By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – The first Charity Bowl football game was played on a cold December day in 1969 in the old Union Kempsville stadium in Virginia Beach. About 60 former high school and college football players got together and played a game of tackle football.
The game's proceeds, as the name of the game indicated, went to charity.
The two teams were coached by Ed Booth and Ron Nery from the Norfolk Neptunes professional team. The crowd of about 400 netted a gate of $580, which was split equally between the Joy Fund and Catholic Charities.
In all but one year since, a Charity Bowl game has been played. About a decade ago, local businessman Dennis Ellmer rescued the game from certain financial ruin and quickly transformed it into a flag football game.
It would seem that too many out-of-shape weekend warriors were suiting up and being carried off the field with an injury. The late George McClelland, then sports editor of The Virginian-Pilot, noted in his coverage of that 1969 game that it was an upset that "no one was killed or maimed."
"It was just too dangerous," said Ellmer who attended ODU and is Chairman and CEO of Priority Automotive.
The next transformation of the charity bowl occurs Saturday with the Priority Charity Bowl ODU Spring Game. There will be no flag football game. Instead, the Charity Bowl game will be ODU's spring football game.
The 2 p.m. contest isn't a game as much as it will be the 15th spring practice for the Monarchs.
It will be the first chance for fans to see the offense that new offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude is bringing to the Monarchs. Patenaude comes to ODU after three seasons at Georgia Tech.
ODU returns 19 starters from the team that won its last five games of the regular season last fall and garnered the university's first bowl bid since 2016.
ODU will face its toughest schedule ever next season, as the Monarchs move to the Sun Belt Conference. ODU also has non-conference home games against Virginia Tech and Liberty.
MINIUM: ODU Faces Its Toughest Football Schedule Ever in 2022
Admission to Saturday's game is free and fans will sit on the east side of the stadium.
The focus of the Charity Bowl has changed under Ellmer from selling tickets to raising money. Ellmer has used his business connections to ramp up fundraising, and last year the game generated $766,000, all for local children's charities.
Following the game there will be an invitation-only reception for the Charity Bowl's major sponsors at the Priority Automotive Club, as well as a golf tournament at Virginia Beach National Golf Course on Sept. 20.
By the conclusion of the golf tournament, Ellmer said he hopes to net more than $1 million, with all of it going to local children's charities.
Even in 1969 dollars, that would be quite a jump from $580 the first game generated.
Ellmer praised ODU President Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D., Athletic Director Wood Selig, Ph.D., and football coach Ricky Rahne for their help in putting on the Charity Bowl.
"ODU has been a great partner," Ellmer said. "They've done anything and everything we've asked for.
"I'm deeply grateful for their help and their commitment to helping children in Hampton Roads. Dr. Hemphill and Wood Selig have been so great to work with."
Ellmer is a Norfolk native who grew up in Ocean View in a poor, blue-collar neighborhood. He worked three jobs while at Norview High School and after briefly attending ODU, began selling cars. Eventually he borrowed enough money to buy a car dealership, which proved to be successful.
He has dozens of car dealerships now in Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia and parts of North Carolina.
The Charity Bowl will help 45 different charities in Hampton Roads, all with a focus on helping needy children. He won't say why he's so focused on helping children, but added that after Norfolk Southern left the city several years ago to move to Atlanta, there was a significant gap in local philanthropy.
"We're trying to fill that gap," he said.
Long-term, he would like to see a flag football game return,
"We would like it to be a true alumni game, with ODU football players and other athletes playing a flag football game," he said. "But right now, we don't have enough football alumni to do that.
"I hope we get back to that in the future, if that's what Wood Selig and President Hemphill also want to happen."
Ellmer attended a recent practice and said he was blown away with the talent Rahne has put on the field.
"This team is so much bigger, strong and faster than what we had a couple of years ago," he said. "I was so impressed with the camaraderie I saw among the players and coaches.
"Ricky Rahne has done such a great job of rebuilding this program."
Just as Ellmer has done with the Charity Bowl.
Minium: Priority Charity Bowl ODU Football Game Could Raise $1 Million for Local Charities
