A video game tournament being conducted as a fundraiser for The Marisa Tufaro Foundation would have gotten the competitive juices of the nonprofit organization’s namesake flowing.
Playing video games was among Marisa’s favorite pastimes, and she would have enjoyed the old-school flavor of the upcoming Woodbridge Township School District Tecmo Super Bowl Tournament, which will be conducted in the Woodbridge High School Media Center on Feb. 1, the day before Super Bowl LIV, from noon to 4 p.m.
Tournament organizers will collect a $25 donation per player on the day of the event, which is being billed as Tecmo Bowl for Tufaro Foundation.
All proceeds from the event will benefit The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, a tax-exempt nonprofit whose mission is to help children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area.
Since its inception on July 30, 2017, the foundation has already made a profound impact, donating more than $125,000 to assist pediatric patients and other children in need.
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, which makes community service an integral part of its mission, has also spearheaded multiple initiatives resulting in the collection of thousands of toys, nonperishable food items, winter coats, baby supplies and other items for donation upon which the nonprofit has placed no monetary value.
The foundation has assisted multiple families whose children are in medical crisis, providing financial support through the payment of medical and/or personal expenses to help lessen the burden of parents who have lost wages while spending time at the hospital or providing care at home.
In addition, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has granted 17 college scholarships to high school students and 13 scholarships for elementary and middle school students to attend a week-long summer art camp at Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Art Museum.
Marisa was born with a complex cardiac defect that required six open-heart surgeries. Despite keeping hundreds of doctor’s appointments and being hospitalized for more than two years, she lived a vibrant life that inspired.
A heart transplant, which was supposed to extend Marisa’s life, tragically cut it short after a postoperative complication developed into a rare form of cancer. After radiation and chemotherapy treatments failed to thwart the relentless onslaught of an aggressive disease that riddled her brain and body, Marisa succumbed to her illness in January 2017 following a valiant battle. She was just 13 years old.
Playing video games – whether it be on her handheld Nintendo DS or Wii console – provided Marisa with a wonderful diversion through the many illnesses she battled including two life-threatening conditions that necessitated her heart transplant.
Realizing that modern video game systems were not her father’s forte, Marisa graciously indulged her dad, playing Pac-Man and other old-school games with him on an Atari Flashback she received one Christmas.
Marisa enjoyed occasional trips to YESTERcades, visiting locations in Somerville and Red Bank to engage in some old-school gaming, for which she clearly had a penchant. Tecmo Bowl would have been right in her wheelhouse.
Originally introduced in 1987 as an arcade game, Tecmo Bowl soon afterward became the first console game to feature NFL players through a licensing agreement with the league’s players’ association.
Tecmo Bowl teams are named after NFL franchises with each team mimicking the roster of those squads. All teams have an arsenal of four plays. Each team has a different level of effectiveness based on its personnel and play selection.
Woodbridge High School has been among The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s biggest and most loyal supporters.
The high school fully funds in Marisa’s memory the Woodbridge High School Marisa Tufaro Memorial Scholarship and has donated its facilities and volunteered its staff to host the Greater Middlesex Conference All-Star girls and boys basketball games in 2017 and 2018 with all proceeds from the doubleheader benefiting the foundation. In addition, the school has donated the entire gate from its football team’s home opener to the foundation each of the past two seasons.
Charity-Temitope Daramola and Jordan Cinelli, both 2018 Woodbridge graduates, were recipients of The Marisa Tufaro Foundation Greater Middlesex Conference Student-Athlete Scholarship and the Marisa Tufaro Memorial Community Service Scholarship, respectively. George Wenson, a 2019 Woodbridge graduate, received the nonprofit’s community service scholarship last year.
Each of the past two years, Woodbridge High School has sponsored the Marisa Tufaro Classic, a bowling tournament its head coach, Amanda Small, founded, and one that not only serves as a fundraiser for the foundation, but which has collected more than a thousand toys for donation to metropolitan area hospitals during the holiday season.
Rich Maddock, a Woodbridge High School mathematics teacher, is the two-time defending champion of the Tecmo Bowl, which Woodbridge Township Public Schools Assistant Superintendent John Bader and Woodbridge High School teacher Brett Hoyer organize.
Any questions regarding the Tecmo Bowl for Tufaro Foundation event should be emailed to Brett Hoyer at Brett.Hoyer@woodbridge.k12.nj.us.