As LeBron James’ former high school coach, Keith Dambrot played a pivotal role in helping the basketball prodigy secure a massive $90 million deal with Nike in 2003. Dambrot’s guidance and mentorship were crucial in ensuring that James received a lucrative endorsement deal that would set the stage for his future success both on and off the court.
Dambrot’s expertise and advocacy for his player ultimately paid off, as James’ partnership with Nike has since become one of the most iconic and lucrative in sports history.
READ ALSO: Jack Mac Is Confused And Wondering When Did These Track Stars Become Models?
During a recent appearance on the Hoop Collective Homecoming live show in Akron, Ohio, James’ former coach at St. Mary High School, Keith Dambrot, recalled a hilarious incident about James during his high school years.
So, we’re playing at the University of San Francisco, and if anyone knows LeBron, he kind of beats to his own drum, whatever he feels like, he does. And so we’re playing and I don’t know whether his shorts were too big or he just didn’t feel like playing, but he was messing with the shorts the whole time and he wasn’t playing very good. Dambrot said.
During a conversation with ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Dambrot mentioned that he had called Sonny Vaccaro, an Adidas executive and the founder of the ABCD camp, to watch James demonstrate his skills. However, James was seen struggling with his shorts, which led to a serious discussion between James and Dambrot.
Vaccaro is best known for his time at Nike, where he signed basketball legend Michael Jordan to his first sneaker deal. However, he later left Nike to go to Adidas. During a game, Coach Dambrot noticed that James’ shorts were distracting him from playing well.
The coach called James and reminded him of the importance of impressing Vaccaro. Later in the game, James demonstrated his skills on the court, leading to him signing a seven-year, approximately $90 million deal with Nike in 2003.
So I took him out on the hallway and said, ‘LeBron, do you know who that guy is?’ And he says, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Well, you know you’re going to cost yourself millions of dollars if you [don’t] quit messing around,’ and that probably wasn’t the term I used, as most of you know. Dambrot added.
James has amassed millions of dollars with Nike’s deal, thanks to Dambrot’s advice. According to Forbes, the all-time points leader is projected to have a net worth of $1.2 billion by 2024.
LeBron went on to become one of the greatest basketball players of all time, and that Nike deal was just the beginning of his incredible journey all thanks to Keith Dambrot. It just goes to show that hard work, talent, and a little bit of luck can take you a long way.
Flip to the next page to watch the interview at the 44:19 mark…
