Akron native and Cleveland Cavaliers forward Larry Nance Jr. has been to Swensons “hundreds” of times, but there were two things he hadn’t done before: be a roadside server and try a signature Galley Boy. He was able to check off both of those things on Saturday afternoon, while more importantly, raising money and school supplies for Akron Public Schools.
“It’s about supporting the community that supported me and allowed me to get to where I’m at today,” Nance said at Saturday’s event.
And if you’re going to support the community of Akron, there’s no better place to do so than at Swensons.
“It doesn’t get any more Akron than that,” Nance said. “That’s something I’m very proud of. I’m very proud to be from here, and this is a place that I have truly eaten at hundreds, thousands, I mean literally hundreds of hundreds of times. … So why not partner with my favorite spot in my favorite area?”
Together, Nance and Swensons hosted a school supply drive on Saturday afternoon. Swensons will donate 20% of all sales from Saturday to fulfill classroom wish lists. Additionally, Nance has pledged to personally match that donation as well.
To help out, Nance became a curb-side server for the afternoon. This included wearing the uniform — white belt and all — and running to cars when they turned on their headlights.
“We started him out as a trainee,” Swensons’ president Jeff Flowers said about Nance. “All of our curb servers start up as a trainee. And as you learn and you get faster, you can actually earn more olives (on the nametag). So you can go from a trainee, from a two olive, to a three olive, to a four olive to a five. Just in case, we do have a five olive Larry \[nametag\] ready.”
I don’t think Nance worked his way up to the five olive nametag. He took too many breaks to sign autographs and take pictures with everyone in attendance. But then again, that’s part of the fun and why he was there.
“The curb servers are having a blast with him,” Flowers said. “He’s great. He’s been taking orders. He’s taking out trays to deliver it to our guests. He’s doing an amazing job.”
Somehow, Nance had never had a Galley Boy — Swenson’s signature burger — before, even though he’s been to Swensons countless times. Olives were the main deterrent for him. The staff found out about this and presented him with one to try. Unsurprisingly, Nance might have a new favorite order going forward.
As much fun as Saturday was, the main goal was to help a community and school system that has meant so much to Nance throughout his life.
“For every step of my life, I’ve got a teacher that helped me get to that next one,” Nance said. “For this next generation, for Akron Public Schools, they’ve got a great group of teachers.”
And now, they have more of the resources they need to teach their students.
“Now there’s no excuses,” Nance said when asked what his message to students was. “We got everything you need: pens, pencils, notebooks, all the good stuff. And again, that’s huge. Thanks to everybody that showed up. … There’s no excuses now. So those grades better stay on track, and I’ll be checking in periodically to make sure they do.”
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