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Floyd Remembers Lessons Taught By 'Big Flood'

Associated Press photo

Carl Crawford celebrates with Cliff Floyd, right, after Floyd's home run off Chicago White Sox closer Scott Linebrink during the ninth inning on Friday, May 30, 2008.

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By MARTIN FENNELLY

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 15, 2008

Updated: 06/15/2008 12:13 am

The veteran leader, a big, friendly man, is sitting in a corner of the Rays clubhouse, telling a story, making younger Rays laugh, and maybe teaching them, too.

That's Cliff Floyd.

That was his Pops, too.

Today is Father's Day. For 35-year-old Cornelius Clifford Floyd Jr., it's his first without Cornelius Clifford Floyd Sr. - Big Flood.

"That's what they called him," Cliff Floyd said. "I guess Big Floyd didn't sound cool enough. Pops was always Big Flood, or Flood, never Cornelius or Cliff."

Big Flood wasn't 6-foot-4 like his oldest child; maybe he was 6-2. But in Chicago, where he grew up and raised his family, he was a legend. When Big Flood spoke, people listened. When Big Flood smiled, people smiled back. And when Big Flood, strong as he was, swung at a baseball, well, people stopped and stared.

"He could hit a ball small," Cliff Floyd said.

And teach lessons large.

Learned Vital Lessons

The Cubs come to play the Rays this week. Cliff Floyd was on the road with the Cubs in August when he had to race home. Big Flood was dying in a Chicago hospital, all used up at 57. Cliff watched him go.

"I saw his last breath. I remember it like it was a second ago."

Cliff Floyd Sr. grew up in a Chicago housing development. His baseball ended when he enlisted in the Marines and served in Vietnam. After the war, it was about doing the job, sometimes two a day, anything to lift his wife, Olivia, and their children out of the inner city. Cliff Sr. worked in an iron factory and later for UPS, eventually moving his family to the suburbs.

"He worked as much as he could without going crazy," Cliff said. "He worked double shifts for Christmas to make sure we had a great Christmas. When I was going to school, he'd be coming home from work. His goal was to get us out of poverty."

"That's why I'm this way. I'm not stopping until I make sure my family is secure. I learned from the best."

Whenever Cliff got in trouble, his mom and dad put him in the car and drove him to Chicago's troubled West Side, where Big Flood grew up.

Cliff said, "They'd take me down to the West Side and say this is where you can end up if you don't straighten up and get yourself together. I was like, 'Oh, boy.'"

He misses talking with his dad about the world or watching sports with him. He misses that laugh. "He had a great laugh. That man could laugh you out the house," Cliff said. His dad's voice boomed. "If he was on the phone, there was no need to turn anything down on the TV. You heard him."

The son listened when his dad said enjoy your life and be grateful every day. His dad said work hard at everything. And there's Cliff's favorite lesson.

"He talked about manners and respect. I think I have pretty good manners and respect for people. If you have those two things, you'll go a long way. That's from my dad. If you talked to my Pops, you'd have walked away going, 'Wow, what a man.'"

Cliff Floyd Sr.'s body began breaking down 20 years ago. He had a kidney transplant. Later came heart surgery.

The son remembers that around the time his father's kidneys first failed, the family was set to move to a house in a better neighborhood. The medical bills kept them from moving. Cliff Sr. had to stop working.

Ten years ago, Cliff Floyd got his first big major-league contract with the Florida Marlins, the Rays' opponent this weekend. About the first thing he did was go back to that exact same better neighborhood and buy a house for his folks. Cliff lived in the basement for three offseasons. Every time he was leaving training camp, his dad packed his bags to make sure he had everything.

"He never stopped being a father."

Tough At The End

Two years ago, Cliff's sister, Shanta, died of cancer. She was 21. And Cliff Sr. was fading. His son came home last season to play for the Cubs.

Big Flood was almost always in the hospital - except for one day late last June, when he came to see his son play at Wrigley Field one last time. He and Olivia sat with Cubs general manager Jim Hendry. The Cubs won on a walk-off home run by Aramis Ramirez. "Dad left happy," Cliff said.

It was hard to visit his father near the end. That frail thing in that hospital bed, he just couldn't possibly be his man of steel.

Cliff was in a dugout in Denver when Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who'd gotten word, told him he ought to check on his dad. Cliff made a phone call home. They kept Big Flood on life support until he got there. It was Aug. 12. Cliff wrote some words to speak at the funeral, but was too stricken to say them.

He missed nine games. He returned Aug. 22 against the Giants in San Francisco - and delivered a two-run, ninth-inning hit for a Cubs win, three days after his father's funeral. Cliff talked to Clifford Floyd Sr. after his hit.

"I don't think I've ever had a bigger moment, whether it's playoffs or winning the World Series. I felt like he was in me, he was on me. It was the eeriest feeling, and it was the best."

Today is Father's Day. Cliff Floyd's biggest gifts, as always, are his 4-year-old daughter Bria and 2-year-old son Tobias. Maybe he'll show them the photo album of his dad. "It's important they remember who grandpa was."

Today is Father's Day.

It's for Big Floods everywhere.

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