Which sport did LeBron James play in high school besides basketball? LeBron James played football.
At St. Vincent–St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, James played American football as a wide receiver during his first three high-school seasons. His size, speed and leaping ability made him an unusually dangerous target, even while basketball was becoming his main sport.
James earned first-team all-state recognition as a sophomore and helped his school reach the state semifinals as a junior. College football programs, including Notre Dame, recruited him, and some observers later speculated that he could have pursued an NFL career.
He stopped playing football before his senior year after a wrist injury suffered in an AAU basketball game. That decision allowed him to focus fully on basketball, where he became the top high-school prospect in the country and entered the NBA as the first overall pick in the 2003 draft.
“Football” here means American football, not soccer. James did not become a professional football player, but his high-school career remains one of the most frequently cited examples of his extraordinary two-sport athleticism.