Northeast Ohio is home to more than just a few great museums. There are the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, the Great Lakes Science Center, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and more.
LeBron James’ home at Akron Three Thirty also joins the list.
If you were a LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers fan or just a fan of the game of basketball at any time in your life, a visit to Summit County’s newly opened museum is a must-have experience.
Its doors opened to the public on Saturday morning to visitors from across the country and sometimes the world. It’s a perfect day for LeBron James fans as James’ current team, the Los Angeles Lakers, is in town to take on the Cavaliers, tour a museum and then head to Rocket Mortgage Arena for a game.
Joe Burwick and his daughter Grace were among those who came from out of town to spend the day enjoying James’ greatness. The father and daughter call Buffalo, New York, home, but couldn’t resist taking a trip to see James firsthand and learn more about his history.
Joe, who calls himself a “reformed Jordanian,” has become one of James’ biggest fans. The craze rubbed off on his 10-year-old daughter. The two came to Akron wearing yellow Lakers gear but don’t consider themselves fans of the team.
“We’re not Lakers fans. We’re LeBron fans,” Joe said. “We’re going to follow him wherever he goes. I just watched the Opening Ceremony and I saw they were playing in Cleveland on Saturday night and I was like, ‘We have to go to the Opening Ceremony and go see the game. ‘”
It’s an experience they won’t soon forget.
“I think I love the Toon Squad videos,” Grace said when asked about her favorite part of the museum. “They were interviewing each other about the Space Jam movie.”
After a day at the museum, the Berwick team traveled to Cleveland to watch the game. This is the second time Grace has met James in person, the first being in Boston in January this year. This is also a bucket list item for Joe. He’s seen James play all over the country, but this was his first time watching him play in Cleveland.
This is certainly a day that neither father nor daughter will forget.
Growing experience
Inside, fans can find plenty of memorabilia from James’ long and storied NBA career. But that’s not where things begin or end.
Upon entering the museum, visitors receive a key on a string, like the one James carried with him as a child, that opens the apartment door with the number “602” written on it.
On the door is James’ childhood address, and behind it is a replica of the apartment where he grew up with his mother, Gloria. That area of the museum has a living room that contains some of James’ favorite snacks and even the TV the family grew up watching.
It also contains a replica of James’ childhood bedroom, complete with posters of the sports hero, CDs, sneakers and more. These areas help museum visitors understand the world as James saw it growing up in the 1990s. This part of the museum focuses heavily on visualization. The pedigree of one of the world’s greatest basketball players will be the closest the world will come before basketball becomes mainstream.
“The photos and trophies are real,” said Michelle Campbell, executive director of the LeBron James Family Foundation. “Some of the posters are real. The TV and computer are the ones he watches, and the computers he does homework on.”
Next, the journey replicates the time James spent at St. Vincent-St. Mary’s High School in Akron, where he became a household name as a teenager. The museum creates a version of a basketball locker room from the early 2000s, featuring not only James’ locker room, but also the locker rooms of some of his teammates. Maverick Carter, one of James’ business partners, and Brandon Weems, the Cavaliers’ current assistant general manager, both have a locker. There are jerseys, shorts, posters and more available for viewing in the lockers.
Outside the locker room is part of the court where the SVSM basketball team once played, as well as a banner commemorating James’ No. 23 jersey and three-time OHSAA state champion. There is also a trophy cabinet that contains the trophies and awards James won in high school, alongside a jersey he wore.
These collections would make any museum great, and this all precedes the NBA portion of James’ story.
Super star
James has become a household name ever since he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the words “The Chosen One” emblazoned across the cover. His fame only continued to rise once he entered the NBA.
When he was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the first overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, James donated an oversized all-white suit on stage. The suit now sits in a frame in the museum next to a replica board of that night’s first-round draft order.
And then you get his first stint with the Cavaliers.
Next to a glass case is a replica of James’ locker at what was then Gund Arena (later Quicken Loans Arena). The glass case contains several pairs of James’ signature Nike shoes, newspapers, photos, a WWE belt and even an old BlackBerry from the era. The locker itself contains an XBOX 360 game console, a navy Blue Knights uniform, beauty products and eight additional pairs of sneakers.
The adjacent wall is covered with James’ accomplishments from the first seven years of his career and press clippings commemorating them.
That wall soon turned into July 8, 2010, when James announced via “The Decision” that he would be taking his talents to South Beach and joining the Miami Heat. Just as his accomplishments in Cleveland were listed, his time in Miami was celebrated in the same way. It’s like two lockers staring at each other. One locker symbolizes the journey to the NBA and the other symbolizes the journey to becoming a champion.
There are artifacts from his time in Miami, such as a jersey, a Beats by Dre speaker, a game mask he wore when he suffered a facial injury and no less than 15 pairs of shoes.
Turn right and James is back in Cleveland for one of James’ legendary Halloween parties. Let’s be honest, the museum wouldn’t be complete without a weird drum set at the party commemorating the Golden State Warriors’ demise from a 3-1 lead in the 2016 NBA Finals.
Hanging on the wall to the left are more than a dozen pairs of shoes James wore in games, with display boxes with note cards telling viewers when the shoes were worn and what James accomplished wearing them.
Of course, James’ second era in Cleveland doesn’t just explain how it began. On the wall opposite the fourth of his six lockers is an enlarged version of the story James told Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins announcing his return to Cleveland.
There’s a locker on the right commemorating James’ time with USA Basketball, where he won two Olympic gold medals.
Finally, there’s a locker filled with mementos from his six years with the Los Angeles Lakers.
beyond basketball
James’ career is about more than just basketball. This was taken in the next room. There are four television screens showing some of the media that James has been a part of or helped produce. There is also an office area with a throne fit for a king behind the desk. The walls of the room are covered with articles about James and photos of him and his family. He has also won a few awards for his efforts off the field.
how it goes together
This museum is incredibly impressive, not only because it covers so many details of James’ life so perfectly, but also because of how much memorabilia is inside.
“I used to tell my mom all the time to save everything,” James said after the game against the Lakers in Cleveland. “As I was getting the stuff ready, she threw it back in my face because a lot of the stuff in it was something she had saved. It was pretty cool. “It was really cool. “
The museum took approximately 18 months to build, not including all the time James spent preserving items during his lifetime. But throughout the treatment, something didn’t cross his mind.
“My mom had the trophy when I went to my first basketball game or my first football game. When I won MVP when I was 9, she had the trophy. It was so cool. I haven’t seen that in a few years. It’s gone. “I didn’t even know she still had it. “
What does it mean
James, his foundation, and the city of Akron should be extremely proud of this museum. In late November, people from around the world flocked to Akron to pay tribute to James’ career past and future.
“I think it’s really cool that I’ve done something in my life to be able to bring back to my community and continue to highlight my community as a place in my community that people want to visit and want to be proud of. ” I am,” James said. “I’m proud that my foundation has been able to do some great things, and that’s certainly something we can all be proud of. “
After Saturday night’s game in Cleveland, James and the Lakers traveled to Akron on Sunday to tour the newly opened museum.
“It’s awesome. You know, for me, I hope LeBron and his mom have a memorable moment when they go to Spring Hill because it’s so real there,” Campbell said.
The authenticity of the museum is excellent and captures the essence of James perfectly. Any time spent checking is worth it.
For more updates on Cleveland, sign up for our Cleveland Magazine daily newsletter, delivered to your inbox six times a week.