Lisle Turkey Bowl: Football for a cause

Several Turkey Bowl participants jokingly may feel like they should have an MRI today, but the money they raised Friday is expected to help someone who really needs one.

Brian Quick of Lisle started the annual two-hand touch football game 34 years ago as a high-schooler looking to burn off the extra turkey from the day before.

Two years into the tradition, however, a fundraiser was born when Brian's sister, Lisa, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Since 1977, players have raised as much as $50 each to play in the game, with money dedicated to research for the debilitating disease. In total, they have donated more than $125,000 to the cause.

This year, however, along with cutting a check to the Multiple Sclerosis Society's aquatic exercise program, Quick said part of the proceeds will be given to Lisa so she can get her first MRI in more than 10 years.

"She has no insurance because she doesn't work, so she hasn't had an MRI for at least a decade," Quick said during halftime at Lisle High School. "She wants one. She wants to see how things have changed since her last one and if the lesions have grown."

Lisa has been known to attend the game and cheer on the Pilgrims and Indians, but she didn't have the strength Friday. Her son, AJ Bruhn, also has been a regular participant.

"I wouldn't be speaking out of turn to say she's flattered by all of this," Bruhn said. "Thirty-four years later and these people still care enough about her and to help her and others get treatment. So yeah, 'flattered' is the word I would use."

As for the game's many aging participants, 'sore' is the word they would use - even if it's for a good cause.

"We used to play this game for eight hours and raise additional money related to the high scoring," Quick said. "But bones and joints and muscles have prompted us to cut the game down to three hours and bring in the second generation to keep going."

When all was said and done, the Pilgrims bested the Indians by a score of 70-42 and all the participants made it off the field without any medical assistance.

To make a postgame donation call Quick at (630) 637-8236 or write him at bqrebounding@wowway.com.