The city of Cleveland has reason to rejoice. After all, LeBron James has led the Cavaliers to the NBA’s Eastern Conference finals and has Cleveland fans hopeful of the town’s first major sports title since the 1964 Browns won the NFL championship.
But little do Cavaliers fans know, as they raise their banners and shout support for their team, the father of a Yankees reliever played a huge role in identifying the squad.
Brett Tomko was born in Euclid, Ohio, but his parents were born in Cleveland.
His father, Jerry, grew up in Cleveland Heights and, it appears, was a reader of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The newspaper held a contest to come up with a team name in 1970, according to NBA.com. As Brett remembers, submissions included an essay explaining the reasoning behind the suggested name.
So, of what Brett estimates were 1,800 submissions, it was Jerry’s “Cavaliers” that won out.
In the contest entry, Jerry described cavaliers as “a group of daring, fearless men, whose life’s pact was never surrender, no matter what the odds,” according to NBA.com.
“It’s been a cool little fun fact that I can drop on people,” Brett said. “He got season tickets for a year and was supposed to get an autographed team basketball, but never got it.”
Despite the hometown connection and special bond with the team name, Brett doesn’t bleed Cavaliers red. When he was 3 years old, he moved to southern California, and actually is a Lakers fan. Nevertheless, he said is pulling for the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference.
But what if Kobe Bryant and Co. meet LeBron’s crew in the Finals, which seems likely?
“It’s tough,” the 36-year-old Tomko said. “I think because the Cavs haven’t won it, I’d definitely have to root for them.”