Buchtel legends ponder LeBron James halting state title drought if not for switch to STVM
In Matt Futch's mind, the winged-lion tattoo on LeBron James qualifies as a griffin — actually, a Buchtel Griffin.
“I tease him whenever I see him work out. He takes his shirt off, he has a big Griffin on his chest and I said, 'Hey, I don't know if Savannah made you do that, or did you just really want to go to Buchtel that bad?'” Futch said with a laugh.
LeBron's wife, Savannah, graduated from Buchtel, but James, of course, went to St. Vincent-St. Mary, shaping the sports landscapes of those Akron high schools for nearly the past 25 years.
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In recent interviews the Beacon Journal conducted with Futch and other Buchtel figures about the Griffins capturing the school's first state championship in boys basketball on March 19, the topic of James choosing STVM over Buchtel repeatedly surfaced.
“I love LeBron,” Harvey Sims, Buchtel's coach from 1992-2001, said. “LeBron took some years away from us, man, because he was so dynamic and so special, and those state championships went across town to St. V.”
Yes, a decision by James in the buildup to his freshman year of high school made waves in Akron's basketball community long before “The Decision” rocked Northeast Ohio and the NBA in 2010, when LeBron left the Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.
By taking his talents to 15 N. Maple St. instead of 1040 Copley Road, James directly turned STVM into a powerhouse for four seasons spanning 1999-2003.
With James, the Irish won three Ohio High School Athletic Association state titles (Division III in 2000 and 2001 and Division II in 2003) and a USA Today national poll championship (2003).
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Meanwhile, James went 3-0 against Buchtel, all in the regular season, though a victory in the series his senior year turned into a forfeit due to OHSAA discipline stemming from LeBron accepting two throwback jerseys valued at a combined $845 from a Cleveland clothing store.
“LeBron's choice to go to St. V kind of caused all the Buchtel struggles for those years,” said Futch, a former Griffins player and coach. “He was supposed to be at Buchtel.”
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An argument can be made James also indirectly transformed STVM into a juggernaut in the decades following his graduation in 2003, a year after Futch graduated from Buchtel.
The Irish owned one state title in boys hoops (1984) before LeBron enrolled at STVM. Now the Catholic school has 10.
“When LeBron came to St. V, that probably refocused where people wanted to be and go,” former Central-Hower star Eric Glenn said.
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Malaki Branham is the perfect example. The Ohio State product and San Antonio Spurs rookie was born and raised in Columbus, yet he moved to Akron for his high school years so he could play basketball at STVM under the guidance of Dru Joyce II, who won his first of seven state titles as a head coach during LeBron's senior season.
Glenn played for Central-Hower when it captured the Class AAA state championship in 1986. Since then, no other Akron Public School had won a state title in basketball until Buchtel ended the 37-year streak by seizing the Division II crown.
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Although James-at-Buchtel talk is great fodder for a classic “what if?” Akron sports story, how the Griffins would have been affected then and now is merely left to one's imagination.
Debates can be held. Economic impact can be considered.
Regardless, it's easy to envision the state-championship droughts of Buchtel and the City Series as a whole ending 20-some years earlier if LeBron had picked the Griffins rather than the Irish.
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James, 38, went to Riedinger Middle School, which fed into Central-Hower. However, APS allowed open enrollment, and when James was in middle school, the plan was for him to go to Buchtel along with friends Dru Joyce III, Sian Cotton and Willie McGee.
“There was a point when all of us were headed to Buchtel High School,” Dru Joyce II said.
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In fact, the elder Joyce had already joined Buchtel as an assistant coach under Sims for the 1998-99 season, when LeBron and Co. were in eighth grade. Joyce II had also been the coach of a successful AAU team featuring his oldest son, Dru Joyce III, James, Cotton and McGee.
Joyce II said he brought Joyce III to Buchtel open-gym sessions. And Sims said he remembers James turning heads with slam dunks during the Griffins' open gyms.
