When LeBron James was born, no one would have imagined that he would be the one to make it all the way to the NBA and perform like him. He has extraordinary talent and knows how to use it. And what's so amazing about how he made it all the way to the NBA, is that he was living in a state of poverty with problems all around him and still managed to make it big. Even though the odds were stacked against him, LeBron James managed to put his talents first and become one of the best basketball players in the world. LeBron James was born on December 30, 1984 in a poor neighborhood of Akron, Ohio (Smithwick 6). His mother gave birth to him when he was 16 and still in high school (Smithwick 6). This all goes back to the fact that he was born in a poor neighborhood and the odds were definitely against him getting to where he is in life. James was the son of Gloria James and Anthony McCelland. James never knew his biological father, but his mother's boyfriend was the closest thing to a father he ever had, but he was put in prison for two years, so he wasn't much, his mother was everything for him (Newsmakers B1). LeBron and his mother were always on the go, so it didn't give him much time to get into trouble or hang out with the wrong people. He later started a family of his own as he had his first child on October 6, 2004 with, at the time, Savannah Brinson, his name was LeBron, Jr (Biography D1). Later, his girlfriend at the time had their second child, Bryce Maximus (Contemporary C5). Eventually, after having two children, James married his girlfriend, Savannah Brinson, on September 14, 2013 (Biography D6). As James changed homes, he also continually changed schools, so different "everything" was nothing new to him. Sometimes James would find... middle of paper... one person in one career. But if you asked someone what his greatest success in his career is, he would probably say that he managed to get through his life with all the problems he had in his family life. Just think if James hadn't been born into such a poor environment and terrible neighborhood, he might not have struggled within himself to make it. And if he hadn't played sports as a kid he might have gotten in trouble just because he was in such a terrible neighborhood, so sports kept his mind occupied and he didn't get into too much trouble. James tried to help his neighborhood by donating 1000 backpacks to the Akron and Cleveland areas (Contemporary C6). He knows what it's like to live such a life, he wants to do everything to help him, even if he actually had no one to help him. Even though the odds were against him, he used that talent and went all the way.