Longtime announcer Rik Danburg thankful for 50 years behind the microphone at Mentor

Sep. 30—Rik Danburg stepped outside the press box at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium and took a deep breath as he scanned the scene before his eyes.

The visual is one he has soaked in for a long time — probably longer than anyone else on hand this particular evening to watch the Mentor football team defeat visiting Shaker Heights, 44-29.

A smile came over his face as he took it all in. The Mentor football team on the field celebrating a home victory, fans flooding the field to congratulate their hometown heroes, the fall colors on the trees around the stadium...

For 50 years Danburg has appreciated that sight and being part of it all as Mentor's public address announcer. Maybe that's why he stopped and soaked in the atmosphere — because after 50 years of announcing Mentor football games, he only has a few more games remaining before he hangs up his proverbial microphone.

Danburg has announced that this — his 50th year as the Voice of the Cardinals — will be his last.

"I'm going to miss it," Danburg admitted, "But 50 is a good time to stop. I know my last game is going to be emotional. I'll have tears in my eyes. But it's time."

Danburg has been a fixture in the press box ever since Dick Gardner, a former assistant superintendent at Mentor, traveled to High Point University in North Carolina seeking out an educator or two that fit what Mentor Public Schools was looking for.

Danburg has been involved at everything at Mentor as a health and physical education instructor, a choreographer for musicals and more. But most know him for his voice and his rousing catch phrase when the Mentor football team crashes through a banner prior to kickoff.

Heeeeere come the Cardinals!

"You know," Danburg said, "you need to have a grand opening (line) to announce the team in all its glory. I remember when I first started and the team was down in the end zone ready to come out and I said that, 'Here come the Cardinals.' And it stuck."

Danburg's roots behind the microphone can be traced all the way back to Gainesville, Fla., where he grew up after his family moved there from the Pacific Northwest. The only son of a mother steeped in opera and a father who was a composer, Danburg had a melodic voice that was pinpointed early on.

"The Gainesville (High) Purple Hurricanes were very good, but they didn't have an announcer," Danburg said. "The coach asked our teacher Mrs. Mary Elliott, she's the one who taught me inflection and clarity when speaking, if she had a recommendation. She said, 'Riki Danburg would be my choice.'"

So Danburg's first football announcing job came when he was a sophomore in high school.

After moving on to High Point University — "My parents said if stayed at Gainesville (University of Florida) I'd have to live at home" — Danburg announced sporting events on the college level for three years. That's when Dick Gardner, an administrator at Mentor, came to North Carolina and found his school's future voice.

Danburg taught health and physical education at Mentor for 31 years, except for a one-year hiatus when he attended Bowling Green for post-graduate work. He announced multiple sports at BG while doing graduate work there.

"Ron Priest was the announcer when I came back to Mentor in 1971, but he passed away," Danburg said. "They had me come in and had scripts written out to say. I started and they interrupted me and said, 'Stop. You've got the job,' in midstream."

Ever since then, it's been Danburg's voice that has resonated throughout Memorial Field and then the JTO when Mentor's football team moved there in 1985.

"When my wife, Nanci, and I moved to Avon in 2005, she said, 'I suppose you'll give up your announcing job?'" Danburg said with a laugh. "I said, 'I suppose NOT.'"

Memories of the years roll off Danburg's tongue like a Broadway musical when accounting for all the events for which he's announced.

The young student-athletes he's watched play.

The fans with whom he became close.

"I had a former student come up to me and asked if I remembered announcing his name," Danburg said. "I did. Then he asked me, 'Do you remember announcing my son?' And I did. Then he said, 'Mr. Danburg, tonight you will announce my grandson.'"

Danburg was inducted into Mentor's athletic hall of fame on Sept. 28, his son Curtis introducing him with his wife Nanci and son Jarrid proudly watching before turning the rest of the master of ceremonies over to his father for the rest of the evening. Danburg said he was touched by the Hall of Fame nod, with his grandchildren Tyler, Hannah, Lenna, Griffin and Perry on stage to welcome their grandfather into the hall of Mentor athletic greatness.

"It was a great night, so gratifying and wonderful to see so many friends and former students at the event," said Danburg, who was additionally touched by the presence of longtime administrator Neil Sharp in attendance.

"Being in Mentor's Hall of Fame is like a cherry on top of the cake. It's the culmination of everything I love about Mentor Schools."

Danburg got a little tear in his eye after Mentor's win over Shaker Heights when he was summoned onto the field and presented the game ball by Coach Matt Gray in front of a throng of appreciative and thankful student-athletes who weren't even a twinkle in their parents' eyes when Danburg first announced a Mentor game.

That is why saying good-bye after 50 years won't be easy. He said that he has his wife's permission to fill in in case of an emergency, but besides that, his announcing career at Mentor comes down to Oct. 6 against Brunswick, Oct. 20 against Euclid and any potential home playoff games the Cardinals might have.

"Let me tell ya," Danburg said to the Mentor players, "I don't want my last game to be Oct. 20. I want to do more playoffs with you, OK? That's gonna happen. You're gonna be in the playoffs, OK?"

Coach Matt Gray of @MentorRedline presents Friday's game ball to Rik Danburg, who is in his 50th and final year of announcing Mentor football games. pic.twitter.com/Vp3wYAEmp2

— News-Herald preps (@NHPreps) September 30, 2023

Danburg could offer little more than a shrug of the shoulders when asked what he's going to do with a free Friday night in the fall, something he and his wife haven't had in 50 years. But just like he came up with a catch-line when he first announced at Mentor, he already has one drawn up for next fall at home.

"Instead of 'Heeeeeere come the Cardinals,'" Danburg said, "It'll be, 'Hey Nanci, I'm hoooooome!"