CLEVELAND: There were no barriers. But if there were, they wouldn’t have been high enough.
There would have been no holding back 1 million people from their favorite son. Especially one who has been breaking barriers since he grew up in Akron, raised by a struggling single mother.
For protection during the Cavaliers’ NBA championship parade Wednesday, members of the Cleveland Police Department resorted to walking bicycles alongside the Rolls Royce convertible carrying Finals MVP LeBron James, his wife Savannah and sons LeBron Jr. and Bryce. For most of the route, daughter Zhuri slept in the cab of a Ford Super Duty truck following behind.
Even then the police could keep the photo-seeking fans perhaps 6 feet at bay. A few threw jerseys at James hoping for an autograph, one brought a shoe that went unsigned. Others leaned close to the limo for selfies, some managed to follow behind before being noticed.
The roar was deafening, even when they weren’t chanting “MVP,” the photo-driven “Stand Up” or perhaps the RNC-related “Four More Years.”
“LeBron, the Browns need you,” yelled a 12-year-old boy outside Progressive Field.
But by the time the motorcade got midway down East Ninth Street, just past the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, James’ bodyguards, police, volunteers and members of the public relations staff could no longer control the enraptured crowd.
For five or six blocks, members of the media and the LeBron James Family Foundation walked shoulder to shoulder with the people of Northeast Ohio as they waved to their friends to join them.
Near the end, before the convertible turned onto Lakeside Avenue toward the rally at Mall B, Savannah James turned around and looked back, stunned at what she saw. She was hit in the face with a beach ball. Outside CVS and the Cathedral Square Plaza, James was close enough to fist-bump a boy in a neon green T-shirt and high-five another.
None of the James family showed anxiety, even if James usually has security staffers wherever he goes. Instead he turned any possible claustrophobia into euphoria.
Outside Progressive Field, he leaned back and roared. When the limo stopped in front of the huge mural of him with his arms outstretched on the Sherwin Williams building, he posed. More than once he stood up and pounded his bicep, screaming. He showed an affinity for fans in high places, like atop street signs, crosswalk timers and the roof of the entrance to the PNC Center.
He danced, he reveled and he pointed, both to fans and at the sign on a building that said, “Superman May Have Been Born On The Planet Krypton, But He Was Created In Cleveland.” Presumably the reference was to the comic book hero, not the basketball version.
Signs brought from home were just as clever. In the windows of the 1717 Building at East Ninth and Superior, one read “Draymond Love Nickelback,” while an accompanying one alongside said, “Drinks Wine Coolers.” Others said, “LeBron, You Have Cemented Your Legacy and Completed Cleveland,” “God Loves Northeast Ohio,” and “Greatest American Sports Story Ever.”
A historical comeback from 3-1 down against the Golden State Warriors for Cleveland’s first championship in 52 years had that effect on people, including one whose sign claimed “Drove From Texas.”
Before the turn onto Lakeside, a teenage boy held up a sign that said, “It’s My Birthday. Thank You For My Present.”
As the procession neared Mall B, thousands departed, many bound for the RTA line at Tower City, perhaps deciding they could watch the rest later on the news. They’d gotten close to King James, and that was all they wanted.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.