After beating the Virginia Commonwealth to win the Atlantic 10 Tournament championship, the Duquesne Dukes clinched a bid to the Big Dance for the first time in 47 years. But that wasn’t the only historical hurdle they cleared. The Dukes had also been stuck in a rut, failing to advance past the first round since 1969. However, under the tutelage of head coach Keith Dambrot and associate head coach Dru Joyce III, the team shattered expectations by toppling the No. 6 BYU Cougars 71-67 in an electrifying first-round matchup on Thursday, securing their first tournament win in 55 years. While it was the team’s combined effort, maybe LeBron James’ surprise gesture before the game also had a little something to do with it.

Before their game, King James surprised the Duquesne Dukes with his newly released Nike LeBron 21 ‘Light Armory Blue’ trainers. A video shared by Duquesne’s basketball account captured the team’s ecstatic reaction as they erupted into cheers upon receiving the generous gift from the 20-time NBA All-Star.

While this might seem random, it’s not. Before James even stepped on an NBA court, Keith Dambrot was his coach, and Dru Joyce III was his teammate and close friend in Akron, Ohio. They first crossed paths at a youth basketball clinic and later teamed up at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School. Joyce’s father, Dru Joyce II, was also the one who convinced LeBron’s mother, Gloria James, to let him join the AAU team with little Dru when he was just 10 years old. And now, life has come to a full circle, with James showing support to the ones who had faith in him all along.

LeBron James’ relationship with the Dukes’ head coach

The story between the three of them dates back to the late 1900s. In his second season at Central Michigan, Dambrot was fired after he made a racial comment in front of his team. With no college or high school willing to employ him after the incident, he returned to his roots in Akron, where he started offering a free youth basketball clinic at the Jerry Shaw Jewish Community Center. Initially, only a handful of kids attended the clinic, but even that modest turnout was a source of encouragement for Dambrot. As the young players began to show noticeable improvement under his guidance, word of his coaching prowess spread rapidly. Soon, nearly 100 players were flocking to the clinic each week. Among them were Dru Joyce III and a budding young talent named LeBron James.

“He was like a sponge… He was just impressive, even at that young age,” said Dambrot of 13-year-old James. Meanwhile, James credited him with laying the groundwork for his basketball career, stating, “Coach Dambrot set the foundation for me; it was all fundamentals. Dru and I were trying to get better and better and here was this coach willing to work with us.” 

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Soon, James, Joyce, and their teammates grew close with Dambrot, who landed the coaching job at St. Vincent-St. Mary in 1998. This group of friends then joined Dambrot at the high school the following year and won two state titles before Dambrot left to take an assistant coaching position at his alma mater, the University of Akron. However, their relationship is still as strong as ever, as they continue to root for each other.

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