Two custodians sat on a table in the back of Manley Field House Friday afternoon, unwinding from a grueling workday that began at 4 a.m. As they rested, a steady stream of athletic department brass lined up in front of Michelle Johnson, the woman easily recognizable by her New Orleans Saints knit winter hat.

Fellow employees squealed as they hugged her, shy in the presence of a longtime co-worker. Administrators and coaches shook her hand with respect and admiration. Even Greg Paulus, Syracuse’s former starting quarterback, made sure to say hello before heading on his way.

‘She’s like a local celebrity around here,’ said the other woman, Kim Suskevich, puzzled by what has become a daily ritual.

Johnson’s son, Jo-Lonn Dunbar, is a linebacker for the Saints and will be on the sideline Sunday at the Super Bowl. Though Dunbar is on the injured reserved list, Johnson, an SU custodian for 23 years, will be in the stands at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, cheering the team on.

That she will be at the Super Bowl should come as no surprise. Johnson has not missed a single home game for any of her son’s teams. Never. Not one.

Not when he played at nearby Corcoran High School, when Johnson regularly took half-days off from work to make the opening kickoff. Not at Boston College, even when Dunbar redshirted and didn’t play in 2003. And not in New Orleans, even after Dunbar suffered a season-ending hamstring injury in December.

She is a self-proclaimed Saints groupie, and Dunbar’s biggest fan.

‘I made this commitment once he said he liked football and wanted to see how far he can go with it,’ Johnson said. ‘I said, ‘Well, as far as you go with it, that’s how far I’m going with it.”

That decision has led Johnson to the Super Bowl, the pinnacle of the football world. And the journey has not been an easy one.

Johnson raised Dunbar, 24, by herself and has no other children. She has worked across the entire campus during her career, ingraining herself in the fabric of SU’s buildings for more than two decades.

Now working at Manley, Johnson works Monday through Friday from 4 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., preparing the locker rooms in the morning and cleaning them after the teams leave. (She said the men’s lacrosse team is consistently the messiest of the squads she takes care of).

After each long day, she returns to her Syracuse home that doubles as a shrine to Dunbar. She has a life-size photo of her son on the wall directly inside the front door. In the basement, Johnson has dozens of framed photos of her son playing for every team he has ever been a part of. She has every uniform Dunbar has ever worn, ranging from Pop Warner all the way to the NFL, hanging on her basement wall.

‘I told you, I’m his biggest fan,’ Johnson said. ‘People come into my house and look around. Their first reaction always is just, ‘Wow!”

Dunbar makes sure his mother is at every home game, providing travel to and from New Orleans and tickets to every game at the Superdome. The Super Bowl will mark the 11th weekend this season Johnson will spend on the road. ‘If mom wants to come, mom comes,’ Johnson said.

Johnson has taken countless days off over the years, willingly giving up paychecks to be there for her son. Her supervisors and bosses have remained supportive. Other custodians remain willing to pick up extra shifts in her absence. This time, she will miss two days of work, leaving for Miami Friday and returning to Syracuse Monday.

‘Sometimes you have to make sacrifices to do things,’ Johnson said. ‘And at times, I have done that. But it has been worth it all. It is worth every sacrifice to be there for my son.’

Dunbar’s path to the NFL has been a treacherous one. He went undrafted after graduating from BC in 2008 before signing with the Saints and ultimately earning a spot on the active roster.

Dunbar played in 15 games as a rookie, tying for third on the team with 16 tackles on special teams. He earned a degree of national attention during a Monday Night Football game on Oct. 6, 2008, when he threw several highlight-reel blocks on a pair of Reggie Bush punt return touchdowns.

His tenacious tackling and blocking ability caught the attention of current SU football coach Doug Marrone, who was the Saints’ offensive coordinator during Dunbar’s rookie season. More importantly, he impressed Marrone with his work ethic and personality.

Marrone knew Dunbar’s mother worked at SU and sought her out upon taking the head coaching job. She wasn’t hard to spot. When Marrone arrived, he didn’t see too many people on campus decked out in Saints gear.

‘I told her how good of a job her son had done in New Orleans and what a great kid he is,’ Marrone said during an interview in his office Monday morning. ‘I told her that she did a great job raising him.’

He also told her, Johnson said, that the Saints would reach the Super Bowl this year – a prophecy that has come true.

‘This has been the thrill of a lifetime for both of us,’ Johnson said. ‘This happens once in a lifetime. I never thought in my wildest dreams I would be able to share this experience with my son.’

But the last two months have been perhaps the toughest in Dunbar’s career. Therefore, they’ve been the toughest for Johnson.

Dunbar injured his hamstring on Dec. 6 on the road against the Washington Redskins. Johnson was watching on television and saw her son crumple to the ground, writhing in pain. Immediately, she knew the prognosis was bleak.

Nevertheless, the injury has not hampered Johnson’s commitment to attending every home game. As long as her son is on the sideline, she will be there, whether or not he plays.

Before every game, Johnson is there to wish her son good luck. Afterward, she makes sure to congratulate him – and scold him about every missed tackle or block. After watching her son’s games for his entire life, Johnson said she notices errors at game-speed on the field that Dunbar’s coaches don’t see until watching the film in slow motion.

It’s a special mother-son connection the two have formed. It’s a relationship Johnson feels blessed to have.

‘He is my best friend, my close friend and my son,’ Johnson said. ‘And if you ask him the same thing, he’ll say, ‘My mom, that’s my best friend, my best cheerleader. Yep, that’s my mom.”

Back at Manley Friday afternoon, after the line of athletes wanting her time dissipated, Marrone came down the hallway. Like everybody else, he stopped for a moment and drew himself close to Johnson, putting his hands on her shoulders.

‘Make sure you get 12 tickets for the Super Bowl,’ Marrone joked. ‘Make sure they know coach Marrone said you’re getting 12 tickets.’

Johnson beamed with pride.

‘I only need one,’ she said. ‘I only need one to be there for my son.’

Jared Diamond is the sports columnist for The Daily Orange, where his column runs weekly. He can be reached at jediamon@syr.edu.

Published on February 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm