The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio, Terry Pluto column.

Byline: Terry Pluto

Feb. 28--Editor's note: Part 1 of a three-part series.

If it weren't for Dru Joyce III, Keith Dambrot would not be the coach at the University of Akron.

And LeBron James probably would not have led St. Vincent-St. Mary to USA Today's national high school basketball title.

And the Zips would not have won 22 games this season and been in the best three-year run in the Division I history of the school.

"Without little Dru, who knows what would have happened to any of us," Dambrot said. "I would not be a college coach had little Dru not made the decision to play at St. V's, and had big Dru not allowed it."

Big Dru is Dru Joyce II, now the coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary. His son, little Dru, is now bigger than dad. He's 6-foot; his father stands 5-10.

Joyce III always has been the leader of a group of four players who made Akron high school basketball history. It was Joyce III, James, Sian Cotton and Willie McGee. They've known each other since fourth grade, when they began playing summer basketball for big Dru.

When they reached the sixth grade, they began working out at the Jewish Community Center with an exiled coach named Dambrot. He had been fired after using a racial slur in a team meeting at Central Michigan University. For five…