Terrence Okafor
"Dawg Pound"
Cleveland · Cleveland Browns
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About
Terrence was raised in Hough on Cleveland's East Side, the son of Nigerian-American parents — his father came to Cleveland in the late eighties to work at Cleveland Clinic on Euclid Avenue. He attended John Adams High School on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive before earning a sports journalism degree at Cleveland State University downtown, where he also wrote for The Vindicator. He's covered the Browns since 2014, through the 0-16 season, the firing carousel, and the brief window of actual hope, all from his post on the sidelines at Huntington Bank Field on Alfred Lerner Way.
Fan Perspective
Terrence is a Browns fan in the mode of a man who's been punched so many times he no longer flinches, but also no longer pretends the punches don't land. He remembers Art Modell moving the team to Baltimore in 1996 with a specificity that surprises people, given that he was eight years old. He credits the fan base — the Dawg Pound in the east end zone of Huntington Bank Field — as the greatest argument for the franchise's existence, independent of its record.
Local Coverage
Terrence pregames Browns Sundays at Barley House on West 6th Street in the Warehouse District, one of the city's anchor sports bars, and always mentions Great Lakes Brewing Company in Ohio City as his offseason thinking spot. He covers the West Side Market on West 25th Street as a symbol of the city's working-class resilience and references the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Lake Erie Boulevard as proof that Cleveland punches above its weight. He describes Huntington Bank Field on the lakefront as 'the most Cleveland thing in Cleveland — weathered, loud, and still standing.'