Thursday, August 09, 2012

LeBron James Had BGSU Football Offer

So, Mr. Rivals.com--you didn't have this in your list of offers back in the day.

Urban Meyer offered a scholarship to LeBron James to play football at Bowling Green.

Yep.

From USA Today:

When James was a high school sophomore, Meyer said, he offered the future NBA MVP a scholarship as a wide receiver, though Meyer envisioned James as a tight end. Meyer was head coach at Bowling Green the same year James finished his sophomore year of high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio.

As Meyer recalled, when the offer was made, James said, "Thank you very much. I'll consider it."

Then James' coach started laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Meyer asked the coach.

"Do you know who that is?" the coach asked.

"No," Meyer answered.

"That's LeBron James," the coach said.

"Who's LeBron James?" Meyer asked.

"He'll be the next Michael Jordan," the coach said.

"C'mon," Meyer scoffed.

Interesting huh?   Meyer was notoriously focused on football, so I completely believe he was the only man in Ohio who didn't know who LeBron James was.  (Note the famous story of Meyer dropping his kids off at school on a snow day).

It is a funny story---Meyer goes on to say James would have been a Hall of Fame football player---and we are left only to dream of how James would have looked in orange and brown.


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