Iconic basketball player and coach Lenny Wilkens formed a special connection with Summit County while he guided the Cavaliers .

As the head coach of the Cavs from 1986-1993, when the team played at the old Richfield Coliseum, Wilkens lived in Fairlawn and went to church at St. Bernard Parish in downtown Akron. He cherished Cavs fans.

“I just thought that they were the best fans ever because Richfield Coliseum was in the snowbelt, and with all the snow we used to get, we still would pack that place,” Wilkens told the Beacon Journal in 2024. “I never got over that, the fact that the fans would come irregardless of the conditions. We used to always talk about that we had the best fans in the NBA at that time.”

Wilkens will be remembered fondly not only in Northeast Ohio but throughout

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