LEBRON JAMES opened his I Promise school in Akron over a year ago and now "plans to provide transitional housing for students and families in need of safe shelter." The I Promise Village by Graduate Hotels will "help I Promise students whose families might be fighting challenges such as homelessness, domestic violence or other traumatic or unsafe situations." The Village is "located in a historic Akron apartment building that will be renovated and furnished" and is slated to be ready by July (ESPN.com, 11/4). James is partnering with the hotel chain to construct the housing that will be "located within a few blocks of the school" (WASHINGTON POST, 11/5).
MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Orioles 1B CHRIS DAVIS and his wife, JILL, have donated $3M to the Univ. of Maryland Children’s Hospital, the "largest the hospital has received from a Baltimore sports figure." The gift will go toward a "state-of-the-art hybrid catheterization and operating room to treat children with congenital heart defects." The project will cost about $10M, but the donation "accelerated the timeline" for completion from "several years to 18-24 months" (BALTIMORE SUN, 11/5).
CELEBRATING A LEGEND: The Belgian Heritage Center in Brussels, Wisc., is opening an exhibit on Packers co-Founder EARL "CURLY" LAMBEAU's roots, "timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Packers in 1919, with a special dedication Saturday." The exhibit not only "traces whence his family came, but also includes artifacts related to Lambeau's football career that normally aren't seen in public." It also includes "information on Rockwood Lodge, which the Packers bought at Lambeau's direction from the local Norbertine Order in 1946 to play permanent host to the team's preseason training camps, the first such site in professional football" (GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE, 11/5).
NAMES: Businessman LEV PARNAS, a “figure of the Ukraine scandal and the impeachment investigation” into PRESIDENT TRUMP, once enlisted Pro Football HOFer RAY LEWIS to “help sell one of his tech gadgets.” Parnas and his team were “pitching what they called The Ray Lewis Fantasy Football Edge, a device made by Parnas’ Florida company Edgetech International.” When it came time to pay Lewis, however, Parnas’ company “wrote a bad check” (BALTIMORE SUN, 11/5)....Celtics F JAYLEN BROWN yesterday at the Auerbach Center “spoke at a panel dedicated to sports and mental health, held in conjunction with NBC Sports Regional Networks and Religion of Sports’ November mental health initiative.” The panel, moderated by NBC Sports Boston’s TRENNI KUSNIEREK, also featured former NFLer TED JOHNSON, Celtics coach BRAD STEVENS and mental health professional DR. JONATHAN JENKINS. The documentary “HEAD STRONG: MENTAL HEALTH AND SPORTS” airs this Friday at 8:00pm ET on NBC Sports Boston (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/5)....DWAYNE JOHNSON will produce and star in “SMASHING MACHINE,” a dramatic movie about the life of two-time UFC champion MARK KERR. No studio is currently attached (DEADLINE.com, 11/4)....Baseball HOFer PEDRO MARTINEZ hosted his foundation’s fourth annual gala Friday at the Mandarin Oriental Boston. Former Red Sox players DAVID ORTIZ and JASON VARITEK were in attendance, and the night included a musical performance from former MLBer JOSE REYES (BOSTON HERALD, 11/2)....Gold Medal-winning U.S. swimmer AMY VANDYKEN-ROUEN was inducted into the Arizona Sports HOF last week (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 11/2).
