Football and family: Thanksgiving Day traditions

We asked for football stories, and we got family stories instead. We should have known better. It wasn't until after we asked for your stories of Thanksgiving football game traditions, and after they started bring us joy from our inbox, that we realized you can't separate family from football, or football from family, on Thanksgiving. We opened your stories expecting to learn about your competitive games, and instead we learned about your wonderful families. You shared traditions that are as hearty and warm as the food in front of us today. You told us of younger generations catching up to, and then passing, older generations, but not without a fight. You told us of wives and aunts and grandmas who shook their heads at the boys in the yard but never failed to supply the show-stopping halftime sweets. You told us of the anticipation of the "junior varsity" on the sidelines, wondering when they'll be called in for a play. You told us of the chair that is dutifully set up each year at the far corner of the field where a father used to watch the games, a sixer between his feet getting colder by the can on the frozen grass, before he passed away too soon 14 years ago. You told us about tackling Grandma, a horse-collar tackle that … okay, no, no one publically admitted to tackling Grandma. But you charmed us with your stories of family, and yes, football. Enjoy the stories, your stories, and have a happy Thanksgiving.

Star Tribune sports staff

Following a look at one featured family — the Doohers — read the stories sent in by readers:

Like vanilla ice cream leaning up against a hot slice of pie, Kentucky Park didn't stand a chance. There it sat, wide open, framed on all four sides, perfectly flat, perfectly rectangle, as if created and placed on the west edge of Crystal by the gods of two-hand-touch football themselves. There was no hope for that place, that grass. Mom and Dad Dooher made a home with a yard that bled right into that glorious field, and here came the Dooher boys. They trampled it, for years, and still do. They come back here, even though Mom and Dad are neighbors now not to the park but to the football gods, every year for their traditional Thanksgiving football game.

This Friday, like nearly every Friday after Thanksgiving since the mid-1970s, "the Turkey Bowl" will be played by the extended Doohers family. It will start with hugs and how-ya-beens, it will get heated at times on the park's cold, snow-covered grass, and losers will buy at the neighborhood bar just up the road as highlights, and lowlights, are retold.

Earlier this week, the Dooher gang was throwing the ball around in the snow. Only two young boys, who someday could make sure the tradition hits a 50th year, were interested in wrestling each other to the snow this day.

"We tried tackle, for a while," Doug Dooher said. "Two-hand touch has worked out better."

"Yeah, but we still can't move for three days after," came the reply from across the park, and the group laughed.

Doug Dooher plays the role of the game's commissioner, keeper of the records and traditions, and he started what they call the game's "modern era."

"Every year since 1987, no matter the weather conditions, we've issued invitations, named MVPs and 'Turkeys' of the game, made T-shirts for the various anniversary years, had various trophies — usually beer cans glued together — and played hotly contested games at Kentucky Park," Dooher said.

As Doug and his older brother Tony expanded the game and families grew, so did the tradition.

"We estimate that more than 200 people have played in the Turkey Bowl over the years," Doug said. "We've had players from Crosier Seminary, Tony's friends who played with us in the first game, to Robbinsdale High School, Armstrong, Cooper, Benilde St. Margaret's, Holy Angels, Eden Prairie, Hopkins, Champlin Park, Wayzata, Minneapolis Henry, Watertown, Hibbing — and probably many more."

The game is on its third generation of players. Doug, once on the "young pups team," was drafted in recent years to the "OG's" — Old Guys. Grandsons are lining up now, where grandfathers once played.

Bob Dooher would be proud. He liked to watch his sons and nephews and their friends play in this game. After he died in 2000, the guys bring an empty chair to the corner of the field, a few yards from Bob's old front yard, where he used to watch football, keep his seat warm and his lips cold.

As the Dooher gang played catch in the snow, they retold some football stories, but the talk never got too far removed from family. Like Kentucky Park and the Doohers' old yard, football and family are close.

Chris Carr, Star Tribune

Editor's note: Here are several selected submissions, edited in places for brevity. Some of these submissions appear in print in the Thursday printed version of the Star Tribune as well.

For more than a decade. about 20 to 30 neighbors gather each Thanksgiving morning at a neighborhood park to play the Cottagewood Turkey Bowl. It has been a tradition started when the kids were in grade school and continues for those childhood friends and parents each November.

