James, who ended 52 years of sports heartache by bringing Cleveland a championship and used his superstar platform to address social causes, was chosen as The Associated Press 2016 Male Athlete of the Year, an award he won previously in 2013.
Results of the vote by 59 editors from AP member newspapers and customers were announced Tuesday.
James collected 24 first-place votes, beating out a pair of Olympic legends: Michael Phelps (16) and Usain Bolt (9), the fastest men in water and on land who are not accustomed to finishing behind anyone.
"I felt fulfilled," James told the Associated Press. "To know the history of our sports here and how heartbreaking at times it was for all those years that our fans had to go through, and the circumstances that we came back from, it was so fulfilling."
During the Cleveland Cavilers first media session NBA star Lebron James took a few minutes to discuss recent shootings of black men and admitted that he is scared for his sons especially his oldest who will be driving in a few years. Watch his full comments below.
LeBron James spoke publicly for the first time since a grand jury declined to press charges against the police officers responsible for the November 2014 shooting death of Tamir Rice. James has caught a lot of flak for claiming not to know much about the Tamir Rice case. The backlash has lead to the creation of the #NoJusticeNoLebron hashtag which is part of a movement to get Lebron to boycott playing games until justice is served for Tamir Rice.
According to ESPN made the following statement to reporters Lebron James on the topic of the Tamir Rice case:
"But I think the most important thing that we all need to understand, the most important thing, this issue is bigger than LeBron. This issue is bigger than me; it's about everyone. And gun violence and tragedies and kids losing lives at a young age, some way, somehow we need to understand that that matters more than just an individual."
"First of all, I think I've been very outspoken about what I believe in," James said. "What hits home for me, what I am [knowledgeable] about. There's been so many more issues that's gone on that I haven't spoken about.
"There's been the San Bernardino massacre, there's been guys going in movie theaters, shooting up movie theaters, there's been other issues. Those are not something that ... I don't have much knowledge of so I don't speak about it. So for me ... if I feel like it's something that I have a lot of knowledge about [I'll add my voice to the issue], because I don't like to speak when I don't know about it.
After reading his statement do you feel that the whole #NoJusticeNoLebron movement is fair to Lebron? Does he owe something to the people who help him make millions a year?
Lebron James is asking for peaceful protest in the wake of the Michael Brelo verdict in
Cleveland. Read his comments below.
"Violence is not the answer, and it's all about trying to find a solution," he said. "In any case, anything that goes on in our world, the only people we should be worried about is the families that's lost loved ones. You can't get them back. You can never get them back. We should worry about the families and how they're doing and things of that nature."
"Sports in general, no matter what city it is, something that's going through a city that's very dramatic, traumatizing or anything of that case, I think sports is one of the biggest healers in helping a city out," James said.
"Sports just does something to people, either if you're a player, if you're a fan, if you just have something that has anything to do with that city, you just feel a certain way about rooting for a team that you love that can get your mind off some of the hardships that may be going on throughout your life or in that particular time period. It just does that."
