The Glade 4.0

BEREA: When Michael Drake crossed the field Oct. 30 during Stow High School's Senior Night, the announcer introduced the trio accompanying him as ''mother Patty, sister Abby and brother Josh.''

That the voice didn't boom, ''mother Patty, sister Abby and Browns Pro Bowler Josh Cribbs'' said much about Cribbs' intentions to keep the night about a teenager who might have been playing his last football game. It also said much about Cribbs' devotion to the Drakes, who were his ''second family'' during his four years as the starting quarterback at Kent State.

Michael Drake is the son of former Kent State assistant coach Mike Drake, who died of lymphoma in August 2005 at age 48. The elder Drake recruited Cribbs and served as his offensive coordinator in 2001-02 before being diagnosed with cancer before the 2003 season.

The Senior Night idea — for what Patty Drake said turned out to be ''the best night of Michael's life'' — was born this summer.

Casey Wolf, in his seventh year as KSU's director of football operations, remains a close friend of Cribbs and knows how much Mike Drake meant to him. Wolf remembers Drake telling the story of recruiting Cribbs, when the player's mother sent Drake out of the family's Washington, D.C., door at 11 o'clock at night with a bucket of fried chicken for the trip home. When the Golden Flashes had a game after Thanksgiving during Cribbs' freshman year and players weren't allowed to go home for the holiday, Cribbs spent it with the Drakes.

When Drake passed away during Cribbs' rookie year with the Browns, Wolf said then-coach Romeo Crennel let Cribbs leave during the break between training camp practices to attend the funeral.

Wolf lost his father when he was 8 years old and was already thinking about who would walk with Michael Drake on Senior Night. During a football camp this summer at KSU named for Mike Drake, Wolf brought it up to Cribbs, who said it was something he would like to do. Wolf reminded Cribbs at Kent State's homecoming game Oct. 10 and Cribbs vowed to be there.

At the time, Patty Drake thought she might be accompanying Michael alone because his sisters, Abby and Hannah, attend college out of town. Abby, a fashion major at KSU, is studying in New York and Hannah goes to Ball State.

''I knew I was going to do it for sure,'' Cribbs said Friday. ''It was just a point of making it on time, trying to get out of practice real quick. It was in traffic, that time of day, but I got there.''

The plan was to surprise Michael, but as Patty said, ''He didn't want it to become the Josh Cribbs Show.''

So Wolf handled the arrangements, bringing Cribbs in the back just before it was time to take the field. Wolf said only five people knew Cribbs was coming, including Stow High School director of athletics Cyle Feldman and Kent State assistant Zane Vance, who also had a son playing on Senior Night.

Memorable night

Michael said he did a triple-take when he saw Cribbs.

''I looked, then looked away, then said, 'Why are you here?' '' Michael recalled. ''I was shocked.''

A receiver, cornerback and holder for extra points, Michael said Cribbs offered advice before his final game.

''He said, 'Play your heart out. This is it. Give it your all. Don't ever stop on any play. Keep pushing,' '' Michael said. ''I almost felt worried. I didn't want to look bad for him.''

Waiting in line, Patty said she was nervous, too, but because so many people were coming up to Cribbs. She thought it bothered him that he was getting too much attention.

''He shook their hands, but stood by me and tried to talk privately to me,'' Patty said. ''He knew this was about every senior boy and cheerleader and band member. Josh was fabulous. It was the most personal thing he's ever done. Then he bowed out.''

Cribbs said he was there to ''support and encourage, not at all to replace the type of father his father was.'' He admitted it was an emotional evening.

''[Michael] didn't expect it. It was something that I had to do, I felt obligated to do,'' Cribbs said. ''It turned out to be a great evening. Everybody was trying to hold back tears. His mom kept crying, his sister, and I was trying to be strong for them.

''It meant a lot to them for me to be there and it meant a lot to me to be there. Just seeing them, how choked up they were, it was about to bring me to tears.''

'Coolest thing'

Wolf was watching from the Stow sideline with Abby's boyfriend as the seniors lined up on the visitors' side of the track. Wolf's only disappointment was he didn't see the stunned Michael's face.

''I thought it was the coolest thing. I don't think people in the stands realized who that was,'' Wolf said of Cribbs. ''That's the way he wanted it to happen.

''That family is very composed. I told Abby's boyfriend how tough this has to be for Patty. He said, 'The one thing that's held her together all day is knowing Josh is going to be here.' ''

Michael said many people approached him wondering if it was Cribbs, including his teammates and coaches.

''I was the most popular kid in the world,'' he said. ''It was an experience I will never forget. It was amazing.''

To cap it all, Stow defeated Cuyahoga Falls 17-7.

''We won. I played extremely well. It was the way I wanted the season to end,'' Michael said.

Now Michael is contemplating whether to continue football — he said he's received some letters from Division II schools — or to concentrate on academics, perhaps engineering. Cribbs said Michael could be ''a teamer,'' as in special teamer, which is no slight in Cribbs' world.

All who were aware of what happened on Senior Night went home touched. The experience left Wolf remembering Cribbs' final game at Kent State, when Drake was too ill to coach and served as academic adviser and sideline reporter for the KSU radio network.

''The last game against Central Florida might have been one of Josh's best,'' Wolf said. ''The last two guys going into the locker room were Mike Drake and Josh Cribbs, with their arms around each other. Mike had just interviewed him. It was a fitting end to a great career for both of them.''

Cribbs still recalls his final conversations with Mike Drake.

''The cancer started making him lose his mind a little bit, he wasn't coherent,'' Cribbs said. ''But when he was talking, he would say, 'Hey, I coached you right, right? I did everything I could.' He was second-guessing himself. I'm like, 'You were a heckuva coach,' reassuring him that he made a positive impact on my life.

''A hard-nosed football coach who gave me the basics to get where I am today.''

On Senior Night, Cribbs repaid him.

In comic strips the person on the left always speaks first. - George Carlin