'In addition to being the biggest booster of this proud but struggling city of roughly 200,000 people, he also is setting himself up to be its biggest savior — far more than most people realize,' writes columnist Erika_D_Smith
About how, as a Cavalier, he came through for a city that had long ago soured on the possibility of winning a championship. And more recently, about how he’s still loved in The Land, despite decamping for life in Los Angeles as a Laker.About how, in addition to being the biggest booster of this proud but struggling city of roughly 200,000 people, he also is setting himself up to be its biggest savior — far more than most people realize.
Tucked away in a tree-filled neighborhood park, it’s not on any official or unofficial sightseeing tour. Locals, for the most part, are only ones who know and care about it. In fact, it’s rather ugly. I was there that night, sitting on a friend’s porch across the street, watching as thousands of people jockeyed for a better view of celebrity players they never thought they’d see in real life. And they marveled at the court that Nike, at James’ urging, had paid to have resurfaced.
I was only in my first year out of college, working at my first job in journalism. But I knew then, as I know now, that James had cemented his connection to the people of Akron that night. Particularly those who grew up Black and poor and traumatized like he did. and the surrounding neighborhood. That’s why I call this the beginning — not only of what the LeBron James Family Foundation has become, but what it is becoming.“The ‘I Promise’ movement was born after a lot of soul-searching and talking after that first year working in Miami and him coming home,” she said of James. “He was like, ‘We need to do more. We’re doing nice one-and-done events.