CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — After being interrupted last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the traditions that is returning is the annual family Thanksgiving football game.
“I get a permit for a local field for two hours and we do our annual Turkey Bowl,”said River Forest resident Cathy Layton, 49.
Layton has 11 siblings and between all of them and their children, nieces, nephews, friends and others, they have been playing the annual game for about 30 years.
“It’s fun to watch the fathers and mothers and their kids,” Layton told WBBM Newsradio. “And they like to give each other a hard time, a little extra shoving and pushing. It’s fun. We have also included all of our dogs now. This year in my email to my family I referred to as the Turkey/Puppy Bowl.”
And after skipping last year because of the pandemic, Layton said this year’s game is more important than ever.
“I love it,” she said with a smile.
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Oak Park resident Colin Lavery, 27, told WBBM Newsradio on a recent crisp fall day that he and his family have also played a Thanksgiving game for about as long as he can remember.
“The scores are never formally kept,” Colin Lavery said. “There’s just kind of a point when everyone looks like they’re going to pass out and we say next score wins!”
Colin Lavery’s father, 54-year-old Terry Lavery, said, “One of my uncles that was involved would give out trophies every year,” dating back decades.
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And, Terry Lavery said, the Lavery Thanksgiving game grew over the years and took on added meaning.
“In 1993 my youngest brother, Dan, was playing in a Thanksgiving football game with his friends and he died of a heart attack in the game. Since that time, all of his friends have organized a football game called ‘The Lavery Game’ in memory of him,” he remembered.
Terry Lavery added, “One of the great outcomes of this game is that my Mom gets to keep in contact with my brother’s friends and see how their children have grown up and now some of them are in the game.”
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