Akron native LeBron James won his first gold medal Sunday following the United States of America men’s basketball victory over Spain in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

USA defeated Spain 118-107 in the gold medal game and outscored opponents 106.2-78.4 in eight games.

James, a 2003 St. Vincent-St. Mary High School graduate, was a pivotal player on Team USA. He started all eight games in the Olympics and averaged 15.5 points and 5.3 rebounds in 24.8 minutes per game.

James led Team USA in total minutes played (198), minutes per game (24.8), steals (19) and blocked shots (eight). He was second in scoring (124 points) and second in assists (30). His 42 rebounds were third best.

Dwayne Wade led Team USA in scoring with 128 points (16.0 per game) and Chris Paul paced the Americans in assists with 33. Chris Bosh (49) and Dwight Howard (46) were the top two rebounders.

Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard joined James in the starting lineup in all eight games. Bryant was Team USA’s third leading scorer with 120 points (15.0 per game).

Team USA beat China, Angola, Greece, Germany, Australia, Argentina and Spain twice in the tournament.

James, a standout for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the National Basketball Association, won a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

The Akron area will have three athletes competing for the United States of America in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

The athletes are: basketball player LeBron James, swimmer Mark Gangloff and javelin thrower Kim Kreiner. The trio all competed and represented USA in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Gangloff won a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics as a member of the 400-meter medley relay and placed fourth in the 100-meter breast stroke. James won a bronze medal on the basketball team.

James graduated from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in 2003 and currently stars for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the National Basketball Association.

Gangloff graduated from Firestone High School in 2000 and Auburn University in 2005.

Kreiner graduated from Mogadore High School in 1995 and earned a degree from Kent State.

The Akron Beacon Journal wishes the trio good luck in Beijing!!!

Fairless high School stand out Jordan Jennings will continue his basketball career at Ashland University this fall. The 5-10, 150 pound Jennings won the PAC-7 player of the year award twice at Fairless and was first team All-Stark County. Jennings may be best known for scoring a school record 54 points against Canton Timken last year. He also holds school records for assist in a game (15) and 3-point field goals in a game (10). Jennings will join former North Canton Hoover standout Bret Wackerly on the Eagles roster.

Romeo Travis and Dru Joyce III were selected to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2008 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Travis and Joyce were each standout players at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and The University of Akron. The tandem were high school teammates of current Cavaliers star LeBron James, who will play for USA in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

Travis, the 2007 Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, played on the Cavaliers Summer Team last season.

Travis and Joyce were professional teammates this past season in Germany on Ratiopharm Ulm in the Bundesliga League after Travis briefly played for Alerta Cantabria and Ciudad de Huelva in Spain.

Joyce played 34 games for Ulm and averaged 9.5 points and 4.4 assists in about 26 minutes per game. Travis played 10 games for Ulm and averaged 10.8 points and 5.1 rebounds in about 23 minutes per game.

Former Cavalier Robert “Tractor” Traylor is also on the Summer League team with current Cavalier roster players Lance Allred and Billy Thomas and rookies J.J. Hickson and Darnell Jackson.

Here is a link to the Cavaliers website with schedule and roster information: http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/summer_league_080708.html

When it comes to track, it’s always about who ran the fastest, jumped the highest or threw the shot or the discus the farthest. But sometimes there are stories, GREAT, INSPRATIONAL STORIES, that don’t have to do with who won.

For instance, I remember watching the local news in the fall, I think it was, and there was an amazing story about a young lady (she may have been from the Youngstown area), who was competing in the state high school cross country meet and was almost near the finish line. Then came a gruesome sight. She broke her leg on the course and fell to the ground.

But this young lady had the courage and fortitude to crawl and limp her way to the finish line, despite being in obvious pain.

It was a story of incredible self-will. This young lady needed medical help, but she didn’t want it. She was withering with pain but she wanted to finish that race, and if you watched the video, you couldn’t help but get a little emotional, knowing she was in a world of pain. But watching her will her way to that finish line, regardless of the pain she was experiencing, was breathtaking and moving.

The yound lady gave a great television interview a few days later and it was great to see she was doing well and was in good spirts. I think she even joked that all she was thinking about, when she went down, was that she wasn’t going to be able to dance at her sister’s wedding later that night.

I witnessed another incredible story, but it didn’t involve injury. A few years ago I was covering a regional track meet at Ravenna and the Copley girls were favored in this particular relay event. As the race began, Copley was right there, as expected. But during one of the exchanges, the baton was dropped and the team was out of the race.

The young lady who dropped the baton was devasted. I mean, I had never seen an athlete more distraught. What I found out later was that the young lady was only a sophomore and there were two seniors on that relay team. The sophomore felt she had blown it for the seniors because it was their last chance to make it to state.

She was on the infield of the track, as the race was still going, slumped over an emotional ball.

She just shuddered and shook as she cried.

Then, former Copley standout Carrie Dyer, who was a senior and on that relay team, ran to the young runner to comfort her.

Then the rest of the realy team followed.

