Football … Police vs. Fire Tackle Charity Football

When Steve and Dan brought up the idea of holding a tackle football game with the LVMPD police officers against the area firefighters, I was a bit skeptical, and to be completely honest, it seemed a little too much to accomplish in such a short amount of time.

We had nothing but an idea to re-create a game that was played almost 40 years earlier, and we only had a few months to have everything ready. We had to find players, a field to play on, equipment, jerseys, the list goes on and on down to the very last details.

We also had to go out and ask local businesses to sponsor the game to support our LEAF charity, PFFN charity and the Children’s Heart Foundation.

To my surprise, we were able to raise over $130,000. Despite having a very short amount of time, the generosity of our sponsors was amazing. Several of these donations were $10,000. We had several more who donated $5,000, $2,500, $1,500 and $1,000. Even my neighbor stepped up and donated $1,000 from his family. Every donation was important and greatly appreciated, even if it was only $5.

To my surprise, we were able to raise over $130,000. Despite having a very short amount of time, the generosity of our sponsors was amazing.

On to the game. Game day was a pleasant surprise. As the crowd started showing up early to get their tickets and seats, my fiancée Lisa, Kayleen from the office staff and I all oversaw will-call and ticket sales, along with the entry gate. At first, it was manageable, but as we got closer to game time, people were pouring into the line and wanted to purchase tickets.

Luckily, my partner Myron was there to help with the gate and helped Avery pass out programs. We had people from the community showing up who had just heard about the game for the first time and wanted to watch the game. They continued coming in until the second quarter, when we were finally able to watch some of the game. 

When Lisa and I made it down to the field, we were excited to see a packed bleacher on the police side and several hundred more people on the fire side of the field. Thousands of people watching a game that was only thought of a few months earlier was a huge success! 

There was some hard hitting on the field, and the game was still close, but you could tell once the LVMPD players got warmed up that this was going to be a one-sided score. Although the firefighters played a respectful game and fought hard through every play, they were clearly outmatched this year, and the final score was 34–0. I’m sure next year, the firefighters will be out recruiting players much earlier in the year, and they will be ready to erase this score. 

Thank you all who participated, and we look forward to seeing you all next year.