The Kid from Akron

If you ever ask someone from Cleveland what LeBron James means to the city, be prepared for a long answer. There are many sports heroes throughout generations that have left their mark on their team, their city, and the game itself. None, I believe, will ever be able to be that person to one city in the same way as Akron-born LeBron James has been for northeast Ohio.

When I was a kid growing up in the northeast Ohio suburbs, we didn’t have a hometown hero to root for. By the time I was in high school, the Mark Price and Bernie Kosar days had all but been forgotten, and we barely had what qualified as an actual sports team to be excited about.

As a young boy, I liked Mark Price. I enjoyed the Cavs. But I had Michael Jordan posters on my wall. This was the custom for kids of my generation, what society deemed acceptable on almost all levels of sports fandom (you didn’t see kids wearing Price or Ehlo jerseys 10 miles out of the area). We didn’t have OUR guy. Having a home-grown hero is a unique thing in any professional sport, and no city in America needed that person more than Cleveland (and Akron by extension).

Sure, previous generations had Cleveland sports heroes like Jim Brown (originally from Georgia), Brian Sipe (originally from California), Herb Score (originally from New York), and others like them. But to see a guy, who many of my friends in high school watched play in their local gyms against their friends and classmates, ascend into NBA greatness, was something most people never get to experience. We did.

I’m 33 years old, the same age as LeBron. On more days than I can count, that’s a humbling reality. But I can remember getting close to graduating high school and hearing ESPN analysts preparing the way for LeBron James to step onto the NBA scene. And when he did, the expectation would be massive. At that point in time, I didn’t think much of it. The Cleveland Cavaliers would never win the #1 pick in the lottery, and once again something good northeast Ohio helped mold and shape would be shipped somewhere better to be enjoyed by someone else.

The day those lottery balls fell in the Cavs favor was a day I will never forget. At that point in time landing even the CHANCE to draft LeBron James, for a future CHANCE at someday competing for a championship, was as good as winning it all.

Fast forward 11 years and a barrage of highs and lows in Cleveland sports. It’s October 30, 2014. My brother and I, along with my former college roommate and his dad, are in attendance for LeBron James’ first game back as a Cavalier. It’s been 4 years since he broke our hearts by joining the Miami Heat, once again re-routing our city’s chance for reaching the summit of sports glory. The city has been electrified once again. A scene of maroon and gold flood the arena, while chalk dust fills the air to the sounds of “Put On” by Young Jeezy. LeBron is home, and another chance has been given to the city of Cleveland.

During that 4 years he was away, a dark cloud hung over northeast Ohio. Restaurants and bars closed up shop, businesses failed, and people all over the city regrouped to figure out a way forward, a new identity that could endure beyond one man. In many ways, it gave Cleveland the chance to create an identity beyond sports, something it had always struggled to do. New businesses opened up where others had closed, parts of the city once forgotten were revitalized and renewed. A “Portlandification” of the area was in full effect, and LeBron being back was now the definitive ‘cherry on top’. All that was left to do is win.

I don’t know if I will ever forget the vivid memory of that evening on Father’s Day 2016 when LeBron James and the Cavaliers did the unthinkable- coming back from a 3-1 series deficit to overcome a 73-win team and claim Cleveland’s first championship in almost two generations. I had paced the floors of my home for several hours that night, watching the lead changes and moments of excitement that were quickly followed by moments of terror. And then just like that, in a way that I’ll always remember as abrupt, it was done. Cleveland was a city of champions once again. LeBron had fulfilled a promise.

I remember sitting there for a good hour, watching the trophy presentation, the player interviews, expert analysis, and the historic moment when LeBron cried out with every ounce of energy he had left- “Cleveland! This is for you!”

Cleveland knew what that meant. It wasn’t simply the championship that had just been won, a single year where we could say that Cleveland basketball reigned supreme. No, it was bigger than that. Bigger than basketball. It was a commencement event where all of Cleveland felt connected by a shared history and journey, a sort of landscape moment where everything had led us all to that one night where we could finally celebrate.

To the rest of the world, all of this sounds ridiculous. Nobody gets this emotional about a single, lone sports championship. But maybe it was never about the title. Maybe instead, it was the final chapter of an epic story.

The kid from Akron came back home… and helped his home find redemption.