OHIO — LeBron James has broken the NBA career scoring record, which had been held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar since 1984.
Although Jamers will forever be known as one of basketball’s all-time greats, he will also always be ‘just a kid from Akron’ to people like Dru Joyce, his childhood and high school coach.
Joyce started coaching James in basketball when he was just 10 years old.
“He just had a thirst for it [basketball,]” Joyce said. “There was some things that you can’t teach. There were some instincts that he had that you could see at a young age.”
Joyce took LeBron under his wing, coaching him all the way through his senior year at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, which is now home to the LeBron James Arena.
Joyce said he knew James was destined for greatness at a fairly young age.
“After his sophomore year in high school, we played at the adidas camp, at the time, and he was playing against the No. 1 player in the country, who was a high school senior. LeBron just destroyed the guy,” Joyce said. “At that point I knew he was never going to play in college, he was going straight to the NBA.”
In addition to coaching, Joyce stepped in as a mentor for James both on off the court.
“It was more than just a basketball game,” he said. “We understood that basketball was about teaching life lessons but there was other things, like how I treated my wife. He watched. LeBron was very observant.”
Joyce said being a good role model for James was important, so he always made a conscious effort to live his life in a positive way.
“I had said he is going to do greater things outside of basketball than he will do in basketball, that’s what I truly believed,” Joyce said. “He has made me feel good about that statement because he has handled things in a very professional, honorable way, and that is special to me to see the man he has grown into.”
The two still keep in contact and even see each other for special events.
“People come into your life for a special time, and then they may go out of your life,” Joyce said. “You know my time with him was very, very special and it’s not the same anymore but that doesn’t make it any less special.”
