LeBron James’ Gladwellian Success
Extraordinary Opportunity, Demographic Luck, and Meaningful Work.
By Jeremiah McNamara | Business Major at Bethel University (St. Paul, Minnesota)
LeBron James trucks his way down the court to block a Golden State Warrior in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. He leaps, the backboard shakes. Mike Breen, the ESPN commentator screeches “Blocked by James.” The opposing crowd trembles in fear (ESPN 2:00). The 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers were on pace to make one of the biggest comebacks in sports history. The odds were against them. The Golden State Warriors had a super team, consisting of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Kevin Durant. Not to mention that the Warriors broke the all-time record for regular-season wins going 73–9, while Steph Curry broke his own record of 402 three-pointers made in a season (Faraudo). Only one person could stop them.
With less than two minutes left in Game 7 of the 2016 finals, LeBron gives his team hope with the block heard around the world. At one point in the series, the Cavs were down 3–1. No NBA team had ever come back from a deficit that big in the finals. LeBron took matters into his own hands, scoring 27 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and dishing out 11 assists (Berlinger). The Cleveland Cavaliers did it. LeBron and his team pulled off the biggest comeback in NBA finals history.
James, an Ohio native, shouted “Cleveland, this one is for you” in a post-game interview with ESPN. LeBron was named 2016 Finals MVP for the third time of his career, but this time was special (P. Green). In Outliers: The Story of Success, author Malcolm Gladwell writes, “But what truly distinguishes their histories is not their extraordinary talent but their extraordinary opportunities” (55). LeBron James becomes one of, if not the greatest basketball players of all time, by exemplifying Gladwell’s theories of extraordinary opportunity, demographic luck, and meaningful work.
When LeBron James talks about the day that changed his life, he doesn’t talk about the day he got drafted, the day he met his wife, or the day he found out about basketball. He talks about the 4th grade. Ironically, the day that changed his life revolved around football, not basketball like how we know LeBron today (Saslow). LeBron had a very hard life as a kid living in Akron, Ohio. He wasn’t predestined to be great like Tiger Woods by his father (G. Smith). LeBron actually had never met his real father. He moved more than a dozen times in his life and was never at school.
One day when LeBron and his friends were out playing tag, a random man came up to the boys and asked if any of them liked football. Surprisingly, LeBron said that football was his favorite sport, but he had never played before. This strange man went by the name Kelker and was looking for kids to make up a youth football team. Little did LeBron realize, this man was going to change his life.
Kelker asked James and his friends to line up for a footrace, 100 yards across the parking lot. “Fastest one is my running back,” he told them. James won by 15 yards (Saslow). Kelker knew instantly that LeBron was special, but there was an issue. LeBron’s mom, Gloria, could not afford to pay for any equipment and didn’t even have a car to bring him to practice. Kelker said he would take care of it. The strange man who showed up while he was playing tag would soon become the most reliable adult in LeBron’s life.
Two weeks into the season, Kelker invited LeBron and his mother to live with him. His life was starting to unfold. As the season went by, LeBron’s talent kept growing, and so did his height. He was so good and tall, that during football games opposing coaches would demand a birth certificate because of his talent and size. LeBron heard about this and began to slouch his shoulders and dip his knees during the huddle to fit in with the other boys (Saslow). James went on to score 17 touchdowns that season.
LeBron James had the extraordinary opportunity of being able to play football. Coach Kelker saw that James and his mother were struggling and helped them out in every possible way he could. Who knows what would have happened to him if coach Kelker wouldn’t have come up and asked LeBron to be in a footrace with his friends. He could have ended up dead or in prison, like his dad. His talent could have never been seen. James being an outlier helped with this extraordinary opportunity. He was fast, massive, and powerful. He was naturally better than everybody else (Gladwell 17–18). Kelker even told LeBron once, “You ain’t ever going to blend in, and that can be a good thing” (Saslow).
LeBron James saved the city of Cleveland. James was a native to Ohio and when the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA draft lottery in 2003 and selected James, it seemed like fate (Fourney 98). How can one NBA player save a whole city? LeBron did, and here’s how.
Cleveland’s last moment of sports glory dated back to 1964 when the Browns won the NFL championship. The town was economically and athletically depressed. No sports glory in almost 40 years. The town struggled with crime and unemployment. There was nothing good going for the city.
It all started out when LeBron was in high school. He was the local hero who brought the Cavs the “Most ballyhooed and publicized athlete in the history of high-school sports” (Fourney 98). When LeBron got drafted at number 1 overall, Cleveland Cavalier fans thought of him as a savior for the city. LeBron James’ presence brought the city 200 million dollars from 2003 to 2010 (Fourney 98). Dominating on the court, LeBron was hailed as “King James,” won two MVP awards, and brought the Cavalier franchise to its first-ever NBA finals appearance in 2007 (Fourney 98). This gave the city of Cleveland hope for the first time it ever had.
After LeBron’s 2010 season with Cleveland, he announced that he was not going to resign with the Cavaliers. The town was devastated. He soon brought his talent to the Miami Heat, where LeBron won a pair of NBA championship titles in 2012 and 2013. LeBron was the best basketball player in the NBA.
After winning a few titles with the Heat, LeBron decided to come back to his hometown and sign with the Cavaliers again. The city was jumping with joy knowing that they gained their King back. “Despite his self-aggrandized departure, James returned and delivered a championship in 2016 to a franchise that had never seen one in its 47-year history (Fourney 99).
LeBron James saving the city of Cleveland ties in with Malcolm Gladwell’s idea of demographic luck. Cleveland winning the lottery and being able to draft the Ohio native was so demographically beneficial to Cleveland. He brought publicity, talent, money, hope, and much more to a town that was seen as depressed. James wasn’t just hope for Cleveland, he was a reminder that sports can mask societal ills (Fourney 108).
