How Aaliyah’s Tragic Death Motivated LeBron James to Play Football in High School

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst shared during his appearance on NBA Today that the tragic death of Aaliyah played a role in LeBron James‘ high school career.

According to Windhorst, LeBron chose to play football in his junior year at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio because he was determined to not “live his life being afraid” in the wake of Aaliyah’s passing in 2001. The 22-year-old singer was among nine people who died in a plane crash on a flight headed from the Bahamas to Florida.

“He was gonna stop playing after his sophomore year, and then Aaliyah, one of his favorite singers, died in that plane crash and he decided that he was not gonna live his life being afraid,” Windhorst said.