More than 110 bowlers from Nebraska, Iowa and other Midwestern states
gathered in Council Bluffs last fall to raise money for cancer research
and to remember a person whose life was taken by the disease. Participants
in the second annual Joe Tomsu Memorial Bowling Tournament contributed
$1,937 to the University of Nebraska Foundation to help advance research
at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Eppley Cancer Center.
Matt Tomsu, tournament organizer, said the fundraiser, while memorializing
his father, is one way to strengthen the fight against cancer.
My dad was always big in bowling around Omaha, and everyone liked him,
he said. After he died in 1997, we wanted to put on a tournament in his
memory. Then we decided to raise money for cancer research as well. You
want to fight back and there is not a whole lot you can do. This is a way
to fight back.
Kenneth Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center,
said research is the best weapon against cancer, a disease which will afflict
one in three Americans in their lifetime.
We are very grateful for the efforts of Matt Tomsu to honor the memory
of his father by holding the bowling tournament, Dr. Cowan said.
Fund-raising events such as this tournament are important in our battle
against cancer and in our efforts to find better therapies to treat and
prevent these complex diseases. We appreciate the courage and compassion
exhibited by Mr. Tomsu in this generous effort.
The tournament, held at Thunder Bowl in Council Bluffs, was inaugurated
in 1999 with 87 participants raising $1,350.
Plans presently are underway for the third annual tournament to be
held in early October. This year, organizers hope to expand the event into
a two-day tournament and to exceed a fund-raising goal of $2,000, Tomsu
said.
This event means a lot to everybody who knew my dad, he said.
I know he would have enjoyed bowling in the tournament.”