To me, that was one of the most inspirational stories I had ever witnessed.

The sophomore was heartbroken. But she was heartbroken because she cared about her teammates and wanted to perform at her best so that it would help the seniors.

It didn’t happen. But when it didn’t happen, the seniors weren’t mad, bitter or upset. They showed support for their younger teammate because they loved her. And in the end, winning didn’t matter.

So, with that, I’m asking readers to post any inspirational stories you witnessed, in track or any other sport, that didn’t involve someone winning.

A story where someone overcame odds to get where they are. Or a story about teammates helping one another.

Those are the most compelling stories.

Firestone boys basketball coach Jerry Laria and Kenmore girls basketball coach Yontami Jones will be honored as the Coaches of the Year during the Summit-Portage Touchdown Club’s annual awards dinner April 20th.

Also, Firestone senior guard Ramel Mitchell, the City Series Player of the Year the past two seasons, and Kenmore junior guard Andola Dortch, who also was the City Series Player of the Year this past season, will be honored as Players of the Year.

Mitchell, a 5-foot-10 guard who was a first-team Division I All-Ohio selection, averaged 19.2 points a game and helped lead the Falcons to the regional semifinals for the second consecutive year. Mitchell has several Division II offers but his dream is to play at the Division I level. Word is that he has an offer to be a preferred walk-on at Kent State. I’m hoping that works out for Mitchell because he’s such a dynamic all-around player, the only downside is his height.

If things don’t work out for Mitchell at Kent State, he could still transfer to a Division II school and play right away. But Mitchell isn’t looking at that scenario right now.

Dortch, meanwhile, averaged 22 points a game this past season and was a third-team Division I all-state performer. She led the Cardinals to the regional semifinals where they lost to Boardman. The Spartans made it to the state Final Four.

Dortch, 5-7, is a legitimate Division I recruit and has several Big Ten, Big East and MAC schools interested. What sets her apart is that she has outstanding ball-handling skills, she has a consistent outside shot and she can penetrate and finish strong at any time.

Kenny Frease of Perry and Brittany Orban of North Canton Hoover are among the standouts who who showcase their talents at this year’s Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association annual Boys and Girls All Star Games.

Four games will be played April 20 at Capital University in suburban Columbus, beginning with Division III-IV girls at noon. Caitlin Sharp of East Canton and Chelsea Fazekas of Chippewa are on the North roster.

Orban, a Northwestern University recruit, will be on the North squad for the Division I-II game at 1:45.

Division III-IV boys will play at 3:45. Canton Central Catholic’s Nick Foster is on the North roster. Frease, who has signed with Xavier University, will play on the Division I-II North team at 5:30.

GlenOak’s Jackie Greynolds is part of the Division I-II North coaching staff.

On April 19, the OHSBCA will hold its hall of fame induction at the Columbus Airport Marriott hotel.

Honorees are coaches Dave Hoover (Canton McKinley), Dave Krauss (Patrick Henry), Dave Sweet (Ottawa-Glandorf) and Frank Phillips (ChagrinFalls) and honorary inductee, Clair Muscaro, a former commissioner of the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
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After a brief separation, a pair of Akron natives have been reunited again as teammates.

Dru Joyce III and Romeo Travis are teammates on Ratiopharm Ulm, a professional basketball team in the Bundesliga League in Germany.

Joyce and Travis each played on successful teams at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and the University of Akron.

Travis, the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year in 2007, started his pro career with two different teams in Spain and then was added to Ulm’s roster on Mar. 12.

Joyce, a 6-foot guard, has played in all 27 games for Ulm. He is averaging 8.6 points, 3.7 assists and 1.7 rebounds in about 23 minutes per game this season.

Travis, a 6-foot-7 forward, has made an immediate impact for Ulm in three games played. He is averaging 9.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in about 20 minutes per game.

Travis appeared in two games for Ciudad de Huelva and averaged 3.5 points and 3.5 rebounds. He played in eight games prior to that for Alerta Cantabria and averaged 3.4 points and 1.8 rebounds. Both teams play in the LEB Gold league.

Joyce and Travis, both 23, led the Zips to the MAC East Division title and a MAC runner-up finish in 2007. They were each standouts on state championship winning teams at St. V-M alongside Cavaliers star LeBron James.

Field senior Alexa Polasky has committed to continue her basketball and academic careers at Malone College.

Polasky was a four-year letter winner on the Falcons basketball team. She was an honorable mention All-Ohio as a senior after averaging 17.0 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Totaled 995 career points and helped Falcons to first 20-win season in school history.

The perfect season for the Canton Timken boys basketball team came to an end Monday night.

The Toledo Whitmer Panthers defeated the previously unbeaten Trojans 62-47 in a Division I regional championship game at Rhodes Arena on the campus of the University of Akron.

Whitmer improved to 20-5 and advanced to the state final four in Columbus behind a solid showing offensively and defensively.

Senior Christian Alston paced the Trojans with 15 points and senior Johnie Davis had 10 points. The Trojans were plagued by poor shooting.

Timken ends the season with a 24-1 record.