5/8/2015 football Edit

Labor of love

Stacy Clardie

Publisher

Some call it "Mother's Day."

Danny Anthrop and older brother Dru have a different label for the second Sunday in May.

"Labor Day comes two times a year, sometimes three if you're home on her birthday," Dru Anthrop joked.

Surely, Jana Anthrop's second-oldest son means it in a labor-of-love kind of way.

Because what the Anthrop family's Mother's Day celebration has morphed into is a time for the four sons to come to house they grew up in - on its 80 acres - and spend the day doing what Mom wants. Mostly, it's yard work that usually involves planting flowers, something Mom loves.

And though it may be manual labor - "My dad probably came up with it, which might have been a mistake. But we've never looked back from there," Danny said, laughing - it's done with a good heart. Especially knowing Mom will have a good food spread waiting when the work is done. On Sunday, the group will have a cook out and there's even ice cream cake waiting for dessert.

It's not the only day, though, sons Jade, Dru, Danny and Jackson celebrate mom Jana. They make sure to do that year-round, whether it's a quick text, a long phone call that ends in "I love you" or a sweet note.

Because the Anthrop boys know how good they've got it with this momma.

"My mom is just unbelievable. Her support is just overwhelming," said Danny, one of two Anthrop sons who followed in John's and Jana's footsteps as Boilermakers. Danny's a receiver on the football team, and Dru finished his career on Purdue's basketball team in 2013.

"I'm really lucky with how everything turned out in my life. I don't think I would have got through everything this fall (with an injury) without my parents. I know a lot of people don't have that, too. We have a very diverse team, so I see the full spectrum. I'm just like, 'Wow. I have no problems in life. I am lucky.' "

Lucky, too, that some of Jana's traits rubbed off on him and his athletic brothers.

Dru and Danny called Jana the most competitive person they know, which both admitted is a heavy statement considering they competed or are competing in Big Ten basketball and football and they know a good chunk of ridiculously competitive athletes.

Still, they've yet to find one who rivals Mom.

Growing up, Jana's older brother Jeff treated her like "one of the guys." Even though he was four years older, they played catch, basketball, table tennis - whatever sport fit at that time of year, at the moment. And there was no going easy: He made her earn every point she ever got, she said. That fueled her competitive spirit.

It's never faded.

She's fierce in the typical avenues - tennis, especially, because she played it and still coaches it, and most other sports, too, as well as card games or board games - but it's so much more than that.

"It literally doesn't matter what it is. It could not even be a competition - like you'll have no idea that you're involved in anything," Dru said, "and she'll text me and say, 'I walked 22,000 steps today at work. How many did you walk?' I'm like, 'Um, I don't know ...' She's like, 'OK, you should get up and move around more.' It doesn't matter if it's Ping-Pong, tennis, basketball, anything. We're leaving in two different cars on the way to church, she wants to be the first one there."

Danny also attributes his "fearlessness" to his mom, though he jokingly sometimes debates whether that's a good quality after he's racked up injuries on the football field. But each of those hiccups has provided an opportunity for Mom to shine.

Whether it was the first or the most recent, more serious, knee injury, Danny has felt the love. Instead of returning to his apartment to recover after surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in December, Danny opted for home and Mom. She made sure to have endless ice on hand to handle the knee's swelling, a willingness to hook him up to all the contraptions that'd help healing, countless meals at-the-ready and an encouraging spirit to help when his mood dipped.

That's the "compassion" that Dru talks about, the quality he just may be most proud of.

"It's incredible to think how many times she put herself last so she could put our needs first," Dru said. "She's a really strong, independent Christian woman who would do anything for anybody if you ask.

"She understands situations other people are in and is always seeing what she can do to help."

It was so important that Jana and John decided to have her stay at home while the kids were growing up. She stopped teaching fifth grade when she found out she was pregnant with Jade in 1988 and didn't go back to full-time teaching - P.E. at St. Lawrence, where she currently teaches - until Jackson was in preschool in 2002. And corralling four rowdy boys wasn't always easy.

There was a sign on the wall at the house that said, "Mothers of little boys work from son up until son down."

That certainly was the case at the Anthrops. Jana is a firm believer in being active, but that wasn't a message she had to relay too often, especially when the boys were younger. They loved to be outside, whether it playing catch or having Mom pitch to them or jumping in the kiddie pool. They kept themselves entertained indoors, too, by playing in the bedroom that was reserved for toys - Jana made sure the boys always shared rooms, until they left for college even, matching up Jade with Dru and Danny with Jackson - or building tent forts or breaking out Hot Wheels.

Still, she jokingly referred to those early years as "crazy chaos."

When Danny and Dru reflect on those days now, they're stunned she got through it.

"I originally got my speed from running away from my mom," Danny said. "I was kind of the problem child. I was in trouble a little bit. That's just funny to look back on now. Sometimes my dad would be at work, so my mom took care of all four of the minions. That had to be tough. I had to babysit kids before and it'd be one or two, and that's a struggle. So all four of us, especially when we were young and none of us had gone to school yet, I don't know how she did that."

Here's what Jana knows: She'd do it again in heartbeat.

"I firmly believe that God has a plan for all of us and mine was to be the mother of those boys," she said. "I thank Him daily for such a blessing."

She's not the only one offering thanks.

"She's been an incredible mother," Dru said. "Usually you can tell by the kids that they raised, and I would say that everybody seems to be following their passion in life and trying to keep their nose clean and stay out of trouble. So I'd say she did a pretty good job of setting us on the right course."