We had a great game and tailgate party on September 16, 2017! I can’t help but be proud about El Riad Temple and what a fantastic day we had!

Congratulations go to Dick Ericcson being named as our Shriner of the Day!

This is one of two fundraisers that we do each year where ALL of the net proceeds support our Shriners Hospitals for Children (half for our local Transportation Fund and half for the Hospital Fund). Our success is due to all of the hard work from the following (in no particular order).

Units and Clubs: Thank you to those Units and Clubs who also participated at the game: Rickshaws for bringing our Potentate and Shriner of the Day to the coin toss in style; Legion of Honor for presenting the colors of our Country; Chanters for singing our National Anthem; as well as the Fife and Drum for selling our plastic footballs.

Past Chairman Harland Danielsen did a great job of mentoring and coaching me throughout the year and assisting me on game day. Past potentates Dave Neiman and Charles Brown also offered their support all year.

Honorary Coaches: Thanks to Scott Denney, who coordinated all of the Honorary Coaches wind shirt sales. Thanks to all of the individuals and Units and Clubs that purchased these honorary coach sponsorships this year. It makes a huge difference to our game success.

Plastic Football Sales: Mike and John Archer again did a great job of heading up the plastic football sales!

Paper Football Sales Committee: Matt Johnson and his committee did a great job on selling our paper footballs!

Bean Bag Tournament Committee: Joe Wager did a terrific job of staffing and running the bean bag equipment.

Ad Sales Committee: Dave Bangasser and his committee did another fine job of selling ads again this year!

Tailgate and Oasis: Thanks to Don Jensen, PP for making arrangements, securing a tent and boy’s and girl’s bikes, tables, and chairs for this event. Thanks to Darold “Disco” Ball and the Potentate’s Aides for ensuring that no one got thirsty. Thanks to Steve Hauff and the Culinary Unit for ensuring that no one got hungry.

Public Relations: Tom Johnson did a fantastic job this year for us again this year. He also did a great job as Master of Ceremonies at halftime of the game!

Shrine patient: Luke Buriak, appeared at the game for the coin toss and half time. Augustana gave us eight minutes for our program and Tom figured out how to use exactly eight minutes to make a great impression on the crowd about our Shriners Hospitals, and about how great El Riad Shrine is, and about what we do with patients such as Luke.

Potentate: Illustrious Sir Jim Burma for his support throughout the year.

Divan Ladies: Thanks for your help at the Players Banquet!

Divan: Thanks to all of the members of the Divan for their participation and support each year! What a great group of men we have leading El Riad Temple.

Ladies: Last, and certainly not least, thanks to all of the Shrine Ladies who come to the tailgate party and game to support their men. We couldn’t do it without you!

Believe it or not, we’ve already begun working on next year’s game. We’ll continue to improve this game as best we can. If you believe you could help us to make this game better, please talk to me about joining this great group of men. We can always use one more great guy!

Ken Ward and the 2017 Shrine Football Committee

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