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Notable people · Sports · Philanthropy · Education

LeBron James

Akron-born basketball player who went straight from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School to the Cleveland Cavaliers, won Cleveland's first major championship in 52 years in 2016, and became the NBA's all-time leading scorer.

Born December 30, 1984, Akron (Summa Health Akron Campus)

LeBron James
Erik Drost / CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born
December 30, 1984, Akron (Summa Health Akron Campus) (Summit County) source
Also known as
LeBron James, King James, LBJ
Known as
Sports, Philanthropy, Education

LeBron James is living. This page covers their public life only, from published sources. Correct this page · hello@crackedbuckeye.com

Life story

LeBron James was born in Akron in 1984 to a 16-year-old mother and grew up moving between apartments in the city before living for a time with the family of youth football coach Frank Walker. At St. Vincent-St. Mary High School he won three state titles and was named Ohio Mr. Basketball three times, and the Cleveland Cavaliers took him first overall in the 2003 NBA draft. He left for Miami in 2010, came back in 2014, and in 2016 led the Cavaliers back from a 3-1 Finals deficit to win the city's first major professional title since 1964. He later played for the Los Angeles Lakers, passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA's career scoring leader in 2023, and signed with the Philadelphia 76ers in July 2026. Ohio claims him through Akron, where his foundation runs the I Promise programs, partners with Akron Public Schools on the I Promise School, and operates House Three Thirty and the LeBron James' Home Court museum.

Ohio ties

  • Akron (1984-2003)
    birthplace and boyhood home; played AAU basketball with the Northeast Ohio Shooting Stars Summit County · source
  • St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, Akron (1999-2003)
    student and basketball and football player; three state basketball titles Summit County · source
  • James A. Rhodes Arena, University of Akron (2000-2001)
    during his sophomore season St. Vincent-St. Mary moved some home games here to meet ticket demand Summit County · source
  • Cleveland (2003-2010, 2014-2018)
    played for the Cleveland Cavaliers; 2016 NBA champion Cuyahoga County · source
  • Akron (2005-present)
    home base of the LeBron James Family Foundation and its I Promise programs Summit County · source
  • University of Akron (2015-present)
    scholarship partner for I Promise students; College of Education renamed for his foundation Summit County · source

Timeline

  1. 1984 Born December 30 at what is now Summa Health Akron Campus in Akron. source
  2. 2000 As a freshman helped St. Vincent-St. Mary go 27-0 and win the Division III state title. source
  3. 2001 Won a second state title and became the first sophomore named Ohio Mr. Basketball. source
  4. 2002 Appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high school junior. source
  5. 2003 Won the Division II state title as a senior after an OHSAA eligibility fight over gifted jerseys, then was drafted first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers. source
  6. 2004 Became the first Cavalier named NBA Rookie of the Year. source
  7. 2007 Led the Cavaliers to the franchise's first NBA Finals. source
  8. 2010 Announced on July 8, on the ESPN special The Decision, that he was leaving Cleveland for the Miami Heat. source
  9. 2013 Gave $1 million to renovate the St. Vincent-St. Mary gym, renamed LeBron James Arena. source
  10. 2014 Announced his return to the Cavaliers in a July 11 Sports Illustrated essay. source
  11. 2015 Announced at Cedar Point in August that his foundation and the University of Akron would offer four-year scholarships to qualifying I Promise students, with the first class graduating in 2021. source
  12. 2016 Led the Cavaliers back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Golden State in the NBA Finals, Cleveland's first major professional title in 52 years, and was unanimous Finals MVP. source
  13. 2016 President Obama honored the Cavaliers at the White House on November 10. source
  14. 2017 The Akron school board approved the I Promise School in November. source
  15. 2018 The I Promise School opened July 30 with 240 third and fourth graders; that summer he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. source
  16. 2020 His foundation opened I Promise Village, a 20-unit transitional apartment building for I Promise families. source
  17. 2023 Passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on February 7 to become the NBA's career scoring leader. source
  18. 2023 House Three Thirty, his foundation's community center in the former Tangier on West Market Street, opened March 30 (Akron's 330 Day). source
  19. 2023 LeBron James' Home Court museum opened in House Three Thirty on November 25. source
  20. 2026 Announced on July 24 that he would sign a two-year, $8 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. source

Stories

The Fab Four and the pay-per-view high school team

James and his AAU teammates on the Northeast Ohio Shooting Stars, Sian Cotton, Dru Joyce III and Willie McGee, agreed to go to high school together and chose St. Vincent-St. Mary, a private Catholic school in Akron, a choice that caused local controversy. Crowds grew so large that the school moved some home games to the University of Akron's 5,492-seat Rhodes Arena. By his senior year, Time Warner Cable sold St. Vincent-St. Mary games to Ohio subscribers at $7.95 a game, and ESPN2 televised a game against Oak Hill Academy. The OHSAA cleared him over a Hummer H2 his mother bought him, but stripped his eligibility after he accepted two throwback jerseys worth $845 from a store. On appeal the penalty was cut to two games, and he scored 52 points in his first game back.

