LeBron James remains the most highly sough-after high school prospect in basketball history. College scouts used to line up for miles on end to try to recruit the Akron native. Keith Dambrot, who coached James during his first two years at St. Vincent-St Mary High School, saw first-hand how college coaches were desperate to get their hands on the rare talent.
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During a live show at LBJ’s home town of Akron, Dambrot joined ESPN’s The Hoops Collective Podcast to discuss the heavy interest in James during his high school years. The 65-year-old became St. Vincent-St. Mary High School basketball team’s head coach in 1998.
James joined the program just a year after the start of his high school coaching career. Dambrot was immediately mesmerized by the transcendental talent of a teenage LBJ.
He recalled that during a conversation with former Cincinnati Bearcats coach Bob Huggins, he called Lebron the best-ever prospect he had seen in his coaching career.
Huggins apparently downplayed the declaration at first. The legendary coach believed Dambrot’s vision was clouded after becoming a high-school coach. Dambrot recounted,
“I was never really a high school coach before I came here. I called guys like Bob Huggins and I said, ‘Bob I think I got one of the best players.’ He said, ‘Well best players, what in Ohio?” I said, ‘No, best player I have ever seen’… He says, ‘You sound like a high school coach.’“
However, Huggins would eventually join the long line of coaches who wanted James on their squad. Dambrot recollected that the college coach did all in all his power to ensure that James became a part of the Bearcats squad.
But like most college scouts and coaches, by LBJ’s sophomore year, Huggins realized that James would skip college and enter the NBA straight from high school.
“They recruited him pretty hard until they figured out by his sophomore year, that wasn’t really gonna happen,” Dambrot added.
The yearning to have a talent like LeBron James on the college roster was understandable. LBJ showed unparalleled maturity as a high-schooler and had the talent to carry a team on his back.
He could have brought historical transformation for many college programs, including Huggins’ Bearcats. However, James was self-assured that he would transition smoothly from high school to the NBA.
His decision turned out to be for the best and within a few years after leaving high school, James became an MVP-level player in the league.
