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Akron Schools teacher sings national anthem for Browns vs Steelers game

Posted at 12:37 PM, Oct 31, 2021
and last updated 2021-10-31 12:38:03-04

AKRON, Ohio — This week's national anthem will be sung by an Akron teacher who has fans not just in the stands but the classroom.

Brian Johnson has taught for the Akron Public Schools for more than 30 years also sung in the opera for more than 35 years.

About three weeks ago his school coordinator of music’s reached out to him to see if he wanted to sing the national anthem at a Browns game. He said yes and ran home to record.

“This is my room where all the magic happens or more correctly say all the mistakes before the magic happens to happen in here,” said Johnson.

He sent it in and was good to go. But after having multiple shows canceled during the pandemic he didn’t immediately spread the word.

“So I waited and waited and waited until I was absolutely sure that I was going to be doing it,” said Johnson.”

He says his 5th graders are excited, but his kindergarteners are a little different.

“My kindergarten is like you just sing and they think it's much cooler than I have a picture of myself riding the motorcycle on the wall,” said Johnson.

There’s a possibility the anthem will not be televised but if you go to Johnson’s Facebook page he posted a video of him singing the anthem. He will post the performance Sunday.

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