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Resident’s turkey bowl about more than football

Joe and Jason Nemeth, of Lebanon, return to their hometown of Medina every Thanksgiving to play in the Meadows Bowl. Last year, the game raised $26,000 for the local St. Vincent De Paul.

Submitted Photo Joe and Jason Nemeth, of Lebanon, return to their hometown of Medina every Thanksgiving to play in the Meadows Bowl. Last year, the game raised $26,000 for the local St. Vincent De Paul.

ENLARGE PHOTO

By Justin McClelland, Staff Writer 12:50 PM Wednesday, November 25, 2009

For the past 20 Thanksgivings, Lebanon resident Jason Nemeth turns into a “gridiron football giant,” participating in a Turkey Bowl among friends. But this game is for more than bragging rights and battle scars.

“You could make a list a mile long of the turkey bowls being played in people’s backyards,” Nemeth said. “But because of who we help, this one has become really special.”

Nemeth and other participants in the Meadows Turkey Bowl in Medina, Ohio, to raise money for the local St. Vincent DePaul. While the contributions originally began as a small passing of the hat among players, the charitable nature of the players and their friends and family has grown considerably. Last year, the participants raised $26,000.

“I think it’s amazed everybody what we’ve been able to do,” Jason said.

Every year, Jason, his brother Joe, and friend John Brooks travel north to Medina to play in the Meadows Turkey Bowl. The event began as a post-high school reunion for friends and grew beyond anyone’s expectations. Even as the friends moved away, Nemeth said, people still made a pilgrimage back to Medina to play in the Meadows Bowl.

Nemeth recalls leaving Lebanon one morning at 3 a.m. on Thanksgiving in order to make the 8 a.m. kickoff. After a ferocious battle on the field, he jumped back in his truck, still in muddy clothes, and returned to Lebanon in time for dinner.

“It was a pretty exhausting day,” Nemeth admitted.

He now drives up the night before, but returns to Lebanon the next day.

Exhaustion isn’t the only thing the participants battle. Nemeth has suffered a few injuries on the field, including a separated shoulder that caused him to spend all of one Thanksgiving in an emergency room.

The Meadow Turkey Bowl consists of 40-50 players. On Thanksgiving Eve, captains will draft players onto four teams. The teams then play a mini-tournament to take home a traveling trophy.

Nemeth said the event has drawn local media attention and even had a local marching band perform last year.

“We started as just some buddies playing football and now it’s like a game within a game to raise the most money,” Nemeth said. “That’s the best part.”

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