LeBron James, The Record Breaking Kid From Akron

In 2013, LeBron James was awarded the MVP for helping the Miami Heat beat San Antonio Spurs in the NBA finals. In his speech after the award, a tearful Lebron said:

"I'm LeBron James. From Akron, Ohio. From the inner city. I am not even supposed to be here."

LeBron rightly belonged to that stage. See, when you rise to the top against all odds, it's human enough to reflect and count the blessings.

Why did Lebron doubt he belonged to that stage?

See, Lebron's mom, Gloria James, was a teen when she gave birth to a boy she named LeBron Raymone James. The man who made her pregnant never took up the responsibility. After all, he was a well-known con, and he must have conned her to get the warmth behind the wimple.

Seeing that Gloria James was a teen, she did not have the means to raise her son. In fact, life was a struggle in Akron, where they lived. She lived with her mother-Lebron's grandmother, and when Lebron was five years old, the grandmother died. The house they lived in was like a shack, and the city officials declared it inhabitable.

In an interview with 60 minutes, LeBron James revealed that between ages 5 and 8, they had moved 12 times, looking for a place they could afford to call home. Food was a luxury. Survival was the name of the game.

LeBron's mom knew that her son had to go to school if there was a chance in life. So she bought him a basketball and had him enroll in a local school. Because of the poverty that surrounded them, LeBron has revealed in interviews that he missed 100 days of school in fourth grade because he didn't have the transportation to get there.

By the age of 9, Lebron had shown he was good at basketball. In pick-up games with other kids, he was the most dominant. In school, no one could defend him one on one. His mom took notice and asked the school coach to mentor her son and be a father figure so that he doesn't end up as a statistic in black America.

His coach, the man now mentoring him, pulled LeBron James to the side one day and told him:

"Son, use basketball as a vehicle to get to where you want to go.'

LeBron enrolled at St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. While there, he broke all the records, not in academics, but in sports. He led their basketball team to three state titles. He won the "Mr. Basketball" title in Ohio for three straight years.

Instead of going to college and believing he could use basketball to change his family's fortunes, LeBron decided not to go to college and declared for the NBA draft.

In 2003, while Kenyans had big dreams with the rainbow coalition, thousands of miles away in Ohio, the Cleveland Cavaliers, with the number one pick in that year's NBA draft, selected LeBron James.

LeBron would play for the Cavs for seven years. Despite his stardom, Lebron did not have pieces around him that could win a championship. It wasn't strange that in 2010 when he became a free agent, Lebron left his home state and sought a different challenge. He went to Miami, where he played for the Heats alongside Chris Bosh and D. Wade.

LeBron led the Heat to the NBA championship finals every year, winning the championship twice.

In 2014, LeBron moved back to Cleveland. His long-held desire was to bring a championship to his hometown. The Cavaliers had improved as a team and had some good pieces that could work with Lebron. In 2016, Lebron kept his promise and won the NBA title with Cleveland…

In 2018, James sought a different challenge, this time, informed by the need to be closer to his boys attending school in Los Angeles. So he sighed up with the Los Angeles Lakers. In 2020, he led the Lakers to the NBA championship and earned the Finals MVP for the fourth time.

Isitoshe,

On April 5th, 1984, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar set one of the most unbreakable records in sports, the NBA scoring record. 38 weeks later, LeBron James was born on December 30th, 1984. 38 years later, LeBron James broke Kareem's scoring record.

According to CNBC, Lebron James is worth $1.2 Billion.

Yes, the kid from Akron, who knows too well about being poor, changed the game of basketball and, while at it, changed his family's destiny.