Always Moving: LeBron James, On and Off the Court

Eight-year old LeBron James was playing in the parking lot. He and his mother, Gloria, were staying with some friends. They had moved five times in the past three months. They always stayed with friends, because they didn’t have a home of their own.

It was hard moving all the time. LeBron hardly ever went to school — he didn’t even know which school to go to! Every time he and Gloria moved, LeBron said “I just grabbed my little backpack, which held all the possessions I needed, and said to myself what I always said to myself: It’s time to roll.”

But all that was about to change. One summer day, as LeBron was playing outside, a football coach approached LeBron and his friends. The coach needed players, and the boys loved football. They decided to race to see who made the team.

“Fastest one is my running back,” said the coach.

LeBron beat everyone else — by a lot. He was on the team, and there was no turning back for the boy who would soon be a star.

Practice, practice, practice

LeBron never knew his father. When he was born in December, 1984, he lived with his mom, his grandmother, and his great-grandmother. Sadly, both his grandmother and great-grandmother passed away by the time he was three years old. It was hard for Gloria to raise LeBron by herself. She struggled to find a place for the two of them to live.

Football changed everything. Soon after LeBron won the race in the parking lot, he began living with one of his coaches, Frank Walker. LeBron shared a room with one of Frank’s sons. He got up at 6:30 am every day. He cleaned the bathrooms every other weekend. He did his homework before practicing and playing sports. The Walkers had firm rules, but LeBron loved their family.

LeBron began playing basketball. He was a star player on his basketball team, too. Every day, LeBron practiced. Coach Frank told LeBron to begin coaching younger kids; he knew that LeBron would learn a lot from teaching.

“You could see his skills getting better at Frank’s house literally every day,” said one of LeBron’s other coaches.

Gloria loved seeing LeBron play. She went to as many of his games as possible. She even became “Team Mom” for LeBron’s football team. She would help the players get water and take attendance. No one cheered louder for LeBron than his mother.

LeBron kept playing football and basketball until his last year of high school. By that time, everyone could see that he was going to be a professional athlete. He decided to focus on basketball, and he stopped playing football.

He was the number one draft pick for the NBA in 2003. He was one of only a small number of players to go straight from high school to professional basketball. At the end of his first season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he won the NBA Rookie of the Year award. Since then, he’s won many awards and honors including four NBA Championships, four NBA Most Valuable Player awards, 19 selections as an NBA All-Star, 2 Olympic gold medals, and 1 Olympic bronze medal. He is seen as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

LeBron James is a star athlete, but his legacy is much more than just sports.

Helping kids like him

It was hard growing up and moving so much. LeBron realized how much his life changed once he had a stable place to live and regularly attended school. As a star athlete, LeBron uses his fame and money to help struggling kids succeed.

One of the ways LeBron helps is by founding the I Promise school in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. The goal of I Promise is to help kids who struggle with school and finding a place to live, just like LeBron did when he and Gloria moved all the time.

“Championships, MVPs, I mean points, rebounds and assists, that stuff is whatever. But for me to be able to open up a school and give back to my inner city, so many kids that I know because I was those kids,” said LeBron.

LeBron James is a star, both on the basketball court and off.