Akron, Ohio

Akron /ˈækrən/ is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is in the Great Lakes region approximately 39 miles (63 km) south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) covers Summit and Portage counties, and in 2010 had a population of 703,200. Akron is also part of the larger Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH Combined Statistical Area, which in 2010 had a population of 3,515,646.

Akron was co-founded in December 1825 when suggested by Paul Williams to Simon Perkins. In 1833, "South" was temporarily added to the name when Eliakim Crosby settled a bordering North Akron. After Summit County formed from portions of Portage, Medina, and Stark counties in 1840, Akron succeeded Cuyahoga Falls as county seat a year later. The Akron School Law of 1847 created the K-12 system. In 1851, Sojourner Truth attended a convention and extemporaneously delivered the original "Ain't I a Woman?" speech. During the Civil War, Ferdinand Schumacher supplied the Union Army with oats produced by his mill along the Ohio Canal. Between the 1870s and World War I, numerous churches across the nation were built using the Akron Plan.

LeBron James

LeBron Raymone James (/ləˈbrɒn/; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has started at the small forward and power forward positions. James has won two NBA championships (2012, 2013), four NBA Most Valuable Player Awards (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013), two NBA Finals MVP Awards (2012, 2013), two Olympic gold medals (2008, 2012), an NBA scoring title (2008), and the NBA Rookie of the Year Award (2004). He has also been selected to 12 NBA All-Star teams, 11 All-NBA teams, and six All-Defensive teams, and is the Cavaliers' all-time leading scorer.

James played high school basketball at St. Vincent–St. Mary High School in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, where he was highly promoted in the national media as a future NBA superstar. After graduating, he was selected with the first overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft by the Cavaliers. James led Cleveland to the franchise's first Finals appearance in 2007, losing to the San Antonio Spurs. In 2010, he left the Cavaliers for the Miami Heat in a highly publicized ESPN special titled The Decision. James played four seasons for the Heat, reaching the Finals all four years and winning back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. In 2013, he led Miami on a 27-game winning streak, the third longest in league history. Following his final season with the Heat, James opted out of his contract and re-joined the Cavaliers. Behind his leadership, Cleveland advanced to the Finals before losing to the Golden State Warriors.

Akron Zips

The intercollegiate athletic teams at the University of Akron are known as the Zips. Teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level and in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for college football. Since 1992, the Zips have been members of the Mid-American Conference. The Zips name is unique in college athletics and comes from "zippers", rubber overshoes made by the BF Goodrich Company that were popular in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1925, a campus-wide contest had been conducted to choose a nickname for the university's athletic teams. Suggestions submitted by students, faculty, and alumni included Golden Blue Devils, Tip Toppers, Rubbernecks, Hillbillies, Kangaroos, and Cheveliers. The winner, freshman Margaret Hamlin, received a prize of $10 for "Zippers". Athletic director Kenneth Cochrane officially shortened the nickname to Zips in 1950. The university's mascot is "Zippy", a kangaroo. Zippy is one of only a few female college mascots in the United States.