No Permanent Home in Fourth Grade

LeBron James grew up in Akron, Ohio, without his father. He and his mother, Gloria, struggled financially for years, with little money and little structure. The family moved frequently and often lacked stable housing. James has recalled that they did not have stability day to day, and that he did not always know where he would be living.

School suffered. Gloria had no car, and the family had no other way to get him to class, so James missed more than 80 days of his fourth-grade year. He later described that period as a lot of empty days and empty nights, and a kind of no-future way of thinking. Forbes counts the time at 83 days and notes that he and his mother did not have a permanent home.

Basketball, and the people around it, gave him a way forward. He went on to become one of the greatest players in the sport's history and a four-time NBA champion.

In July 2018 he opened the I Promise School in Akron, a public school built through a partnership between the LeBron James Family Foundation and Akron City Schools, near St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, his alma mater. About 2,000 people attended the opening, with his mother, wife Savannah and daughter Zhuri beside him. The first classes had 240 third- and fourth-graders, with a year-round schedule and a resource centre to help families with daily challenges, where parents can also work toward GEDs or high school diplomas. At the opening he said he knew exactly what those 240 children were going through.