Elyria's Myles Grimmett inspires at sports awards

CLEVELAND — Myles Grimmett has heard plenty of applause in his basketball career. The standing ovation he received Thursday night at the 26th Greater Cleveland Sports Awards hit different. "It felt great because that was the first time I've seen everybody stand up," he told The Chronicle-Telegram backstage. "It really makes you feel like the man of the hour, makes you feel like everybody's looking at you." Grimmett, a 15-year-old sophomore at Elyria High School, accepted the Jim Donovan Courage Award during the ceremony at Rocket Arena. Grimmett had a rare bone cancer when he was 5, and his left fibula was transplanted to his upper right humerus during a 19-hour surgery. Not only has he been cancer-free for nearly a decade, he's a starter and double-figure scorer on the Pioneers junior varsity — as a lefty shooter when he's right-handed. "Even if someone tells you you can't do something, you can still try yourself, just like me," he told the crowd. "They told me I was never going to be able to do a lot of things that I do, and I just tried them and I could." Grimmett didn't know much about the award until being announced as the winner after his doctors at Cleveland Clinic nominated him. "It's been a blessing," he said. "It's just showed me how wonderful (it is) and how grateful I am and it just really opened my eyes to see how amazing the award and just everything is." His older brother Rondell plays on the varsity for the Pioneers and has helped Grimmett accomplish all he has. "My brother was always there for me," Grimmett said. "He never treated me in no different type of way and I always thanked him for that. "Then around like sixth grade my dad passed and I just seen my brother more of like a role model and almost like a father figure. He's helped me through a lot of things and taught me a lot of right and wrong things to do." The new guy Long snapper Rex Sunahara watched from the side of the room last week when Todd Monken was introduced as Browns coach. Sunahara had been trying to catch on in the NFL for years before making his debut last season with Cleveland, so this is his first time going through a coaching change. "It's different," Sunahara said at the awards show. "Everyone's got a different way of doing things and it'll be interesting to see how Coach Monken has us doing things and everything else with that. But we're excited, we're excited to get back to work. Just excited to get this year going." Monken made a good first impression. "Seems like a no-nonsense guy, which we love," Sunahara said. "He seems like a guy who's going to help us achieve our goals and also hold us accountable to the things that we say we want to accomplish, which is the best thing that you can have as a coach." Linebacker Jerome Baker has faced Monken offenses, including twice last season when Monken was offensive coordinator with the Ravens. "Granted, last year he had what he had, but I think what it really is is that he's going to throw a whole bunch of different looks at you," Baker said. "You're not going to really get a bead on what he's doing, and just reality, we need that. We need our offense just to go to the next level." Bigger and better Sunahara, who's from Bay Village, played 12 games in 2024 after longtime long snapper Charley Hughlett was injured. Sunahara felt much more comfortable in his first full-time season in 2025. "It was night and day," he said. "That first season was so crazy. You didn't even have time really to think about it. "But going into that second season and Coach Bubba (Ventrone) really was like, 'hey, you have to get stronger, you have to really, really live in the weight room basically.' And that was what I did. All the guys on that strength staff, I credit a lot to those guys. They got me ready for this year and they got me ready to play and be so comfortable out there. And it was great." The added strength was to improve his blocking. Ventrone wasn't retained as special teams coordinator by Monken and was hired for the same role by the Rams. "I owe a lot to that guy. He took a chance on me when Charley got hurt," Sunahara said. "He was hard on me, but in the best way possible. He has turned me into the player that I am now and I will forever be grateful for that." JB, come back? Baker, 29, is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in March. The Cleveland native enjoyed his season with the hometown team. "If Mr. Berry wants to bring me back, I would love to come back here," Baker said, referring to general manager Andrew Berry. "This is truly a dream come true. If this is my last ride. I'm going to still be a Cleveland Brown no matter what. So it's a blessing." Baker appeared in all 17 games, starting four. He was part of the rotation at linebacker and a contributor on special teams. He had 40 tackles, three for loss, two forced fumbles and 1.5 sacks. Contact Scott Petrak at (440) 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @scottpetrak on X.