Source

From scholarships to the I Promise School

In August 2015 James stood before students at Cedar Point and announced that his foundation and the University of Akron would pay four-year tuition for I Promise students who graduated from Akron public high schools and met testing and community-service requirements. The university also renamed its College of Education for the foundation. Three years later, on July 30, 2018, the I Promise School opened as an Akron Public Schools building on West Market Street, admitting students who were behind grade level. By July 2023, however, none of the first class had scored proficient on Ohio's math test in three straight years, and the school had had five principals since opening. The foundation, which adds about $1.4 million a year for extra staff and family services, said it remained committed to the long-term work.

Source

A museum in the old Tangier

In December 2020 the LeBron James Family Foundation bought the Tangier Restaurant and Cabaret, a West Market Street landmark two blocks from the I Promise School. After more than two years of work it reopened on March 30, 2023, Akron's 330 Day, as House Three Thirty, named for the city's area code, with a training kitchen, a Starbucks, a taco shop, a community hall and job-training programs for I Promise families. On November 25, 2023, the LeBron James' Home Court museum opened inside. Its centerpiece is a re-creation of the Spring Hill apartment where James and his mother Gloria lived, which she helped furnish, along with a rim and backboard from St. Vincent-St. Mary and the white suit he wore on draft night in 2003.

Source

Coming home, and the block

Four years after The Decision, in which he announced on national television that he was leaving Cleveland, James chose a written essay in Sports Illustrated on July 11, 2014, to say he was going back. He wrote that his relationship with Northeast Ohio was bigger than basketball and that he wanted to bring a title there. In the 2016 Finals the Cavaliers trailed Golden State three games to one; James scored 41 points in Games 5 and 6 and posted a triple-double in Game 7, including a chase-down block of Andre Iguodala. At the White House that November, President Obama described the kid from Akron falling to his knees after fulfilling his promise to Northeast Ohio and noted that his foundation was paying college tuition for 1,100 Akron children.

Source

Named for LeBron James

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.

1234

Ohio places

Where LeBron James was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Myths and corrections

Things often said about LeBron James, and what the record shows.

Often said The I Promise School is a private school that LeBron James built and pays for.

The record It is a public Akron Public Schools building, housed in the district's former administration building, with district teachers and curriculum. The foundation put about $2 million into start-up and pays for extra services, but the district bears more than half of the roughly $8 million yearly cost. source

Often said James gives every I Promise student a free college education.

The record The 2015 University of Akron scholarship is conditional: students must graduate from an Akron public high school and meet testing and community-service requirements. James said at the announcement that they would have to earn it. source

Documents

Primary records: patents, letters, court and government files, nominations and old county histories, each at the archive that holds it.

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

  • Arriva Yorkshire's PN52 XRM at South Elmsall, with a 496 service towards Wakefield
    Arriva Yorkshire's PN52 XRM at South Elmsall, with a 496 service towards Wakefield
    CC0
  • Representation of the I Promise School logo
    Representation of the I Promise School logo
    Public domain
  • sig of LeBron James
    sig of LeBron James
    Public domain
  • First Lady Michelle Obama tapes a "Let's Move!" public service announcement with 2013 NBA Champion Miami Heat players Le
    First Lady Michelle Obama tapes a "Let's Move!" public service announcement with 2013 NBA Champion Miami Heat ...
    Public domain
  • President Barack Obama talks with 2013 NBA Champion Miami Heat players Dwyane Wade, left, and LeBron James in the Blue R
    President Barack Obama talks with 2013 NBA Champion Miami Heat players Dwyane Wade, left, and LeBron James in ...
    Public domain
  • U.S. Olympic Men's Basketball team member LeBron James goes up for shot against China's Yao Ming Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008,
    U.S. Olympic Men's Basketball team member LeBron James goes up for shot against China's Yao Ming Sunday, Aug. ...
    Public domain
  • U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Bill Hyatt, U.S. Air Force Warfare Center commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Robert Ellis, U.S. A
    U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Bill Hyatt, U.S. Air Force Warfare Center commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Robert Ell...
    Public domain
  • (Left to right) The Miami Heat's Shavlik Randolph, LeBron James, Mason Randolph and Zydrunas Ilgauskas look at the range
    (Left to right) The Miami Heat's Shavlik Randolph, LeBron James, Mason Randolph and Zydrunas Ilgauskas look at...
    Public domain
  • LeBron James greets former US President George W. Bush at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
    LeBron James greets former US President George W. Bush at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
    Public domain
  • LeBron James, a forward with the National Basketball Association team the Miami Heat, dunks a basketball after driving p
    LeBron James, a forward with the National Basketball Association team the Miami Heat, dunks a basketball after...
    Public domain
  • The Miami Heat's Anthony Mason and fellow teammates meet Airman from the 96th Ground Combat Training Squadron following
    The Miami Heat's Anthony Mason and fellow teammates meet Airman from the 96th Ground Combat Training Squadron ...
    Public domain
  • The Miami Heat's Anthony Mason Jr. and fellow teammates meet Airman from the 96th Ground Combat Training Squadron follow
    The Miami Heat's Anthony Mason Jr. and fellow teammates meet Airman from the 96th Ground Combat Training Squad...
    Public domain

Sources

Confidence. High: the main facts were confirmed in sources we opened.

Every link goes to the original source. Profile researched 2026-10-15.

Correct this page · hello@crackedbuckeye.com