LeBron James was set to star for Akron Buchtel basketball
- How significant was LeBron James’ high school decision? St. Vincent-St. Mary has won nine of its 10 state championships in boys basketball since James joined the Irish
- LeBron and his friends who played for a successful AAU team were set to attend Buchtel until two of them changed their minds
- A phenom who took the Akron hoops scene by storm before LeBron expected to pass the torch to James in the City Series
In Matt Futch’s mind, the winged-lion tattoo on LeBron James qualifies as a griffin — actually, a Buchtel Griffin.
“I tease him whenever I see him work out. He takes his shirt off, he has a big Griffin on his chest and I said, ‘Hey, I don’t know if Savannah made you do that, or did you just really want to go to Buchtel that bad?’” Futch said with a laugh.
LeBron’s wife, Savannah, graduated from Buchtel, but James, of course, went to St. Vincent-St. Mary, shaping the sports landscapes of those Akron high schools for nearly the past 25 years.
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In recent interviews the Beacon Journal conducted with Futch and other Buchtel figures about the Griffins capturing the school’s first state championship in boys basketball on March 19, the topic of James choosing STVM over Buchtel repeatedly surfaced.
“I love LeBron,” Harvey Sims, Buchtel’s coach from 1992-2001, said. “LeBron took some years away from us, man, because he was so dynamic and so special, and those state championships went across town to St. V.”
Yes, a decision by James in the buildup to his freshman year of high school made waves in Akron’s basketball community long before “The Decision” rocked Northeast Ohio and the NBA in 2010, when LeBron left the Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.
By taking his talents to 15 N. Maple St. instead of 1040 Copley Road, James directly turned STVM into a powerhouse for four seasons spanning 1999-2003.
With James, the Irish won three Ohio High School Athletic Association state titles (Division III in 2000 and 2001 and Division II in 2003) and a USA Today national poll championship (2003).
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Meanwhile, James went 3-0 against Buchtel, all in the regular season, though a victory in the series his senior year turned into a forfeit due to OHSAA discipline stemming from LeBron accepting two throwback jerseys valued at a combined $845 from a Cleveland clothing store.
“LeBron’s choice to go to St. V kind of caused all the Buchtel struggles for those years,” said Futch, a former Griffins player and coach. “He was supposed to be at Buchtel.”
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An argument can be made James also indirectly transformed STVM into a juggernaut in the decades following his graduation in 2003, a year after Futch graduated from Buchtel.
The Irish owned one state title in boys hoops (1984) before LeBron enrolled at STVM. Now the Catholic school has 10.
“When LeBron came to St. V, that probably refocused where people wanted to be and go,” former Central-Hower star Eric Glenn said.
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Malaki Branham is the perfect example. The Ohio State product and San Antonio Spurs rookie was born and raised in Columbus, yet he moved to Akron for his high school years so he could play basketball at STVM under the guidance of Dru Joyce II, who won his first of seven state titles as a head coach during LeBron’s senior season.
Glenn played for Central-Hower when it captured the Class AAA state championship in 1986. Since then, no other Akron Public School had won a state title in basketball until Buchtel ended the 37-year streak by seizing the Division II crown.
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Although James-at-Buchtel talk is great fodder for a classic “what if?” Akron sports story, how the Griffins would have been affected then and now is merely left to one’s imagination.
Debates can be held. Economic impact can be considered.
Regardless, it’s easy to envision the state-championship droughts of Buchtel and the City Series as a whole ending 20-some years earlier if LeBron had picked the Griffins rather than the Irish.
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Why LeBron James and friends scrapped their plans to attend Buchtel
James, 38, went to Riedinger Middle School, which fed into Central-Hower. However, APS allowed open enrollment, and when James was in middle school, the…
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