LeBron James and his wife Savannah are mourning the loss of a very special setting of their love story — the Outback Steakhouse in Akron, Ohio where they had their first date.
On Thursday night, Savannah, 37, shared the news of the chain’s Akron location closing in an Instagram story. “Nooooo,” she wrote, tagging LeBron, 39, and adding, “Our first date memories,” with a teary-eyed emoji.
LeBron reposted Savannah’s story to his own and wrote, “OMFG!!!! Why why why,” with a handful of teary-eyed emojis as he said goodbye to their first date location.
The NBA star and his wife are both from Akron and remain involved in the community where James’ legendary career began.
LeBron’s I Promise School recently expanded its campus to offer affordable housing complexes and additional education opportunities for its students and their families, News 5 Cleveland reported.
The couple got married in 2013 and have three 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren together: LeBron “Bronny” James Jr., Bryce Maximus and Zhuri Nova.
In 2018, Savannah told Cleveland Magazine that she first met her future husband when she was a 16-year-old high school sophomore — LeBron was a year older and attended a rival school.
Savannah recalled that he’d asked a friend for her phone number, but she decided to take his number instead. “One day I’m sitting around — I was probably bored or something — and I’m like, ‘Oh, I forgot! I have this number for this guy that I can call. He seemed interested, so let’s see,’ ” she said.
LeBron invited her to one of his basketball games, and the pair linked up with friends to go to Applebee’s afterward.
Their first solo date, at Outback Steakhouse, came a few weeks later.
Savannah knew it was love pretty quickly, telling Harper’s Bazaar in 2010: “I knew he loved me when I left my leftovers from dinner in his car. I’d totally forgotten about them, and he brought them to me. I think he just wanted another excuse to come and see me.”
When LeBron received the award for best record-breaking performance for becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in July, he made sure to thank his “beautiful and amazing” wife.
“If any of y’all know her — I know that there’s a few people in here that know her — you know she doesn’t ever do s— like this, ever,” James said. “And the fact that I’m loving it that y’all get to see the queen that I live with every day. Kudos to you, 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦.”
He continued, “For our family, no one has sacrificed more and more hard work to support this family more than you and I appreciate you for that, love you.”