circle.
Before leaving for Los Angeles, James gave his hometown quite a gift.
James, who ended his second stint with Cleveland this month by signing with the Lakers, on Monday opened his I Promise School, a year-round learning center devoted to some of the city’s most challenged youngsters — ones just like him.
For James, who recalled missing 82 days of school as a fourth-grader while he and his mom “looked for stability,” the opening culminated years of planning by his family foundation.
“This means everything,” James said in an interview before the public event. “I think this is the greatest accomplishment for me because it’s not just me. A championship is for a team, that’s for an organization and a city. But these kids, this is for generation after generation after generation and it’s for these kids, so it means everything.”
Later Monday, James used a wide-ranging sit-down interview with CNN host Don Lemon to criticize President Trump, saying Trump, through his attacks on on protesting NFL and NBA players, has “used sports to kind of divide us, and that’s something that I can’t relate to.”
When asked by Lemon what he’d say if he were sitting across from Trump, James said, “I would never sit across from him.”
It was an emotional day for James, who was making his first comments since signing the $154 million deal with the Lakers — a move still causing tremors across in the NBA.
James recalled beating the odds of his youth when life was a daily struggle for him and his mom. Nothing was easy as the two often moved and it was only with the help of others than James found structure.
Now, he’s giving kids with the same problems a path.
“There is no way I could have imagined this,” he said. “I remember our foundation having a bike-a-thon, and I never thought a 5-mile bike ride would turn into a school. This is something I’m at a loss of words for.”
As far as basketball, the 33year-old said the decision to leave Cleveland again was difficult, but he didn’t rule out a second homecoming with the Cavaliers.
“Listen, I don’t close the chapter on anything or close the book on anything,” James said. “But hopefully, I can sit there one day and watch my jersey go up into the rafters, that’s for sure.”
When James announced July 1 that he was leaving the Cavs, Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert, who famously ripped James when he left the first time, said the franchise would retire “the famous #23 Cavs jersey one day down the line.”
“I didn’t hear that,” James said. “I haven’t been in the news. That’s awesome.”
James led the Cavs to an NBA title in 2016, ending Cleveland’s 52-year championship drought, and to four straight Finals.
James didn’t offer many details about what prompted him to sign with the Lakers, but the lure of playing for one of the most successful franchises in all of sports was more than intriguing.
“There’s no reason you should become a Laker, became a Yankee, become part of Man U (Manchester United), become part of some franchise or clubs and you don’t think about winning championships or winning at the highest level,” James said.
James has his work cut out for him in Los Angeles. He’ll join a young team that added some interesting players — Lance Stephenson, Rajon Rondo, Michael Beasley and JaVale McGee — during the offseason but a squad that has a long way to go before it can challenge the two-time defending champion Warriors.
“What my expectations are for the team, we don’t have any right now,” James said. “But we’re definitely going to be better than we were the previous year.”
This trip will take him thousands of miles from home. But as James reminded students, family and friends in the closing moments of his remarks, he’ll never be far away.
“No matter if I’m playing in Los Angles or not, Akron, Ohio, is always home for me,” he told the crowd.