The world’s big introduction to LeBron James was through a Sports Illustrated cover story.
That story opened our eyes to a 17-year-old basketball phenom who had been dubbed as the heir to Michael Jordan himself in the basketball world. All of these expectations had been heaped upon him by the public and the question was whether or not he could actually live up to it all.
Obviously, he did. And Grant Wahl knew about it before us all because he’s the one who wrote the story.
That same Grant Wahl has died. The world learned about his tragic death on Friday. He was covering the World Cup Quarterfinals in Doha, Qatar. The sports world has been mourning this deep, significant loss since the news broke.
LeBron James is included in that. The Lakers star spoke very kindly after the Lakers game against the 76ers about the journalist who introduced him to the world.
‘Very fond of Grant. And having that cover shoot, me being a teenager and him covering that was a pretty cool thing. He was always pretty cool to be around and spent a lot of time in my hometown of Akron covering me over the course of time before that shoot came out…I’ve always kind of watched from a distance. Even when I moved up in the ranks and became a professional. He kind of went to a different sport and things of that nature. Over the years, anytime his name would come up, I would always think back to me as a teenager and having Grant in our building down at Saint V. So, it’s a tragic loss to lose someone as great as he was. I wish his family the best and may he rest in paradise.’
Well said. Rest easy, Grant Wahl.