It was his junior season at St. Vincent St. Mary’s High School when LeBron James began to catch the national eye. No player has ever been more hyped coming out of high school, and James delivered on this hype in a big way. Winning three NBA titles with the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers, James has simply been one of the most dominant players of his generation. Even in his junior year at St. Vincent-St. Mary’s High School in Akron, Ohio, James was garnering national attention. So much so that LeBron’s appeal was enough to schedule an autograph signing session at the Parmatown Mall on March 25th, 2002. This was LeBron’s first public signing and the new rock star was even fashionably late (about 90 minutes coming back from Columbus after losing the State Finals and dealing with inclement weather), but that did not detract from the approximately 600 autograph seekers that attended the event. LeBron was able to raise $1,500 for BICEE (Building Independent Communities through Education and Empowerment) a non-profit youth organization. Offered here is one of the basketballs signed by LeBron James at his first public signing event in March of 2002. This Wilson basketball has four white panels and LeBron signed his name in black marker on the corner of one of the blank white panels. The ball comes with a LOA from PSA/DNA (AE09581) for the signature and a newspaper article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer dated March 26, 2002, who covered the public signing event.

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