However, the James-led group backed out of its Buchtel plan, and Joyce II pointed to two reasons.
One, Joyce III learned members of Buchtel's coaching staff couldn't fathom him playing varsity as a diminutive freshman and told his dad he wouldn't be joining the Griffins.
“He just wanted a fair shot,” Joyce II said.
Two, Cotton's older brother, LC, had grown frustrated with Buchtel's coaching staff over his minutes, or lack thereof, as a Griffins junior varsity player. The friction prompted the younger Cotton to declare he wouldn't be bound for Buchtel.
“I used to feel like Bron realized that, 'Hey, my two boys are going to St. V. I'm going to St. V, too,'” Joyce II said.
Sims corroborated Joyce II's version of how the dominoes fell with Joyce III and Cotton, adding they would not have played varsity for Buchtel as freshmen.
“I called it like I saw it,” Sims said. “Dru was going to be a possibly JV, freshman [team] guy, and Cotton was going to be a JV guy. They did not have the skill level of LeBron, and I had [many players] coming back from a state championship [appearance in 1997]. So it was hard for any guy to crack the lineup, unless you had LeBron James' skills.”
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Sims said he knew James had the potential to become a star, but he didn't realize a high school dynasty would materialize.
“Did I have any idea the state championships were going to come? No,” Sims said. “LeBron's ninth-grade to 10th-grade year, I think he grew 4 inches, and he must have gained about 30 pounds.”
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Keith Dambrot had formed a bond with Joyce III while the coach with a collegiate resume hosted basketball clinics at the Jerry Shaw Jewish Community Center of Akron on White Pond Drive. Dambrot said he met James when LeBron was about 13 years old and a guest of Joyce III at a JCC hoops workout.
St. Vincent-St. Mary hired Dambrot as its head coach in the summer of 1998. Through being schooled by Dambrot at the JCC, Joyce III knew he could play immediately at STVM, so it became a logical alternative to Buchtel.
A former University of Akron standout guard and now Dambrot's top assistant at Duquesne University, Joyce III went on to end his freshman season by scoring 21 points on 7-of-7 shooting from 3-point range in the state championship game. With 25 points, James was the only player who had scored more.
“[James] wanted to play with his buddies,” Sims said. “And that's one thing about LeBron — the friends he had then, he's got now.”
After James, Joyce III, Cotton and McGee decided to go to STVM, Dambrot added Joyce II and Cotton's father, Lee, as assistant coaches. The Irish won two state titles under Dambrot before he left for a job at Akron in 2001.
Joyce II succeeded Dambrot and has been at the helm of STVM ever since. The “Fab Four” became the “Fab Five” after Romeo Travis transferred from Central-Hower to STVM. In Joyce II's first season as the head coach at STVM, the “Fab Five” lost with a state title at stake as juniors. Then they were crowned state and national champs as seniors.
Buchtel flirted with a state title before winning its first.
Now the head coach at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, Futch navigated his alma mater to a Division II state semifinal appearance in 2019.
In 1997, a Buchtel team coached by Sims got even closer to glory but lost 71-68 to Cleveland Benedictine in the Division II state championship game.
“We had a lead with two minutes left,” Sims said.
Back then, Buchtel was led by legendary local player Doylan Robinson, who recalls LeBron cheering for the Griffins as a kid. Robinson said he expected to pass the torch to James at Buchtel.
“But I can't blame him for doing what he did,” Robinson added. “I mean, even to this day, I'm still inspired by LeBron.”
Sims has similar feelings and cited LeBron's unselfish style of play as a reason Buchtel senior guards Marcel Boyce Jr., Khoi Thurmon and Amire Robinson shared the ball — and the spotlight — so effectively en route to a state championship.
“Dru and LeBron and the family, they're part of Griffin Nation,” Sims said. “They just don't know it.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: LeBron James was set to star for Akron Buchtel basketball