We play classic touch football and require that at least one out of every four downs someone under the age of 10 has to carry the ball.

Healthy competition is the cornerstone of Team Giblet versus Team Waddle each Thanksgiving. There have been a few minor injuries when high school athletes are trying to show off or a few dads aren't realistic about their physical limitations. But for the most part it's just good clean fun.

In that decade, together these neighbors have experienced loss, sending children off to jobs, college and military service. But as they have grown older, these children return and The Turkey Bowl has become an important annual touchstone and a great way to start our nation's annual day of Thanksgiving.

Maureen Shaver, Excelsior

The Meyer family from St. Peter, MN has had a football game tradition on Thanksgiving Day since 2005. Sherry Meyer Peterson, oldest of nine Meyer children, hosts Thanksgiving at her house, and there is a softball field one block from her house. We decided the teams would always be the young vs. the old. The first year, the old team consisted of husbands and wives — ages ranging from 61-43. The young team consisted of kids, husbands and wives, ages 10-41. The old team won the first game! The last two years, the young team has agreed to allow the old team two extra players, since the young team has two ex-college football players. We play one hand touch, count to five-apple before rushing, play two 30-minute halves, and we use a softer Nerf-like football. The last few years, the old team has started taking two Advil's before the game. At halftime, the old team re-energizes with beer or blackberry brandy, sharing some with the young team. Some years we have played in shorts, and one year the game was held in the backyard because of snow and very cold temperatures! The old team has found "sticky gloves" with hand warmers help their performance. At the end of the game, we select the most valuable player and award the "Turkey Award" — a potato with a handmade turkey stuck on top, and it travels each year. One year, the award was given to the mother, Patricia, who braved the snow and cold, and watched the entire game, cheering on both sides. Going into this year's game, the young team has won five, and the old team four, so the old team has been practicing daily for the past week, and will continue to do so. We are hoping for nicer weather, but the game will be played no matter what the weather.

Randy Gustafson, St. Peter

This year marks the 25th year of the Nevanen Family Turkey Bowl football game played every Thanksgiving in Duluth. The tradition started when my three younger brothers, Howard, Paul and Brian, and I, then all in our 20s, played a casual game of touch football with my preschool-aged son Matt as designated hiker. It evolved from that scrimmage — played in two feet of Thanksgiving snow at Sports Stadium in our hometown of International Falls — into a can't-miss holiday highlight.

Since moving to Duluth in 1990, my wife, Cathy, and I have hosted Thanksgiving, which also includes the Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving morning. We have played in parks, at elementary playgrounds, and jumped fences to play on fancy artificial turf, sharing the fields with other football groups.

The first Turkey Bowls were Team Nevanen vs. co-workers and friends, then rosters shifted as an expanding Nevanen family, with growing sons, boyfriends and sons-in-law, led to a Turkey Bowl ruling that anyone who didn't have a connection to the Nevanens was cut from contention. There were just too many people who wanted to play.

Weather has been memorable. We've played in shorts and T-shirts in warm, sunny conditions, and played through snowstorms, using shovels to mark boundaries in the snow. One frigid and windy year we played only a few ceremonial downs — but we played.

Injuries have been a part of the Turkey Bowl, too, with pulled muscles, tweaked joints and jammed fingers being fairly common. One injury was severe enough to require a call to 911. Two high school-age players on the non-Nevanen team collided in the end zone and one young man dislocated his kneecap. The call was made, and within minutes a Duluth Fire Department ladder truck came as a first responder. Firemen in full gear came running across the turf to tend to him. A while later, the ambulance drove onto the field, loaded the player and left. That ended our game.

Making sure the younger boys stay involved is important, as is being done in an hour because beverages for all ages are waiting in the parking lot. Post-game talk centers on overall game assessment and individual performances, then we pack up to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner. This year the dinner count will be 27 Nevanens — all wearing commemorative 25th Anniversary Nevanen Turkey Bowl/Thanksgiving in Duluth shirts, with our signature #nevstrong.

