HINCKLEY, Ohio – It would be so easy to sleep in, to pull up the covers for a few more minutes, when the temperatures dance around freezing and a wintry mix is falling and it’s the holiday.
But not on Thanksgiving and not in Hinckley, where more than three dozen guys look forward to a special annual pickup football game.
It’s the Meadows Turkey Bowl, and the fellows again layered in sweats and tugged on knit hats to trudge across the field for a bit of muddy glory. They brought in a record $650,000 for established charities in the 35th annual game that raises money to fight cancer and to assist the truly needy.
This year’s game – the 20th consecutive year it has been a fundraiser – nudged the cumulative total of donations above $5 million.
They have never raised less than the previous year. That’s an annual goal for Mike Meadows, who has to pause to put into words what it all means.
“It doesn’t get old,” he said.
In 2020, the game took on an extra personal meaning for the Meadows family, whose son, Pete, is a survivor of oligodendroglioma, a rare brain cancer.
The cancer has brought a determination – for Pete to survive, for the family to fight even harder to find a cure.
This year, Meadows and his family bridged a strategic partnership between the University of California-San Francisco and the Cleveland Clinic. That initiative will bolster three studies that the turkey bowl is funding for $300,000 annually for three years.
Oligodendroglioma accounts for 3% to 4% of all brain tumors. Across the planet, fewer than 24,000 people are diagnosed with it annually. At least half of the money raised is earmarked for targeted brain-cancer research; the remainder goes to the needy battling cancer and those struggling in the region via St. Vincent de Paul Society. The turkey bowl is the non-profit’s biggest annual fundraiser in Medina County.
The turkey bowl has grown from four guys tossing around the pigskin in Meadows’ back yard on Thanksgiving in 1990 to dozens of players who hold a draft and lace up their cleats and knee braces to slosh around chalked-out fields at 1st Day School Supplies, Meadows’ business.
A prayer is held, the National Anthem is played, music blares and bonfires are positioned along the sidelines. Inflatables add to the hoopla for the scores of friends and families who bundle up to watch brothers and boyfriends and dads and husbands, guys in their 20s to 60s who pony up $3,000 minimum each to play.
It has raised more than half a million dollars each year since 2021.Marc Bona, cleveland.com
The behind-the-scenes preparation has evolved into an all-year affair, with players, company employees and Meadows’ family all working to attract individual and corporate donations. That’s cold call after cold call, countless email pitches, Linkedin posts, radio spots – basically, anyway they can get the word out about the importance of the game.
“The story this year is the 1st Day family stepped up,” Mike Meadows said. “On Fridays, we stopped what we did as a company and we personally raised money from family and friends, vendors, customers, and then we were ambassadors to donors from the past.”
That invaluable assistance resulted in 7,000 total calls made over the year, he said, as company associates were responsible for a quarter-million dollars of donations.
“That to me is really, really huge,” he said. “They all bought in.”
Throw in testosterone, a competitive edge, a couple pulled hamstrings, a warming tent and two food trucks Meadows and his family spring for, and you have a good idea of the annual game.
Yes, bragging rights are at stake, but the real cause is never far from the mud and slosh.
“It feels more special. It’s hard to hit those numbers every year; it was just incredible. It used to be just family. We just changed the culture,” said Pete, who like all players wore the name “Gianna Rae” on the backs of their jerseys. Gianna Rae is the name of his daughter who died in 2022 late in his wife Anita’s pregnancy.
The blue, pink, purple and green jerseys broke the grayness of the day. Meadows and his wife Connie are up at dawn to make sure details are covered, like making sure there are plenty of hand-warmer packets available.
Fans donned turkey-themed hats. Some players wore shorts. An official’s black and white uniform was painted over in mud. Connor Cook, who attended Walsh Jesuit, Michigan State and made it to the NFL, again wore socks that proclaimed “Run now, gobble later.”
But the root cause of why so many people brave the sloppy weather remains.
“On the way here it was almost like a movie montage of all the years gone by and all the dollar amounts. It’s a staggering amount of money,” Mike Meadows said.
“It’s a very big, emotional day and reflection of all that we have done.”
Connor Cook in shotgun.Marc Bona, cleveland.com
2024 awards
Mr. Toughest: Myles Houska
Mr. Hustle: Aaron Barna
MVP: David Shibley.
By-the-year donations
Total: $5,002,800
2024: $650,000
2023: $637,000
2022: $533,000
2021: $511,000
2020: $416,000
2019: $390,000
2018: $318,000
2017: $263,000
2016: $245,000
2015: $230,000
2014: $190,000
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
1990-2004: Not a fundraiser.
To donate
Go to meadowsturkeybowl.com.
Game coverage
Here is our Thanksgiving Day coverage of the game – stories, photos and some videos: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009.
Related coverage
Meadows Turkey Bowl expands cancer-fighting outreach as Thanksgiving football game nears
Fighting back: Cancer survivor’s inspiring story brings turkey bowl’s mission close to home
I cover restaurants, beer, wine and sports-related topics on our life and culture team. For my recent stories, here’s a cleveland.com directory. WTAM-1100’s Bill Wills and I talk food and drink around 8:20 a.m. Thursdays. Twitter and IG: @mbona30. My latest book, co-authored with Dan Murphy: “Joe Thomas: Not Your Average Joe” by Gray & Co.
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