Written by: Antoine, Reporter in ISFM
In this article, we’ll be talking about who Lebron James is.
Before Lebron James boomed onto the scene, the city of Akron, Ohio, had kept a low profile, but now everybody knows the hometown of the best basketball player of the past decade. Amazingly, James is not the only NBA star from Akron: Steph Curry was born in the same hospital. How wild is it that two MVPs in the NBA first saw the light of day at Summa Akron City hospital? James’ mother, Gloria Marie, was only 16 when she had him, and his biological father has never been part of his life. At first, they lived with Gloria’s mother and grandmother in a large house in Akron. After both of the older ladies passed away within a short space of time, Gloria and her brothers had difficulty maintaining the house. When James was three, his mother moved them out, after her friend came for a visit and said she couldn’t leave them in such a run-down and cold living space. Gloria and Bron Bron, as he was called as a child, stayed on couches with friends and relatives for the next few years. After several years of moving around like this, James was discovered by Bruce Kelker, a young football coach working with under-10 teams. Kelker could hardly believe his eyes when he saw the eight year old, who was already big for his age. James had never been involved in team sports before he met Kelker, but that didn’t matter to him. He was made a running back and scored as soon as he had the ball in his first game. Coach Kelker took good care of James, who was the star of his team. He bought clothes and equipment for the boy and stored them in his car. And Kelker also picked him up every day for practice. However, James’ homelife was still unstable, and sometimes Kelker didn’t know where to find him. James and his mother were still moving a lot during this time. Kelker finally decided to invite them to move in with him, which they accepted. James later went to live with the family of his basketball teammate, Frankie Walker Jr., who has remained a good friend of his to this day. James had said in interviews that the Walker’s introduced him to “real family life”. Frankie’s father was also a coach and taught James basketball. He enrolled this promising young athlete on a team for his age group and as an assistant coach for younger children. Walker Jr. taught James how to dribble and make layups with his left hand. James still continued to play football. He did very well and Gloria took an active part in everything related to the team. She could not afford the training fees so instead offered to be the “team mom”, attending training sessions, filling the water bottles, feeding the boys, and looking after everyone. The coaches have said that during games she was usually active on the sidelines, running alongside her son up and down the court, enthusiastically cheering him on. When James gives speeches for young kids nowadays, he talks about the year he turned nine – his first year in sports – as the turning point in his life.
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Written by: Antoine, Reporter in ISFM
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