Dave Nevanen, Duluth

Our first game took place in 1987. The tradition continues this Thanksgiving morning when we take the field for the 28th time to battle for the KenneDeDo Cup. The fact that this game means something, at least to the handful of us who play, has led to some questionable actions over the years. We've suffered shoulder injuries requiring surgery - multiple times — as well as broken bones and innumerable contusions. But maybe the worst of all were the postgame hamstring cramps that would strike while climbing over, or under, the 12-foot fence surrounding the field on which we played. (For the record, we now play on a public field!) But all that pain simply adds to the legend of the KenneDeDo, a play on the "Kennedy" and "DeDomines" families, our version of the Hatfields and McCoys.

A few years into the tradition my dad and I built a traveling trophy for the champions out of a bean can, an old light fixture and some treasures from Ax-Man. The attached VCR labels archive the result of every game ever played. This KenneDeDo Cup is the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal for whichever family is fortunate enough to bring it home.

Win or lose, the KenneDeDo occupies the center of our family's Thanksgiving tradition. In the beginning, when my brothers, Tom and Randy, and I faced off against Tom's friend, Rick, and his two brothers, our dad showed up religiously to every game. Now, our own families roam the sidelines. Stories from the game, past and present, mingle with the stuffing and pumpkin pie; stories of goal line "tackles," game-changing turnovers and immaculate receptions. We especially remember the cold years, the snowy years and the year our field was completely covered in goose droppings, but we played anyway.

Now, the next generation is starting to take the field as their fathers reluctantly retire, or pass on as Brian DeDomines did in 2011. My sons are only a few years away from playing in the big game and, as you might imagine, we can hardly wait.

Tim Kennedy, Minneapolis

Our neighborhood in Victoria started this tradition about 20 years ago. Some football players from Chaska would come over on Thanksgiving morning to play touch football on the fourth fairway of Deer Run Golf Course. The event was continued after the boys' graduated high school, and now there is a standing invitation to all neighbors and their guests to come on down to the fairway, bring your dog, dress warm and play or watch the game. All ages can play. Over the years we have added a bonfire and beverages to keep warm. We start at 10 and usually end by 11:30. We look forward to gathering together to wish each other a Happy Thanksgiving and start the day with fresh air and exercise.

Nan Emmer, Victoria

Back in the 1970s, when we were home from college on Thanksgiving, we had a tradition to meet at the local Armory to play football on the Friday after Thanksgiving. That was the Fond du Lac Armory in Wisconsin that had a large mowed field next to the building. We played full-contact tackle football, no pads, and amazingly nobody ever got seriously hurt. We played for the "Giving Bowl" trophy that was an old funeral urn spray-painted gold for the winning team. We literally gave everything we had as kids, and afterward we dragged ourselves to a nearby store to rest and drink liters of pop. There, we would recall our heroics and big plays, and the next day spent most of it in the bathtub soaking our bruises. Such great memories of being young and having fun.

Jeff Colla, Minneapolis

I have hosted Thanksgiving dinner for my family and extended family for about 20 years. One particular year, many years ago, to get the kids out of the house so the cooking could get going, us dads took them outdoors and played football. That was the beginning of a tradition. Back in the day, the back yard was a "huge field." I would paint stripes, first-down markers and end zones on the lawn. Some years the paint didn't matter because there was snow on the ground. A few years ago, we played in shorts with no shirts due to summer-like temps. We had many close games, and often we played until one team scored 10 touchdowns. This would take a good 90 minutes. But the kids grew up, bigger than the dads, and the back yard was no longer sufficient to play, so we moved to a local park. Now, we have real football pylons to mark the field. One other note of change: the dads grew older and can no longer stay competitive for a 10-touchdown game. So, the game has been reduced to a five-touchdown game.

Thanksgiving is just around the way and we're already gearing up. It's one of my family's favorite get-togethers.

Paul Mendoza, Minneapolis

It's not football, but our family has had a Thanksgiving basketball tradition for 23 years now. The games include my Dad (who at 78 played all day without a break) and all the way down to my nephew (Dad's grandson) at age 9. Many family members have played over the years, including cousins (male and female), and for two years we even put together a full-blown family tournament at the Boys and Girls Club and everyone had to be related in some way to play together on a team. We actually got six teams just from basketball-loving families we knew.

I will say, we've had plenty of family tension over the years, but we seem to always be able to come together and play basketball and walk away saying, "Wow, that was great."

Tim Turner, Coon Rapids

... Wow, indeed.

Thanks, folks, for sharing your stories — and to everyone else, thanks for reading them.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Star Tribune sports staff