LeBron James’ Home Court takes you inside the King’s world.
A tearful image of then Cleveland Cavaliers player LeBron James holding the 2016 NBA championship trophy — overlaid with the words he shouted after winning it, Cleveland, This is for You— did it for me. While touring LeBron James’ Home Court museum in Akron, for a story in our indoor entertainment feature on pg.16, I started to get misty-eyed when I saw that championship display.
I lived out that drought-ending June 19 win. I was one of thousands of fans at a watch party outside of the Quicken Loans Arena as James made his legendary block — and Kyrie Irving hit an epic three-pointer — against the Golden State Warriors. The screams were ear-piercing. Myself, my fiancé, Tony, and my brother-in-law, Greg, jumped up with excitement, leaping into each other’s arms. I wrapped a gold streamer around my neck, and we ran through the streets, celebrating and taking pictures in front of the famous massive banner of James across from the Q — that had been lit up with a “Champions” sign.
On June 22, Tony camped out on a down-town Cleveland street at 4 a.m. to score us a front-row spot at the victory parade, which drew about 1.3 million fans. Seeing the trophy and players ride by was surreal. A shirtless Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith hopped off of cars and ran up to high-five crowd members lining the red and yellow confetti-filled street. Cigar in mouth, James hit his famous outstretched arm pose. Later, a truck distributed Nike posters of a young James. My copy still hangs over my desk at Akron Life today.
I’ve been lucky enough to see James play with the Cavaliers at the Q several times— including a winning 2015 Eastern Conference final game. I feel blessed to have witnessed the skills of the greatest basketball player of all time. With 22 seasons in the NBA, James — the all-time leading scorer, with over 49,000 points in all NBA play as of December — holds an indisputable place in history.
The museum takes you into re-creations of spaces in his world, complete with many original items. Akron is at the forefront, starting with the Spring Hill apart-ment in Akron that James shared with his young single mother, Gloria. She returns to the museum regularly to take it in.
“She took tremendous pride in curating this space, from sitting down and closing her eyes to remembering every single thing that was at Spring Hill at the time,”says Nick Lopez, creative director at LRMR Ventures and the LeBron James Family Foundation.
Each Fab 5 St. Vincent-St. Mary High School player curated their locker display, including Willie McGee and Sian Cotton. Both work at House Three Thirty, which houses the museum. It was fun seeing items such as off-brand Timberland boots near the teammates’ locker spaces. Inside James’ Cavaliers’ lockers, notice details like a puffer vest and an Xbox 360 —representing his first time with the team— and Swensons Drive-In wrappers, high-lighting his return. See original sneakers, including a white and purple Nike pair he wore to a Los Angeles Lakers game after Kobe Bryant died — with writings including “Rest in Paradise KB & GG.” In James’ office, you can sit on his throne-style chair and see a signed Bryant jersey.
When my tour reached the section on his foundation, museum shift lead Dana Delaney shared her story: Her son was chosen for the I Promise program in third grade. She attended a foundation family reunion at Cedar Point where James spoke in 2015.
“I was really taken aback to experience the love and the support that he extended to families,” she recalls. “I never forgot that.”
Museum ticket sales benefit House Three Thirty’s job training program, which employs 65 I Promise students, educators, parents and family members. As of December, there are about 1,600 students and their families in the I Promise program. There are 498 I Promise high school graduates and 106 college students on I Promise scholarships at The University of Akron, Kent State University and Stark State College. Akron, his foundation and the people he impacts are perhaps the most important part of his legacy. At his museum, you can witness greatness.
“It was very touching to see someone from Akron do such amazing things all over the world,” Delaney says.
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