Akron flexes basketball muscles by celebrating Nate Thurmond, Gus Johnson, LeBron James

Nate Thurmond and Gus Johnson stared at each other as the significance of two Akron natives reaching NBA stardom hit the former Central High School teammates amid the heat of competition.

Center Wes Unseld found himself in foul trouble against the San Francisco Warriors, so his Baltimore Bullets teammate Johnson was summoned to switch from his power forward position and guard center Thurmond.

“[Thurmond] said, 'We were in transition going down the floor, the whistle blew and we stopped dead in our tracks. We looked at each other right in the eyeballs.' And he said, 'I cannot forget the feeling of two small-town boys who had made it to the big time,'” longtime attorney Bob Meeker recently told the Beacon Journal by phone.

Meeker opened the Balch Street Athletic Club in 1986 and used the facility in January 1987 to hold a “Salute To Gus Johnson” night in Akron after Johnson had been diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. Thurmond spoke during the event, and the anecdote he shared about locking eyes with Johnson has stuck with Meeker for decades.

Roughly three months after the tribute, Johnson died on April 29, 1987, at the age of 48. Thurmond died of leukemia on July 16, 2016, at 74.

On Saturday night, relatives of Thurmond and Johnson were at House Three Thirty as the iconic players were inducted posthumously into the Akron Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame.

The ceremony drew a crowd of 208 people and proved to be a basketball tour de force for the city.

Not only were Thurmond and Johnson enshrined, but LeBron James was also inducted as a “special contributor” because of the financial support the Los Angeles Lakers superstar has given APS over the years, highlighted by his foundation partnering with the school district to operate the I Promise School.

Thurmond and Johnson are members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. On the verge of entering his 21st NBA season, James became the league's all-time leading scorer in February.

Thurmond graduated from Central in 1959, a year after Johnson.

James graduated from St. Vincent-St. Mary in 2003. Three of his STVM teammates — Romeo Travis, Sian Cotton and Willie McGee — were at the ceremony in the house LeBron built, or at least remade from the old Tangier restaurant. James did not attend.

Cavaliers legend Campy Russell told the Beacon Journal “it's amazing” a city the size of Akron is where Thurmond, Johnson and James — three all-time greats — were born and raised.

“That really speaks volumes to the fabric of Akron,” Russell said. “It's not the big metropolis, but it has a lot of talent here. It has a lot of good people here.”

Russell attended the APS banquet celebrating Thurmond, Johnson and James. Growing up in Pontiac, Michigan, Russell looked up to Thurmond and Johnson. He eventually had Thurmond as a Cavs teammate for two seasons (1975-76 and 1976-77).

“Those guys, they were my heroes, particularly Gus early on,” Russell said. “But then I got to know and play with Nate, and that took on a whole different relationship.

“Outstanding guy. We really became friends early on, and we just had a great relationship.”

Through Russell, in his role as Cavs director of alumni relations, Thurmond's niece, Melissa Najda, connected with APS and accepted an invitation to represent "Nate the Great" during the HOF ceremony.

A pediatric oncology nurse at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital who lives in Avon, Najda told a story about Thurmond traveling from his home in San Francisco to visit one of her patients and autograph a basketball for him.

“He came to the hospital. He met [the boy] and his father, and he kept in touch with the family. And even after [the boy's] passing, he still called the family to check up on them,” Najda said during an acceptance speech.

Three or four tables filled with Johnson's relatives were in attendance. The contingent included his sisters Evelyn Stokes and Beulah McDay.

Stokes spoke on behalf of the family and noted during her speech, “Gus made history for the backboard, which used to be glass. They had to turn it into plexiglass because he shattered them.”

Johnson was known for frequenting pickup basketball games in Akron after his NBA playing days.

Former Central-Hower and Kent State University forward Eric Glenn told the Beacon Journal he once unwittingly encountered the man otherwise known as “Honeycomb” at Perkins Park. Glenn said he was in high school at the time, meaning Johnson would have been in his mid-40s.

“He was telling me, 'I'm going to school you, young man,' and all this stuff, and I just had no idea of his credentials, his profile,” Glenn said. “I just saw him as an older gentleman.

“He did exactly what he said in terms of schooling me, but I had no idea.”

Glenn attended the banquet because his former Central-Hower basketball coach, Mike Meneer, was inducted. They won the Class AAA state championship together in 1986.

A member of the APS Athletics HOF selection committee, Meneer lamented Thurmond, Johnson and the late Gene Michael of East High School and New York Yankees fame not being inducted last year as part of the inaugural class, which included his mentor, Central and Central-Hower basketball coaching legend Joe Siegferth Sr.

“Little did I know that I would get the honor of being in the second class and being with [Thurmond, Johnson and Michael],” Meneer told the Beacon Journal. “So it's strange the way things work out. In my humble opinion, it couldn't have worked out any better for me because it's such a great class.”

Mark Gangloff and Katie Miller Como of Firestone swimming, Charles Gladman of Garfield football, Jeff Walker of North track and field and John Wooldridge of Central-Hower football were inducted, too, along with late City Series football coaching legend Tim Flossie.

The ceremony provided trips down memory lane, with humorous and emotional detours.

It also reinforced Thurmond, Johnson and James have Rubber City roots in common.

“It is surreal,” Glenn said, “but it's awesome.”

Akron City Series football debate: John Wooldridge vs. Ricky Powers

Ohio State versus Michigan.

Central-Hower versus Buchtel.

Wooldridge versus Ricky Powers.

Flossie coached both City Series star running backs, lifting Central-Hower from the basement with Wooldridge to the league title in 1981 and capturing Division II state championships with Powers at Buchtel in 1987 and 1988.

Wooldridge recalled meeting Flossie in 1979 and telling him, “I'm going to be the best running back you've ever seen.”

With Powers in the audience at House Three Thirty, Wooldridge conceded there is an argument to be made. Powers was inducted into the APS Athletics HOF last year.

“I don't know if I ever achieved that or accomplished that [best running back claim],” Wooldridge said during his speech. “I know there's some people in here now, and I see some familiar faces that a lot of people may debate that and say, 'No, John, you weren't. This guy was.' Ricky, how you doing, my man?”

Wooldridge's comment drew laughs, but there's no arguing he and Powers were great.

Wooldridge was the Beacon Journal Player of the Year for the 1981 season. Powers won the same award for the 1988 and 1989 seasons.

More on the APS Athletics HOF: Mark Gangloff and Katie Miller Como represent Firestone swimming in Hall of Fame

Charles Gladman found the right position with Garfield football

APS assistant athletic director Ron Linger introduced inductees throughout the banquet and offered a self-deprecating nugget about Gladman, a 1983 Beacon Journal Player of the Year.

Linger revealed he had coached Gladman in bantam football and played him at right tackle.

“Bill McGee, a Hall of Fame coach in the state of Ohio, of course, is way smarter than we were. [Gladman] ended up playing running back for him [at Garfield],” Linger said.

Gladman also played running back at Pitt and in two games with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

McGee represented Gladman at the banquet a year after another one of his players — former Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield Sr. — was inducted into the APS Athletics HOF.

Gene Michael's induction in Akron: East graduate enters APS Athletics Hall of Fame after career with New York Yankees

Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Nate Thurmond, Gus Johnson, LeBron James enter Akron Hall of Fame