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‘A memory that will last a lifetime’
By Joe Scalzo
On March 21, 2002, inside a Value City Arena locker room, a Poland freshman named Chad Fender was hanging his head, wondering what the Bulldogs could have done differently in a 76-36 loss to LeBron James and Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary in the Division II state semifinals.
“Immediately when it happened, I was upset because I thought we had played bad,” said Fender, who started but scored just one point in 23 minutes. “Coach [Ken] Grisdale and Coach [Brian] Nord were such great motivators that they convinced us we had a shot, that we had all the pieces.
“Looking back, I realize we had no shot at winning that game. They were clearly that much better.”
James was just a junior in 2002 but he was already a national celebrity, having appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated a few weeks earlier with the headline “The Chosen One.” He finished with 32 points, nine rebounds and six assists in that game, only to lose to St. Bernard Roger Bacon in the state final two days later. It was James’ only tournament loss in high school.
While Fender didn’t know he’d still be talking to reporters about that game 13 years later, he did know he was playing against someone destined for the NBA.
“Now that he’s one of the greats, it doesn’t shock us,” he said.
While Poland’s loss is probably the most famous involving James and a Mahoning Valley team, it was far from the only one.
Newton Falls coach Roy Sembach played the Irish in the Division III regional semifinals when James was just a freshman in 2000.
“We share it [the memory] all the time with our kids,” said Sembach, whose team lost 61-28. “The game itself we don’t really talk about, but the fact that we got to play the best player in the world, we bring that up all the time. Our basketball camp started [Monday] and we talked about how we were lucky enough to have the chance to play against LeBron.”
James scored 14 points in that game, “but the rest of them scored plenty,” Sembach said, chuckling. “He probably could have scored 54.”
Sembach’s assistant, Keith Gunther (now the Ursuline head coach), had played for then-Irish coach Keith Dambrot (now the Akron head coach) at Ashland, so he was already familiar with James.
“Dambrot told us that he [James] was something he’d never seen before,” Sembach said. “We knew that at the time because we had scouted him. Looking back at the scouting report, we said he could do it all and was the best player on the team.
“What was different about him was he was ‘only’ about 6-4 at the time and didn’t have nearly the strength he has now, but he was really talented. I was struck even then about the team-orientedness of him.”
The next year, SVSM ended up in the Salem district, dispatching three local teams en route to the regional: United (99-42), Lisbon (94-58) and Springfield (63-36). In February of 2002, James lost a memorable overtime game to George Junior Republic in front of a sellout crowd at YSU’s Beeghly Center, a game best known for James’ mother, Gloria, running onto the court to dispute a non-call on her son.
Poland played SVSM a month later.
“I think any time I watch LeBron, I think about it and reminisce,” said Springfield coach Eric Fender, a junior reserve on that team. “I’ll share [memories of] it if a kid asks me, or I might use it as an example when we’re playing a big game or we’re in a big situation.
“The biggest thing is, I talk to my kids about using basketball to create their own memories and I use that as an example for me. I was lucky enough to match up with one of the best, if not the best, Ohio basketball player in history. It’s a memory that will last a lifetime.”