Sep. 30—Rik Danburg stepped outdoors the press field at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium and took a deep breath as he scanned the scene earlier than his eyes.
The visible is one he has soaked in for a very long time — in all probability longer than anybody else readily available this explicit night to look at the Mentor soccer staff defeat visiting Shaker Heights, 44-29.
A smile came visiting his face as he took all of it in. The Mentor soccer staff on the sphere celebrating a house victory, followers flooding the sphere to congratulate their hometown heroes, the autumn colours on the bushes across the stadium…
For 50 years Danburg has appreciated that sight and being a part of all of it as Mentor’s public handle announcer. Perhaps that is why he stopped and soaked within the ambiance — as a result of after 50 years of saying Mentor soccer video games, he solely has a number of extra video games remaining earlier than he hangs up his proverbial microphone.
Danburg has introduced that this — his fiftieth yr because the Voice of the Cardinals — shall be his final.
“I’ll miss it,” Danburg admitted, “However 50 is an effective time to cease. I do know my final sport goes to be emotional. I am going to have tears in my eyes. Nevertheless it’s time.”
Danburg has been a fixture within the press field ever since Dick Gardner, a former assistant superintendent at Mentor, traveled to Excessive Level College in North Carolina in search of out an educator or two that match what Mentor Public Colleges was on the lookout for.
Danburg has been concerned at every thing at Mentor as a well being and bodily training teacher, a choreographer for musicals and extra. However most know him for his voice and his rousing catch phrase when the Mentor soccer staff crashes via a banner previous to kickoff.
Heeeeere come the Cardinals!
“You understand,” Danburg stated, “it’s essential to have a grand opening (line) to announce the staff in all its glory. I keep in mind once I first began and the staff was down in the long run zone prepared to return out and I stated that, ‘Right here come the Cardinals.’ And it caught.”
Danburg’s roots behind the microphone might be traced all the way in which again to Gainesville, Fla., the place he grew up after his household moved there from the Pacific Northwest. The one son of a mom steeped in opera and a father who was a composer, Danburg had a melodic voice that was pinpointed early on.
“The Gainesville (Excessive) Purple Hurricanes had been excellent, however they did not have an announcer,” Danburg stated. “The coach requested our instructor Mrs. Mary Elliott, she’s the one who taught me inflection and readability when talking, if she had a suggestion. She stated, ‘Riki Danburg can be my selection.'”
So Danburg’s first soccer saying job got here when he was a sophomore in highschool.
After transferring on to Excessive Level College — “My dad and mom stated if stayed at Gainesville (College of Florida) I might must stay at house” — Danburg introduced sporting occasions on the school degree for 3 years. That is when Dick Gardner, an administrator at Mentor, got here to North Carolina and located his faculty’s future voice.
Danburg taught well being and bodily training at Mentor for 31 years, aside from a one-year hiatus when he attended Bowling Inexperienced for post-graduate work. He introduced a number of sports activities at BG whereas doing graduate work there.
“Ron Priest was the announcer once I got here again to Mentor in 1971, however he handed away,” Danburg stated. “That they had me are available and had scripts written out to say. I began they usually interrupted me and stated, ‘Cease. You’ve got acquired the job,’ in midstream.”
Ever since then, it has been Danburg’s voice that has resonated all through Memorial Subject after which the JTO when Mentor’s soccer staff moved there in 1985.
“When my spouse, Nanci, and I moved to Avon in 2005, she stated, ‘I suppose you may quit your saying job?'” Danburg stated with fun. “I stated, ‘I suppose NOT.'”
Recollections of the years roll off Danburg’s tongue like a Broadway musical when accounting for all of the occasions for which he is introduced.
The younger student-athletes he is watched play.
The followers with whom he turned shut.
“I had a former pupil come as much as me and requested if I remembered saying his title,” Danburg stated. “I did. Then he requested me, ‘Do you keep in mind saying my son?’ And I did. Then he stated, ‘Mr. Danburg, tonight you’ll announce my grandson.'”
Danburg was inducted into Mentor’s athletic corridor of fame on Sept. 28, his son Curtis introducing him together with his spouse Nanci and son Jarrid proudly watching earlier than turning the remainder of the grasp of ceremonies over to his father for the remainder of the night. Danburg stated he was touched by the Corridor of Fame nod, together with his grandchildren Tyler, Hannah, Lenna, Griffin and Perry on stage to welcome their grandfather into the corridor of Mentor athletic greatness.
“It was an awesome night time, so gratifying and fantastic to see so many buddies and former college students on the occasion,” stated Danburg, who was moreover touched by the presence of longtime administrator Neil Sharp in attendance.
“Being in Mentor’s Corridor of Fame is sort of a cherry on prime of the cake. It is the fruits of every thing I really like about Mentor Colleges.”
Danburg acquired a little bit tear in his eye after Mentor’s win over Shaker Heights when he was summoned onto the sphere and offered the sport ball by Coach Matt Grey in entrance of a throng of appreciative and grateful student-athletes who weren’t even a twinkle of their dad and mom’ eyes when Danburg first introduced a Mentor sport.
That’s the reason saying goodbye after 50 years will not be simple. He stated that he has his spouse’s permission to fill in in case of an emergency, however apart from that, his saying profession at Mentor comes all the way down to Oct. 6 towards Brunswick, Oct. 20 towards Euclid and any potential house playoff video games the Cardinals may need.
“Let me inform ya,” Danburg stated to the Mentor gamers, “I do not need my final sport to be Oct. 20. I wish to do extra playoffs with you, OK? That is gonna occur. You are gonna be within the playoffs, OK?”
Coach Matt Grey of @MentorRedline presents Friday’s sport ball to Rik Danburg, who’s in his fiftieth and remaining yr of saying Mentor soccer video games. pic.twitter.com/Vp3wYAEmp2
— Information-Herald preps (@NHPreps) September 30, 2023
Danburg may provide little greater than a shrug of the shoulders when requested what he’ll do with a free Friday night time within the fall, one thing he and his spouse have not had in 50 years. However identical to he got here up with a catch-line when he first introduced at Mentor, he already has one drawn up for subsequent fall at house.
“As a substitute of ‘Heeeeeere come the Cardinals,'” Danburg stated, “It’s going to be, ‘Hey Nanci, I am hoooooome!”
