Colt's Players Tackle the Cause

It was a different kind of "game day" for some of the Indianapolis Colts but everyone was a winner in the end. Gary Brackett invited 24 teams of "Regular Joe's" to join him and his teammates for the Second Annual Kroger Celebrity Gridiron Challenge.

The two day event began Thursday, June 26th at the Omni Severin Hotel where guests were invited for a little food, a little drink, some auction items and the main event, The Celebrity Draft. Over 200 guests mixed and mingled while bidding on some unique experiences and memorabilia items. The bidding wars began at 6:00 pm and by the end, the IMPACT Foundation received over $10,000 from the silent auction alone!

The Celebrity Draft began at 7pm as one by one teams selected their celebrity quarterback from their draft packet, with celebrities like Gary Brackett, Cato June and Antoine Bethea being the top picks. As the list got smaller and smaller, teams strategized on the remaining names and within the hour the teams were set and the competition was on!

Registration and practice began at noon and participants were invited to grab an item or two at the Swag Shop. Then, they went into the VIP Tent where gourmet food stations were set up for the day, thanks to our partners at Jillian's, Maggiano's Little Italy, Stone Creek Dining, Squeeze Fresh Smoothies, Pepsi and Kroger. They offered a great selection and their presence allowed for a truly first class experience for our guests.

Games began at 1pm for the round robin style format that allowed each team a chance to show the fans what they can do! Slowly teams were eliminated until there were only 2 teams left. It came down to the two beverage teams with Pepsi and 7UP heading to the championship game. What a match up this was. On the opening drive of the game, 7UP kept Pepsi from scoring with a turnover on downs. Then the 7up team, led by QB Gijon Robinson, marched down the field for a score. From there to the half it looked like Robinson's 7up team would own the field, prompting Jeff Gorman, team Pepsi's QB, to say that the QB play would have to get better for his team to come back and win the game!

The Pepsi defense opened the second half with a big stop on the 7up offense, and when their offense got the ball back, Gorman wasn't messing around. Pepsi scored and brought the game to within one score. In the last minutes of the half, Gorman and 7up tied it up, eventually sending the game to overtime. Overtime was ONE play: if the offense scores they win, and if the defense stops them they win. Pepsi won the coin toss and elected to go on offense to decide their fate. Who knows if they came up with an actual play or just ran around but it worked! Team Pepsi, led by Quarterback Jeff Gorman, won the Second Annual Kroger Celebrity Gridiron Challenge in an overtime thriller!

The Gridiron Challenge is the largest fundraiser for the IMPACT Foundation and without the support of corporations like Kroger, Hewlett Packard, Olinger Distributing and the Omni Severin Hotel we would not be able to provide opportunities and programs to families affected by cancer. The IMPACT Foundation would like to thank all those who were able to make it out and support the cause. We hope you can all join us again in 2009!