A 14-year-old Green Middle School student missed his chance to see LeBron James at the University of Akron on Monday because he was home waiting for a pair of LeBron James shoes.
Noah Stoynoff usually goes to work with his mother at UA when she occasionally goes in her office at Olin Hall during the summer. But on Monday he was too excited about the home delivery of his new Nike LeBron 13 Akronite Philosophy shoes.
“So on the one day Noah doesn’t come in because he’s staying home to wait for his pair of LeBron James shoes, he misses a chance to potentially actually get a glimpse of LeBron James, poor thing,” said his mother, Katie Stoynoff.
She said she works a lot from home during the summer but when she does go into work he rarely declines the offer to go with her, even though he’s old enough to stay home alone.
“But he was adamant this time,” she said. “He said, ‘No, I have to stay home because my new pair of LeBron shoes are scheduled to be delivered today.’ When I got to my office, the parking lot was closed, there was a mild police presence so it was clear something was going on, and I walked into the building and there was a lot of camera equipment and a room set up to do something in — but I didn’t have any idea.”
A couple hours later, a custodian told her LeBron James was downstairs doing some filming.
She waited before she called her son, because it was too late to pick him up and bring him to the university.
“I was a little sad and disappointed,” said Noah, who was already wearing his new LeBron shoes. “I’m a big fan of LeBron James.”
Noah said he thought his mother was just teasing him.
“At first I didn’t believe her, I kind of believed her and kind of didn’t believe her,” Noah said. “I just thought it was weird that out of all the days that I wasn’t there, he was going to be there. I was just shocked a little bit.”
His mother said he asked if she saw James.
With her cellphone in hand, she said, she went downstairs to see if she could sneak a peek, but at that point he was in a room and she couldn’t see him. Noah said he would have tried to wait him out and say hi.
Noah said out of the four pairs of Nike LeBron shoes he has, the latest pair are special because they represent Akron, James’ hometown.
He said he saved up to purchase three pairs of James’ shoes using money from holidays, birthdays and his allowance.
The latest pair was a gift from his mother for his back-to-school shoes.
Noah said it would have been really cool to meet James while wearing his new shoes.
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.