‘Showdawg’ becomes hall of famer
Valley man selected for Hall of Fans
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Ray Prisby is a Hall of Fanner.
The Youngstown man and loyal Cleveland Browns supporter found out Friday he will be inducted into the Ford Hall of Fans at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.
He said being told he was an inductee was every bit as thrilling as he imagined it would be.
"I've been riding on a rollercoaster ever since," Prisby said about an hour after getting the news.
Prisby already felt like a winner before Friday. Cleveland Browns legend Jim Brown came to Prisby's East Side home when he found out he was one of six nominees. Learning Tuesday he was one of the three finalists meant Prisby got a trip to Tampa, Fla., to attend Super Bowl LV on Sunday.
Still, the Hall of Fame decided to run a trick play on Prisby before Hall of Fame President and CEO David Baker delivered the big news in Tampa.
"They let us know he (Baker) might come, he might not come, but they wanted to do an interview with me," Prisby said. "I thought, 'OK, he's going to come in during the interview.' I did the whole interview, they left and he didn't come. I'm sitting there and sweating, sitting there and sweating. I didn't know what to think. I never really gave up, but maybe it's not going to happen. Then I hear the door -- boom boom boom -- and he walks in."
The video sent out with the announcement shows Baker greeting Prisby by his nickname "Showdawg" and telling him, "I want to thank you for loving this game so much. On behalf of the Ford Motor Company, on behalf of the Hall of Fame and on behalf of all of us who love football, I want to congratulate you on being inducted into the Ford Hall of Fans."
Prisby will be a part of the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton, which will honor both the Class of 2020 and this year's Hall of Fame inductees, which will be announced today.
The other two Hall of Fans finalists, Arizona Cardinals' fan Kristi Brown and Las Vegas Raiders' fan Wayne Mabry, also will be inducted alongside Prisby. The three inductees were selected from more than 27,000 fans who entered the contest.
"With Kristi and Wayne, I feel I just discovered a brother and sister I didn't know I had," Prisby said.
When he got the news, Prisby was wearing a Cleveland Browns No. 57 jersey, the number worn by Clay Matthews, who is one of this year's finalists for the Hall of Fame. That attire wasn't out of the norm for Prisby. He wears Browns gear every day, and his house is filled with memorabilia devoted to his favorite team, including one room dedicated to Jim Brown.
And here's a piece of good news for Browns' fans. Two of three Hall of Fans inductees in 2020 were fans of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the two teams that will square off in Super Bowl LV. If that trend continues, the Browns could be playing the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl LVI.