Nemeth Turkey Bowl provides funds, hope for those diagnosed with ALS

For the second straight year, Jay Nemeth, a State Farm Insurance agent and past president of the Middletown Rotary Club, and his wife, Trish, organized the Nemeth Turkey Bowl in their Springboro yard.

Last year, proceeds of the games benefited Sleep in Heavenly Peace Butler County, an organization that builds beds for the less fortunate, and to a Dayton family that needed a front door and a HVAC system..

When it was time to earmark proceeds from the 2023 Nemeth Turkey Bowl, the Nemeths considered amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

“It’s not like cancer,” Jay Nemeth said about ALS. “With cancer there are millions of people and thousands of organizations trying to find a cure. There aren’t that many people with ALS. Nobody talks about it.”

He discussed the idea of donating to ALS with Randy McCoy, a lifetime friend and fellow graduate of Medina High School who is in the later stages of ALS. He agreed to be the face of the fundraiser.

Jay Nemeth said this year’s event raised $13,000, partly due to the support of the 164th Airlift Squadron of the Ohio Air National Guard out of Mansfield in honor of fellow member McCoy. The money will be donated to ALS Therapy Development Institute, the world’s foremost drug discovery lab focused solely on finding a cure for ALS, Nemeth said.

Jay Nemeth said the touch football games are about “thanks and giving. We are thankful and giving back with our time and money.”

His wife said those diagnosed with ALS have “no hope.”

“Time and hope are the most important things we can do for them,” she said.

Before hosting the event the last two years, Nemeth traveled to his hometown of Medina for 30 years every Thanksgiving with his family and played in the Mike Meadows Turkey Bowl, a game that kicked off with some high school buddies and ballooned into the Super Bowl of fundraisers.

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