The Tecmo Bowl for Tufaro Foundation culminated with a classic case of the student schooling the mentor in the double-elimination tournament final, but the real winners of the fundraiser were children in need who our tax-exempt nonprofit helps.
Rich Maddock, a Woodbridge High School mathematics teacher, defended his championship, defeating Woodbridge Township Public Schools Assistant Superintendent John Bader to claim a second consecutive title in last weekend’s event.
Bader and Woodbridge High School teacher Brett Hoyer organized the fundraiser, which featured an all-star lineup of participants including Woodbridge High School Principal Glenn Lottmann, Dylan Lottmann, Kevin Kane, Mike Jago, Jason Bernstein, Mike Essig, Brett Hoyer, Christian Bader, John Dobos and others.
The Tecmo Bowl for Tufaro Foundation even drew a participant all the way from Pennsylvania, who read about the tournament online.
In the championship, Maddock won back-to-back games over Bader, who emerged unscathed from the winner’s bracket to reach the final round. Maddock was once a student of Bader, who previously taught in the district.
A $25 donation per player, which was collected on the day of the event, included lunch and a complimentary T-shirt.
Established 18 months ago to benefit pediatric patients and children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has already made a profound impact, donating more than $60,000 and spearheading multiple community initiatives, as well as awarding college scholarship dollars to exceptional high school students who advance the nonprofit’s mission.
Two Woodbridge graduates, Charity-Temitope Daramola, and Jordan Cinelli, were recipients last year of the first annual Marisa Tufaro Foundation Greater Middlesex Conference Student-Athlete Scholarship and the Marisa Tufaro Memorial Community Service Scholarship, respectively.
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 each of the past two years, with all proceeds from the doubleheader benefiting the foundation. Last December, Woodbridge sponsored the Marisa Tufaro Classic, a bowling tournament that raised money for the foundation and collected toys that were donated to a children’s hospital. The high school also donated all the money it collected from a dress down day to the foundation.
Born with a complex cardiac defect which required six open-heart surgeries, Marisa Tufaro developed two life-threatening conditions that necessitated a heart transplant. The transplant was supposed to extend her life, but tragically cut it short when a postoperative complication developed into a rare form of blood cancer to which she succumbed on January 30, 2017. Despite being hospitalized for more than two years and maintaining hundreds of doctor’s appointments, Marisa Tufaro lived a vibrant life. Marisa Tufaro would have been a sophomore this year at Edison High School.
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. Marisa would have enjoyed the old-school flavor of the Tecmo Bowl tournament.
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.
Following are hot links to stories detailing some of the ways The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has assisted pediatric patients and other children in need.
- Partnered with the Middlesex County Association of School Administrators to offer financial relief to parents of children in medical crisis who lost wages while caring for their child at the hospital, who lack health insurance or whose provider won’t cover certain medical expenses.
- Partnered with Woodbridge High School and the Central Jersey bowling community to deliver hundreds of toys to pediatric patients at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, where Marisa underwent a successful heart transplant.
- Donated to Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital’s newly established extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) program, a specialized cardiac and respiratory support system that saved Marisa’s life at another medical facility following her heart transplant (press release pending).
- Made a donation in honor of Piscataway’s Conackamack Middle School, which honored Marisa during its 27th annual Turkey Trot, to the township’s FISH Hospitality Program, which provides shelter, meals, clothing and other services to homeless families in Middlesex County.
- Paid forward the generosity Bishop Ahr High School has bestowed upon our foundation with a donation to the school-community’s 21st annual Ahr Star spaghetti dinner, whose beneficiaries included a 9-year-old boy from Middlesex County with multiple disabilities.
- Funded the purchase of uniforms (shirts and shorts) for campers at Kiddie Keep Well Camp, which serves more than 600 underserved Middlesex County children annually (press release pending).
- Partnered with Old Bridge and South Brunswick high schools to collect thousands of toys for pediatric patients at Saint Peter’s University Children’s Hospital and Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital.
- Partnered with the Kittim N. Sherrod Foundation to provide a youth football and cheerleading organization with a bilingual state-of-the art automated external defibrillator, as well as AED and cardiopulmonary resuscitation training for adult members of the organization.
- Supported instruction and supplies for an art therapy program at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital, to which our foundation also provided funds for infant mobiles and toy cars staff use to transport children to the operating room for surgery.
- Provided money for equipment and supplies for students with disabilities who utilize the Lakeview School’s newly constructed aquatics center.
- Conducted a boardwalk-themed Family Fun Night at Children’s Specialized Hospital, where the sights, sounds and smells of the Jersey Shore were brought to patients and their families through carnival games, food, prizes, music and more.
- Partnered with Teamwork Unlimited Foundation to provide medical alert bracelets to children with autism and pediatric patients with chronic illness who receive outstanding care from Children’s Specialized Hospital, which annually serves more than 34,000 children statewide.
- Partially funded the Make-A-Wish of a Middlesex County boy who is winning a battle with high-risk neuroblastoma to vacation with his family at Walt Disney World.
- Funded the purchase of brand new metal bunk beds and for campers at Kiddie Keep Well Camp, which serves more than 600 underserved Middlesex County children annually.
- Provided physical therapy at Special Strides Therapeutic Riding Center and Project Walk for Middlesex County children whose families do not have health insurance or whose families’ health insurer does not cover the cost of the physical therapy.
- Partnered with Edison High School and the Chamberlain College of Nursing for two consecutive years to raise money and collect nonperishable food items to benefit Middlesex County children and their families through Hands of Hope via our foundation’s participation in the Race to Outrun Hunger.
- Provided new iPads and gaming system accessories (Xbox and PS4 games, controllers, chargers) for adolescent patients at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital.
- Assisted multiple families whose children are in medical crisis, providing financial support through the payment of medical and/or personal expenses.
- Provided summer art camp scholarships to Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Art Museum for Middlesex County elementary and middle school students.
- Rewarded high school students for their community service to children with scholarships.
- Provided meals and goods for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House of Central Jersey.
- Provided scholarships to Greater Middlesex Conference student-athletes whose academic performance reflects Marisa’s educational success and whose charitable endeavors align with our foundation’s mission.
- Partnered with Middlesex High School to conduct a coat drive for Middlesex County children.
- Provided gift cards for pediatric patients and their families.