CLEVELAND — It's been a few years since Johnny Stanton has been in Cleveland. His last season with the Browns was back in 2022. But over the weekend, the team's former fullback returned to the city, joined by his former teammate Myles Garrett for a game they love—and a good cause.
Stanton and Garrett have played Dungeons and Dragons together for a few years, getting offensive lineman Wyatt Teller in the mix as well. They've played together as friends, but they've also played for charity on more than one occasion.
Since departing the Browns, Stanton and Garrett have stayed in touch, but on Saturday, Stanton was back in town to hold another D&D charity event. Joined by Garrett and orchestrated by Brandon Tharp, an Ohio native and a TTRPG content creator, Staton had a special reunion.
"It's super fun to not only see Myles, I got to see him in LA a few months ago, but to be able to be at a D&D table with him is really special," Stanton said.
The event, held at Southern Tier Brewery downtown, aimed to raise money for the Casey Cares Foundation, an organization that supports critically ill children.
Colton Hartraft, a teen who was declared cancer-free in December 2023 after battling embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, is one of those children. Hartraft, an avid fan of D&D, was invited to play in the live game with Stanton and Garrett through the Casey Cares Foundation.
"During his bout of cancer and I looked for some support for him because so many foundations support mostly younger children," said Colton's mom, Allison. "[Casey Cares] finds out what you like and go with it."
Colton was elated to be invited to the game of Dungeons and Dragons and even got to bring his brother Cameron. For him, the experience was one he never expected but was beyond excited for.
"It makes you realize there's people out there who are actually willing to listen to what you're going through and then on top of that, being able to provide you something that you like to do to get you past that really tough hurdle of beating a disease such as cancer," Colton said.
Dressed in his best as a barbarian dwarf—ale mug, horned-warrior helmet and fur cape all on hand—Colton dived fully into character alongside his brother, Stanton and Garrett.
From Garrett's character "Zax," a Black Dragonborn Samari who "gets sacks and breaks backs," to Stanton's Fire Genasi Gunslinger "Heller Highwater," the game was full of adventure, action and plenty of laughter.
Stanton, who will always have a soft spot for Cleveland, was happy to be back—but even happier to be giving back.
"Feels really good to be back," Stanton said. "How many times do you get to play D&D in front of an audience? That's just very cool, especially when you get to actually raise money doing it. We're raising a lot of money for Casey Cares, it's really special for me that we get to do that. I'd do this a million times over instead of playing in front of a million people or something like that, we're actually raising money for a good cause."
