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The 24th annual Meadows Turkey Bowl, held on Thanksgiving morning in Medina.
(Marc Bona, The Plain Dealer)
MEDINA, Ohio -- The Meadows Turkey Bowl has set another record in donations, pulling in an astounding $158,000 for St. Vincent de Paul Society.
It brings the cumulative total of the annual Thanksgiving-Day pickup football game to $619,800.
Four teams of about 40 players compete in the back yard of Medina man Mike Meadows, one of four founders of the game. As Wednesday's donation deadline neared, and within hours of the players' draft at Shale Creek Golf Club, a flurry of money flooded in for the 24th annual event. Players must raise at least $1,000 each to participate, and money goes directly to the non-profit organization. Companies also donate various packages and discounted deals as incentives for anyone raising money.
The biggest individual donation came from former Cleveland Brown Tommy Vardell, now living in California. "Touchdown Tommy," as he was known, donated $8,001.
(The game's history and how it works can be found here.)
"I'm still numb – a little bit from the snow and from all of this," Meadows told The Plain Dealer after the championship and post-game ceremony.
Meadows might have been a bit tired – not only from playing in the championship game but from all his planning and organizing efforts. It's St. Vincent de Paul's biggest fundraiser of the year in Medina County.
Snow obscured most of the boundaries Thursday morning, when players took the field. They battled as members of the Highland High School band played. They slipped down the sloping field as local radio-talker Kenny Roda called the game. They threw long and went deep as fans cheered and huddled to stay warm. Afterward, when the field looked as though tractors had churned doughnuts, awards were given:
Toughest player: Jim MacLellan.
Mr. Hustle Award: Jake
Poole.
MVPs:
Darren Cereshko and Todd Zeiger.
Temperatures for Thursday's game hovered in the high teens. Players raced through the snow wearing jerseys from Thomas More College. Turkey Bowler and native Clevelander Dave Armstrong – president of the Crestview Hills, Ky. school – donated the jerseys.
The team in black jerseys won the championship, 6-2 (score by touchdowns). Its captain was plumber Bill Biegel, who alone brought in $24,309 in donations from 250-300 people. When his customers ask what they owe on small jobs, Biegel sometimes says "'I'll tell you what – just make it out to St. Vincent de Paul.'"
Each year the philanthropic efforts increase from the five-on-five player, two-hand touch game. The bowl, started in 1990, became a fundraiser in 2005. Here's how much money it has raised by year:
2013: $158,000
2012: $126,000
2011: $125,000
2010: $90,000
2009: $70,000
2008: $26,000
2007: $16,000
2006: $8,000
2005: $800
The fun doesn't end for Meadows and his wife, Connie. Friday, the couple host a pickup game for Special Olympians.