IFWT_Lebron

LeBron James returned to Cleveland leading the Cavaliers to a 2016 NBA Championship, coming back from a 3-1 deficit and breaking a 47-year championship drought in Ohio, being named NBA Finals MVP along the way.  Still, he faced stiff competition for Sports Illustrated’s prestigious “Sportsperson of the Year” title.  What put him head and shoulders above the others, is the work he’s done in his community.  Now only he joins Tiger Woods as the only two-time winners of the award.

“In the end we could choose only one winner, which brings us to the 2016 Sportsperson of the Year, LeBron James.  He, of course, was not the only athlete to help end a famous title drought. He wasn’t even the only athlete to be part of a comeback from a 3-1 deficit to end a famous title drought. He is, however, the only athlete who did those things to gain more than a ring. In putting the Cavaliers on his back in the NBA Finals he also fulfilled a promise to his home city and to an entire region. He was following through on that heartfelt, but risky, vow he made three summers ago when he returned home after four successful years in Miami.

“When I left Cleveland, I was on a mission,” he wrote in a 1,200-word essay for Sports Illustrated announcing his return. “I was seeking championships, and we won two. But Miami already knew that feeling. Our city hasn’t had that feeling in a long, long, long time. My goal is still to win as many titles as possible, no question. But what’s most important for me is bringing one trophy back to Northeast Ohio.”

LeBron James certainly did not save Cleveland or northeast Ohio, but he lifted the area in unmistakable ways. In his forthcoming cover story on James that will post later today, Lee Jenkins dives deep into the transformation of a city’s image and the power that sports has to shape how an entire region views itself. (Aside from “Cleveland: City of Champions,” is there a more unlikely phrase than “J.R. Smith: Clevelander for Life?”) This award celebrates northeast Ohio as much as its does the region’s favorite son. In a very crowded year of Sportsperson candidates, the connection between player and community, his community, can be fairly described as the tiebreaking vote.”

Read more on Sports Illustrated.

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