Matt Yunker is the community outreach coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, and he's also a 1999 graduate of Swanton High School.

The Swanton community, and nearby Delta, suffered heavy damage on June 5, the same night a tornado ripped through Millbury and destroyed homes and left Lake High School in ruins.

“When I went back home to Swanton the following weekend after those storms happened, you see that stuff and you think those are the types of things you only see in movies,” Yunker said. “To see it in person was extremely eye-opening. People had mentioned that Lake High School was heavily impacted. I did some research the next day, and from going online and watching the national news that the school was flattened, that's when I realized how bad it was.”

When he returned to Cleveland, Yunker told fellow Browns employees how the tornado had affected his hometown as well as Millbury and, in particular, Lake High School.

“I told them what happened and I asked what could we think about doing and to keep in the back of their mind that the school was destroyed,” Yunker said. “I wanted us to keep these kids in mind. At that point, it just snowballed.”

For starters, several Browns players, who wish to remain anonymous, donated several pairs of cleats to the Lake football team. The Browns organization also donated Under Armour practice pants and T-shirts.

Yunker said his jaw nearly dropped when he visited Millbury to drop off the equipment and meet with Lake's football squad.

“That was the first time I got a first-hand look at the school,” he said. “Seeing that in person, as

In the rain at Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Lake football team pulls the flag across the field for the singing of the National Anthem before an exhibition game. (Photo courtesy of Matt Yunker, Community Outreach Coordinator, Cleveland Browns)

opposed to watching the national news coverage, was extremely eye-opening. It was the first time I heard from some of the kids and how they were affected. They had lost their homes and had nothing, and the way the team and the community came together was pretty special.

“When those kids saw the football equipment and to see their eyes light up, that was definitely a worthwhile experience.”

But that wasn't all the Browns had in store for the Flyers.

“Matt said the Browns were willing to have us over there for one of their exhibition games,” said third-year Lake football coach Bob Abbey, whose team, ironically, opens the 2010 season at Swanton. “The kids were excited to see the Browns. The kids wanted to go, and we thought that would be a great way for them to relax a little bit after a couple weeks of two-a-days.”

The Browns donated 100 tickets to Lake for last Saturday night's preseason game against the St. Louis Rams at Browns Stadium. The tickets went to the Lake football players and coaches as well as their parents and school volunteers.

Abbey said Lake took 50 players to Cleveland courtesy of Blue Lakes Charter, which donated a charter bus for the day. The team arrived at the stadium at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

“We were going to take school buses and Blue Lakes Charter came through for us,” Abbey said. “Somebody in our Mother's Club set it up. We left from the school campus, and when we got to the stadium we went right through the media entrance and under the stadium.”

Yunker arranged for all 50 players to be on the field for pregame warmups.

“I was with them all day,” Yunker said. “Right when they arrived, the rain started. I thought, 'this couldn't be any worse of a situation with the rain.' It almost made the story that much more special. We told the players they could go in the locker room and stay dry or they could go out on the field and watch the teams warm up. There wasn't one kid who wanted to stay in the locker room.

“It was pouring down buckets, but they didn't care. They wanted to stay as close to that environment as possible – literally feet from NFL players. You could tell they didn't want to pass up an opportunity for something like that.”

Abbey said the rain began to let up during pregame, and the Flyers were pumped to see the Browns players up close.

“It was neat for those kids to see pro athletes a little bit closer,” Abbey said. “They're athletic and strong and quick. It's good for our kids to see how quick the athletes are at that level and how fast they are at that level. I've been to NFL practices, but a lot of these kids haven't been that close. They've only seen them on television.

“Some of the drills they do in the warmups are the same stuff we do. It was cool to see the kids point out that the same things we do is (also) what the pros do.”

The Lake players then got to unfold a huge American flag on the field during the singing of the National Anthem.

“After that, we went up to our seats in the end zone and enjoyed the game,” Abbey said. “We left midway through the third quarter. We didn't get back here until midnight.”

The Browns lost to the Rams 19-17, but they most certainly gained 50 new fans in the process.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed