KEVIN_MACK_AND_SARGE_JOHNSON.JPG

Kevin Mack was one of several former Browns players who gathered at Al "Bubba" Baker's restaurant in Avon to fulfill the dying wish of William "Sarge" Johnson, who passed away on Friday.

(Bill Livingston / The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio – As Bubba Baker sees it, the irony is that he was supposed to give a helping hand to a dying man. The reality was that William “Sarge” Johnson, before passing away Friday, helped guide Baker’s life.

The last wish of Johnson, 80, was to meet Baker and other Browns from the past generation and to eat barbecue at Baker’s Bubba’s Q restaurant. Johnson died after a long battle against cancer, kidney failure and dementia at the Franciscan Care Center in Toledo.

Johnson, a Korean War veteran, got his last wish on Aug. 23 at Baker's restaurant in Avon, where, accompanied by several former Browns, including Mike Pruitt, Dave Mays, Don Cockroft, Kevin Mack and Dick Ambrose, he dined on the barbecue Baker served them.

Baker had had requests to help in the community before. He is a gregarious man, one who was the 1978 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and a three-time Pro Bowler. He has put the headset on before leaving the field and talked to the broadcasters in the booth after starring in the Detroit Lions’ traditional Thanksgiving Day game. He played on the defensive line with the Browns in 1987 and again in 1989-90.

“I had never been asked to be part of anyone’s ‘bucket list,’ though,” said Baker. “If you can’t make it to a fund-raiser, it’s not life and death if the uniforms aren’t bought that night. But this was different. I didn’t see myself as worthy of that kind of request.

A devout Christian, Baker prayed about the decision he had to make.

“First, I tried to put it off,” he said. “It was 21 years ago that I played football. There was a time, when I was 21 or 22 years old, when I fully indulged my ego. But since then, life has humbled me so much. I’m almost overwhelmed when people bring cameras to the restaurant. I only played here three years, and I was on the back nine of my career then."

“I couldn’t get this guy, Sarge, out of my mind,” he continued. “I felt like if I didn’t meet this guy and he passed away -- in biblical terms, the bible says were all going to answer for the decisions we made.”

Baker had been through the death of his mother after a long fight with Alzheimer’s Disease. There was no cure. There was no sack that could throw the disease for a loss. It left him a changed man.

“On the field, you think you can control what happens. Then you have situations in life you have no control over,” he said. “My mother had Alzheimer’s for 17 years. I just sort of watched her shrivel up and die, this strong matriarch. It almost destroyed me. It almost destroyed my family to have this event where you’re helpless, and all you have is prayer.”

Baker began to look at William Johnson’s dying wish as an opportunity to rid himself of his sense of self and to find the strength inherent in true humility.

“I don’t like to use the word, but I obeyed,” Baker said. “There was a reason a fat kid from Newark, N.J., made it all the way to the NFL. For me, Sarge coming into my life was divine intervention. These are the opportunities that come to us in the form of doing something for someone else. I will never forget about the importance of family after what I went through with my mother. With Sarge, you’re doing a service for a man who fought for us, so you and I can do what we do and not live under tyranny. This man protected us."

Baker took the service idea literally, bringing out of the kitchen heaping platters of brisket, boneless ribs, a restaurant specialty, side dishes and drinks, without calling on his wait staff, placing them before his guest of honor.

“The hospice people told me Sarge was in severe pain all the time,” Baker said. “But once he got here, you could see how moved he was that so many people came out to meet him. When he was sitting at the head table in his wheelchair, he was happy. He forgot for a while he was in pain.”

The dinner for Sarge was an illustration, Baker believes, “from a higher power.” of how to live his life now. That night was about humility for a man whose name once was known around pro football.

“The greatest problem athletes have is they confuse what they did – throwing a ball, shooting one, hitting one – with what they do now,” Baker said. “I am not a football player anymore. I wear lots of hats -- a husband, a father, a member of the community in Avon, Ohio.”

Sarge didn't quite provide inspiration from the grave, but helping a dying man realize his last wish was close enough.

“Now that he’s gone to be with God, I feel such relief that he’s not in pain anymore,“ Baker said. "I'll never forget him."