When Danny Solomon walked into the fieldhouse at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus, he stepped into a familiar place.
Solomon previously coached flag football tournaments in the fieldhouse and attended other events in his role as director of the Garden Valley Falcons youth football program.
On Dec. 29, the familiar fieldhouse offered an unexpected surprise for Solomon. RB Raheim Sanders stood by an orange box filled with a token of appreciation in honor of Solomon being a pillar of Cleveland's youth football community for 32 years. When Solomon opened the box, he was met with a moment he'll never forget — two tickets to the 2026 Super Bowl.
"It took me a few seconds to connect it because when I opened that box, I thought it was going to be some Browns swag or something like that, but I never would have imagined that it would be two tickets to the Super Bowl," Solomon said. "I'm just haven't even wrapped my mind around the whole experience yet. I'm just so appreciative."
Solomon began his coaching journey at 18 years old, just after graduating high school. He grew up in Cleveland in the Garden Valley neighborhood, but the neighborhood did not offer organized sports. That changed after Solomon graduated when someone in the neighborhood started looking for volunteer coaches.
Solomon found other programs to play sports growing up but lacked the coaching experience that he thought he would need. Despite his hesitancy, he decided to volunteer and was told that he would be taught all the coaching he would need. Solomon was an assistant coach within the Garden Valley program for eight years until he took over the program, a role he has held for the past 24 years.
"The guy that was in charge of the program, he had some sons playing high school ball and he wanted to transition from youth football to go help coach his boys in high school. And he decided that it was me that he wanted to leave the program to," Solomon said. "So, I've been juggling the day-to-day responsibilities of being a coach and overseeing this whole organization for 24 years."
In addition to Garden Valley, Solomon recently took over the Lonnie Burten Renegades youth football program after a Cleveland councilman asked if he would help lead the team. He agreed because of its proximity to Garden Valley and its connection to public housing, where many families move between the two communities.
"The biggest gratification is just building community," Solomon said. "So many men that even today, they're in their 20s and 30s, and they met and they have friends and people that they met in my program that they now consider brothers. They've known each other so long. For me to provide the ground for them to build a community with these guys and young men, just the parallels of the traits and stuff, the attributes of football that translate over to real life, the teamwork, the discipline, the dedication."
As the kids Solomon has coached have grown, so has youth football. The sport has expanded beyond its original scope of tackle football, adding new programs and formats that provide greater access and opportunity. That growth has been fueled in large part by the Browns' continued investment in youth development, according to Solomon. He has helped grow the sport in Cleveland and was named the Browns' representative for NFL Youth Football Coach of the Week on Oct. 23 for his part in doing so.
"I'm very appreciative of the Cleveland Browns organization," Solomon said. "When it started out, for years, for decades, it was just tackle football. To see it grow to what it is now, to see the investment in flag football, girls' flag football is booming right now, rookie tackle. There are just all these different elements and investments that the Browns have committed to our youth so I'm very proud to be a representative of the Cleveland Browns."
Solomon's dedication is what ultimately led the Browns to surprise Solomon with two tickets to the 2026 Super Bowl. The moment served as a celebration of the countless hours he has poured into the city's youth and the lasting difference he has made in their lives.
"The surprise was a result of his dedication to the city of Cleveland and the Cleveland Muny Football League," Browns manager of youth football Hannah Lee said. "The impact he has in the community on hundreds of thousands of kids, and just the leader and mentor and really just the light that he is for all of those kids that come through that program is incredible."
