Lions fans flood Frank Ragnow’s charity with donations after gritty showing

ALLEN PARK -- Frank Ragnow was already battling through a lengthy list of injuries. Then, the stud center suffered a sprained knee and ankle in the divisional round but still managed to play all 73 offensive snaps in the win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

And Lions fans showed their appreciation for the gutsy performance from the mainstay by flooding his foundation with upwards of $20,000 in donations. Ragnow also shouted out to former Lions teammate Tyrell Crosby for putting the link out there during the game.

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Crosby tweeted a link to the “Rags Remembered Foundation” after seeing the center wincing in pain while playing through the pain without pause on the broadcast with the message: “Dear city of Detroit, you see how hard Frank is pushing through. Go show his foundation some love.”

And that message resonated, with dozens of fans replying with screenshots showing receipts of donations to the foundation, some big and some small. But word got back, and Ragnow saw all the messages spurned by his old teammate, and the love hit close to home.

Ragnow added some clarity to the flood of support from fans after the divisional-round win, with a show of thanks to his old offensive linemate for raising awareness when discussing his preparation for the NFC title game against the San Francisco 49ers.

“Yeah, ‘Big Cros,’ that was really nice of him,” Ragnow said. “I had talked to someone with the foundation yesterday and it was over $20,000.

“Hats off to Lions fans. Like -- that’s completely unnecessary but so, so special. And it just speaks to how great this community is and how supportive these fans are. Again, it’s been a fun ride.”