LeBron James salutes his single mom, Gloria James, as "my champion" in a heartfelt letter he penned as part of a project that honors and seeks to help working, single mothers across the country.
"My mother had me when she was only 16-years-old," James wrote as part of the Shriver Report project. "We lived in her mom's great big house... but when I was three years old, my grandmother suddenly died of a heart attack, and everything changed."
The NBA's four-time MVP later reflects "we lost the house. We moved around from place to place---a dozen times in three years. It was scary. It was catch as catch can, scraping to get by. My mom worked anywhere and everywhere, trying to make ends meet. But through all of that, I knew one thing for sure: I had my mother to blanket me and to give me security. She was my mother, my father, my everything. She put me first. I knew that no matter what happened, nothing and nobody was more important to her than I was. I went without a lot of things, but never for one second did I feel unimportant or unloved."
James later writes about his mom making the "supreme sacrifice" of sending him to live with his pee-wee football coach when he was nine years old until she had time to get on her feet.
"When my mother was able to rent a two-bedroom apartment with the help of a government-assistance program, I moved back in with her," he concludes. "We stayed together until I finished high school... the rest is history."
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