CLEVELAND (AP) — Cleveland hasn’t had this much good news since the first time LeBron James came to town.

First
there was the arrival of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Johnny
Manziel in May’s NFL draft. Then on Tuesday, the national Republican
Party all but handed Cleveland its 2016 national convention and hundreds
of millions of dollars in business.
And on Friday the city landed
perhaps the biggest prize of all — the return of its prodigal son.
James, the four-time NBA MVP and Akron native who once spurned gritty
Cleveland for glamorous Miami, is coming home.
Whatever good karma
this long-suffering city built on steel mills and blue-collar labor has
coming, formerly downtrodden Clevelanders would surely embrace it. When
you’ve had — and still have — as many problems as Cleveland, you take
what you can get.
When word got out that James was bringing his
considerable talents back to Cleveland, cheers and beeping car horns
could be heard echoing downtown. People stared at their cellphones with
expressions of glee and, perhaps, slight disbelief that it was true,
King James really was headed home.
The ultimate hope among many
sports fans is that James can quench the inexhaustible thirst Cleveland
fans have for a championship after a drought of 50 years. It was in 1964
that all-world running back Jim Brown and quarterback Frank Ryan
carried the Browns to the city’s last championship.
"It’s
surreal," said a smiling Larry Boothe, 25, who had just purchased a
celebratory six-pack. "I never thought it would be a reality."
Lynn
Taylor, 51, lovingly mopped ribs, barbecue and Polish boys — the city’s
signature kielbasa sandwich — with her secret sauce outside her Hough
Avenue deli on the east side. She said the GOP convention and James
would help bring much-needed cash into the city, although she called
James a drama queen for the way he left back in 2010. But she’ll take
him back.
"Just bring us a championship," she said.
John
Dennison drove in from one of the far eastern suburbs to buy a
season-ticket package, ready for the season to start and see James play
side-by-side with Kyrie Irving, the first overall pick in 2011.
"This is great for our area," Dennison said.
The
phone number for the Cavaliers’ ticket office boasted of James’ return
in a recorded message but noted that single-game tickets aren’t yet
available. The extension for season ticket inquiries, not surprisingly,
rang busy.
Dave Nelson, 49, had just been wheeled into the
recovery room at Fairview General Hospital in Cleveland after knee
surgery on Friday when his surgeon approached. Nelson said he doesn’t
remember what the doctor said about his knee, but recalled: "He said,
‘More importantly, LeBron has come back to the Cavs."
"This is
where he can come to be great," Nelson said a few hours later. "You can
go anywhere to win championships. But if he can do something like that
in this city, he’ll be remembered forever."
James’ return had Cleveland Indians’ slugger Nick Swisher fired up.
"I
can’t wait to meet him," Swisher said. "A guy like that, with the
talent he has, single-handedly that guy can win you a championship."
Before
the announcement, Gordon Hewitt, 67, and a buddy were headed into a
suburban Cleveland theater to catch a movie. Hewitt said he hoped that
when they emerged they would learn that James had indeed come home. A
few hours later, Hewitt said he was elated and that James’ heartfelt
words about returning to Cleveland had done much to assuage his
longstanding resentment.
Hewitt recalled childhood evenings on the
front porch with his father listening to radio broadcasts of Indians
games. Every year, Hewitt said, his optimistic father would proclaim
that this could be their season.
Maybe James’ return will seal the deal on such a proclamation at last.
The
rebuilding of downtown Cleveland, the forthcoming Republican convention
and the addition of "Johnny Football" to the Browns all give Cleveland
hope, he said.
"We have a lot of things going for us," Hewitt said, "and we should be proud."
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Associated Press writer Kantele Franko in Columbus and AP freelancer Steve Herrick in Cleveland
contributed to this report.