PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Thanksgiving Day football tradition almost 50 years old is over. The annual Turkey Bowl between Father Judge and Abraham Lincoln high schools is no more — after an announcement was made on Tuesday to end the game over safety concerns and scheduling conflicts, among reasons. Reaction from devastated alumni at both schools came loud and swift.
In 2004, DiGrazio was one missed field goal away from being among the precious few Lincoln grads to ever beat Thanksgiving rival Judge in the annual Turkey Bowl. The 2004 game ended 19-18 in the pouring rain on a game-winning field goal for Judge.
“I still have nightmares about it, you know?” DiGrazio said, laughing.
Twenty years later, DiGrazio is now an assistant defensive coach for Lincoln — and he’s grappling with the end of the rivalry that conjures memories for generations of graduates.
“It’s just heartbreaking, man. It really is. I wish we had at least one more game to send this thing away the right way. But unfortunately the decision was made, and we’re stuck with it.”
Kevin Bygott, a 2000 Judge grad, said the game defined the holiday for his family.
“To me, Thanksgiving is not just a giant meal. It was a football game.”
Paul Cammarota’s connection with the Judge-Lincoln rivalry is a rare case, because he has been on both sidelines. He was a student at Judge — but he taught and coached at Lincoln later in life.
He’s also rare in having seen early signs of the tradition coming crashing down.
“I saw it coming. I knew it was gonna happen,” Cammarota said. “This has just been something that’s been coming for a few years now.”
The game started as a way to support the Vietnam veterans from both schools back in the ’70s, but Cammarota said that tradition has waned along with the sense of community surrounding the rivalry.
“The neighborhood rivalry is gone. The Vietnam veterans that were the ones who supported this throughout the entire reign of the game … they’re dying off,” he said.
Administrators at Judge, who announced the joint decision, cited safety concerns, scheduling conflicts and a desire to give dual-sport athletes more rest between sports seasons. They did not elaborate on safety concerns specific to game play, but Cammarota says the rivalry had taken a turn for the worse in recent years.
“It has just been a nasty rivalry for the last couple years. And for the last two years, there was a fight at the end of each game.”
But DiGrazio says coaches and referees have quickly broken up those post-game scuffles between players.
“Other than something like that, that happens in football sometimes, there’s never been problems at these games,” he said.
As DiGrazio remembers it, it was always about more than just the smack talk.
“It’s something that we’ve all grown up with our whole lives. And it’s how we celebrated every Thanksgiving.”