CLEVELAND (AP) — The oft-maligned city of Cleveland is on quite a roll.

Cheers broke out, car horns tooted and the whoops of joyous fans filled the city’s streets Friday as word quickly spread that basketball’s prodigal son, LeBron James, is returning to the Cavaliers.

The four time-NBA MVP announced Friday in an essay published in Sports Illustrated his decision to leave the Miami Heat and move his considerable talents and the prospect of an NBA championship back to Cleveland.

“I never thought it would happen … ,” law student Larry Boothe said. “I never thought it would be a reality.”

The free agent’s decision is the latest in a run of good news for the hard-working city of Cleveland, which is mired in a 50-year sports championship drought.

Earlier in the week, Republican officials announced they would be bringing their national convention and the hundreds of millions of dollars it will generate to Cleveland in 2016.

Also, the woeful Browns, the last Cleveland team to win a title in 1964, grabbed headlines when they drafted quarterback Johnny Manziel in May, a move that raised expectations for the team’s return to its former glory.

And now James, a product of nearby Akron and St. Mary-St. Vincent High School, is returning home.