NFL

Pulling Jets camp from Cortland big blow for locals

(Jeff Zelevansky )

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Mark Braun was setting up his mobile fish fry cooking trailer at a fundraiser event in Owego, N.Y., yesterday when his cell phone rang a few minutes before 11 a.m.

It was Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum.

Braun, a lifelong Jets fan and season-ticket holder, is the owner of Doug’s Fish Fry in Cortland, N.Y., a family-oriented seafood haven about four Mark Sanchez-to-Santonio Holmes 75-yard bombs from where the Jets have conducted their training camp the last two years.

Braun said he was “in awe” Tannenbaum would call him personally.

“Hi Mark,” Tannenbaum said. “I’ve got some bad news and some good news . . . ”

The bad news: The Jets won’t conduct their 2011 training camp at SUNY-Cortland because of the prolonged NFL lockout.

The good news: Tannenbaum invited Braun to bring his fish fry trailer down to the Jets’ Florham Park, N.J., facility to cook for the coaches and players for a day this summer. The Jets will have training camp practices open to the public at Florham Park.

It was a bittersweet moment for Braun, whose world was lit up like a kid’s at Christmas two years ago when the Jets first announced they would be training in Cortland.

Tannenbaum said the Jets plan to train in Cortland in 2012. SUNY-Cortland president Erik Bitterbaum told the Associated Press the university will get an extra year tacked on to the agreement with the team for the loss of this camp, meaning the Jets also will be in Cortland in 2013.

Doug’s Fish Fry has become the unofficial epicenter of the off-the-field action during Jets training camps, with players, coaches, media and fans frequenting the restaurant.

Tannenbaum has had his son’s birthday party there the last two years. Jets coach Rex Ryan has been in. So have numerous players, who have dined on Braun’s fried scallops, shrimp, fish and homemade clam chowder.

“My emotions are so weird right now,” Braun said by phone yesterday. “I’m sad that the Jets aren’t coming back this year, but I was so touched that Mike Tannenbaum would call me personally. I’m just a little fish fry guy in Cortland, N.Y. The fact that he called me was kind of neat.”

Braun might be “just a little fish fry guy,” but he has been a big part of the soul of the Jets’ training camp the last two years.

The inside of his restaurant is a shrine to the Jets, with a wall completely devoted to autographed pictures of the players and coaches. Marty Lyons gave a game jersey of his to Braun, who hung it from one of the rafters.

Life will go on at Doug’s Fish Fry and everywhere else in Cortland this summer, it will just a little duller than it has been the last two years.

It will be impossible for the small town to recoup the approximately $4 million boost to the struggling local economy the Jets’ presence brought in each of the last two years.

“People are going to feel the big hit, because Cortland is a great little city, but it’s not really a summertime place to go,” Braun said.

Yesterday, after his conversation with Tannenbaum, he said: “As I hung up the phone, I said to myself, ‘Geez, that three weeks is like a big party for me.’

“Every day on that wall in the restaurant, I’ve got people stopping to look at it,” he said. “If the Jets don’t come back — and I don’t even want to think about that — I’ve got that wall to remind me of the memories.

“We’ve got a lot of memories on that wall. That’s priceless. That’ll go on forever. Even if they don’t come back, at least I had those two years. I’ll always have those memories.”

Tannenbaum gave Braun one more of those memories with that phone call.

“He’s been great to me and the entire organization,” Tannenbaum said. “This is the stuff Woody [Johnson, Jets owner] talks about all the time — that we’ve got to be appreciative and thankful for the people who are supporters — and Mark is at top of that list. He’s been part of our training camp experience and he certainly exemplifies the spirit of Cortland.”

mcannizzaro@nypost.com