Garrett Bush landed dream job once Josh Cribbs said no to Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show

Garrett Bush can go all day with Ohio sports takes.

Hey, Cavs, Jarrett Allen isn't cutting it.

Hey, Browns, do something about the linebackers.

Hey, Buckeyes, go fish a QB out of the transfer portal.

In a speech to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club, though, Bush skipped the takes and introduced himself.

Since last May, Bush has been a co-host on Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show, airing weekdays on YouTube from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is co-hosted by WKYC-TV anchor and longtime former ESPN personality Jay Crawford, who presented Bush to Monday's crowd at Tozzi's on 12th.

"If you're a fan of Cleveland Sports and haven't seen the show, you'll want to," Crawford said. "We yell, argue, laugh, fight and cry for two hours every day."

It took Bush 20 years to get there.

He grew up in Canton.

He was a youth baseball home run-hitting machine at Shanafelt Field. He looked the part, as he did when he was a lineman on McKinley football teams that won state championships in 1997 and '98.

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Bush played football at Ohio University and dreamed of a career in broadcasting.

That led to a job as a producer − or "board op" − on radio station WKNR.

"It was made clear to me that a producer's job is to be seen and not heard," Bush said.

He became a producer on a show starring Kendall Lewis, whose nickname was "Big Sports Kahuna."

"BSK was the first person who let me talk on the radio," Bush said. "He trusted me not to go off the rails.

"The program director would say, 'Why is he talking?' Kendall would say, 'Andy, it's my show. I trust him.'"

Health issues drove Lewis off the air.

"I called BSK to see how he was doing," Bush said. "He asked how I was doing. I was frustrated. I wanted to be on the air and didn't know how to get there.

"He told me, 'Just work on being the best you. The best you can be on the air.

"He started calling me at night. He would give me a topic and say, 'Go.'

"I would rattle off everything I had. He would let me go and eventually say, 'Time.' Then he would tell me what he liked, what I needed to change, what I needed to add.

"No one but Kendall was listening. I didn't realize it at the time, but those were my first shows.

"He gave me something more valuable than money. He gave me his time."

Bush's work life became a whirlwind of "board op" and jobs that would pay the bills. He eventually got a chance to host a show. His best-known gig prior to Ultimate Sports Show was The Barbershop, airing Saturdays on 92.3 The Fan.

Lewis died in 2017.

"It was about four weeks before my first show when Kendall passed," Bush said. "That was tough. I've said ever since then I would keep his name alive."

Bush hit a low point a few years ago when his broadcast prospects dimmed, he went through a divorce, and he was home alone during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He met a woman he since has married. She insisted he stick with his dream.

Landing on Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show involved some luck. WKYC tried to get a well-known former Cleveland Brown.

"Josh Cribbs couldn't do it," Bush said. "Thanks, Josh."

An executive named Steve called the former board op.

"I had never done television," Bush said. "Steve said, 'Do you want to do television?' I said, 'Yeah.'

"He said, 'Do you want to know how much you'll be paid?' I said, 'It doesn't matter.'"

Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Cleveland radio-TV personality Garrett Bush speaks at Luncheon Club