Students parade through the hallways with hugs and laughter as they get their free breakfast through LeBron James’ “I Promise” school foundation. Every day, these kids celebrate as they walk into the school with joy knowing they are safe, and have food to eat. This time last year, these students were seen as the worst performers in Akron public schools and were labeled with behavioral issues. Some, even at age 8, were already at risk of not graduating (E. Green). James was once in the same situation as these kids and wanted to give back what he never had in order to save their lives.
“Unlike other schools connected to celebrities, I Promise is not a charter school ran by a private operator, but a public school operated by the district. Its population was 60 percent black, 15 percent English-language learners, and 29 percent special education students. Three-quarters of its families meet the low-income threshold to receive help from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services” (E. Green). LeBron did not set up this school to make him seem like a better person or to gain more money. He set this up to truly help kids that are struggling. He was once in their shoes and this school is very meaningful to him, even after his success.
The list of benefits that LeBron has done to these families in the Akron area is unbelievable. Every student receives free tuition, meals, transportation, and uniforms (S. Smith 0:30). “All of the students in the program and the school who meet certain academic criteria will receive a full college scholarship to the University of Akron” (E. Green). This program doesn’t just help the kids, it helps the families. There is a food pantry for families struggling and parents can even get their GED’s within the program (S. Smith 0:45). “Because of how important a bicycle was for young LeBron and escaping dangerous parts of his neighborhood, every student will receive a free bicycle and helmet” (S. Smith 0:50).
At the end of the tour LeBron is giving of his I Promise school, he walks into a classroom. Students’ faces glow with excitement as they see the hero that saved their lives. They run up to him and hug him. Seeing this shows how much LeBron impacted these kids and will make you tear up (S. Smith 4:00).
LeBron James struggled as a kid. When he finally made it big, he gave back to the kids in Akron what he didn’t have. His work is truly meaningful. “Meaningful work has a relationship between effort and reward, complexity, and autonomy. If those three are fulfilled, the work is meaningful” (Gladwell 150). He dug deep into his mind and gave bikes to the kids because of how much a bike helped him escape as a young kid. LeBron James and his “I Promise” school is so much more than just giving back to his community and basketball; it truly means the world to him.
LeBron James enjoys life. When he’s not on the court dominating, he’s on the bench taking a break, dancing with his teammates. Eating french fries from somebody in the stands. Starting a water bottle flip contest in the middle of the game (Howard). Going to his son’s basketball games and being a coach that isn’t a coach. “LeBron James is the biggest kid that’s an adult there is,” says former teammate Donyell Marshall (Howard). When he’s done goofing off, he flips his game face back on, and windmills over somebody like it was nothing. LeBron James exemplifies the Gladwellian traits of extraordinary opportunity, demographic luck, and meaningful work as an inspiration of a human being, not just an athlete.
“He’s natural,” Cavs veteran James Jones says of James. “He understands that basketball is not everything. Life is so much bigger than basketball, but basketball is our life. And so we have to enjoy it. It can’t be consistently something where there’s no love, there’s no joy, there’s no passion. Because it requires you to go and give everything you have, and you don’t do that unless you love something or love someone” (Howard). Can you think of anybody else like LeBron? Who dominates on the court but is still one of the happiest and joyful people on this earth. LeBron James is a special kind of athlete.
WORKS CITED
Beck, Howard. “The Joy of Being LeBron James.” Bleacher Report, 3 Oct. 2017.
Berlinger, Joshua, and Jill Martin. “Cleveland Becomes First Team to Overcome 3–1 Deficit to Win NBA Championship.” Fox 13, CNN, 20 June 2016.
“Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals | Cavaliers vs Warriors.” NBA. Comm. Mike Breen. Jeff Van Gundy. Mark Jackson. ESPN. Oakland, 24 Dec. 2016. Television.
Faraudo, Jeff. Stephen Curry Caps Season with Record 402 3-Pointers. The Mercury News, 12 Aug. 2016.
Fourney, Sean, and Timothy Brown. “More than a Game: Fulfilling Expectations and Inscriptions in the Career of LeBron James.” Western Journal of Black Studies, 2018, pp. 97–112.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008. Print.
Green, Erica L. LeBron James Opened a School That Was Considered an Experiment. It’s Showing Promise. The New York Times, 12 Apr. 2019.
Green, Perry. “LeBron James, Cavs Pull off Greatest Comeback in Finals History Defeat Warriors 93–89.” Afro Black Media. June 20, 2016.
Saslow, Eli. “Lost Stories of LeBron, Part 1.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 17 Oct. 2013.
Smith, Stephen B, director. LeBron James “I Promise” School Interview & Tour, Akron OH. CNN, 2018.
“The Chosen One.” Going Deep: 20 Classic Sports Stories, by Gary Smith, Sports Illustrated Books, 2008, pp. 38–58.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeremiah McNamara, a freshman from Forest Lake Minnesota, seeks a business degree from Bethel University to someday own his own business in central Minnesota. McNamara likes to go on fishing trips, climb rocks in Taylors Falls with his friends, and stay up late.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED
Giving speeches online is much easier than in person.
Online class due to COVID-19 is hard.
Professor Scott Winter teaches in different ways.
Writing a paper can be fun when you put your mind to it.
Ending where you started in a paper is very important.
“Name the dog” throughout a paper.
Working in groups is beneficial.
Trevon Couser always keeps class interesting.
Success can come in many different ways.
I headed to the wrong classroom for the first day of class. I showed up late and ended up not being able to sit with my friends for the rest of the semester.
