Boardman ping-pong ‘Madness’ assists Jerry’s Kids in the Valley

By Sean Barron

BOARDMAN — Mike Walsh doesn’t play pingpong much, though his most recent performance — along with a decisive win in his first game — might suggest otherwise.

“It’s for a good cause,” the 19-year member of the Boardman Fire Department said, referring to why he participated in Sunday’s 2009 Madness Table Tennis Tournament at Jillian’s Entertainment complex in the Southern Park Mall. “I play at the station on occasion.”

The good cause Walsh talked about was the local Muscular Dystrophy Association. Firefighters used the third annual pingpong competition to raise money for Jerry’s Kids. Funds will go toward helping local children with the disease buy wheelchairs, assisting them with paying for summer camp and other things.

Sunday’s event raised about $800, up from $500 garnered during last year’s competition.

Sponsoring the three-hour fundraiser were area IGA Super Centers and Nemenz Save-a-Lot stores.

Mike Miladore of Canfield, along with his brother, Joe, began playing ping pong about 10 years ago with their father in the family’s basement. The brothers said they enjoyed the style and format of Sunday’s double-elimination tournament.

The two levels of play also appealed to Mike, a medical student at Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine and Pharmacy, who finished second in last year’s fundraiser. Now, Mike Miladore continued, he tries to get a few games under his belt during school breaks.

Playing his father a few times a week over the years also heightened the skill level of Joe, a Canfield High School senior who also competed in last year‘s ping pong event.

The table tennis competition was broken into novice and more advanced categories, with a total of 32 participants, noted Gary Houser, a Boardman firefighter who, along with son, Jim, coordinated the event. Competitors included firefighters along with their friends and family members, Houser said.

Funds raised in the event will be placed in a pool that will be donated to the local MDA chapter, he continued. The competition was one of several events the firefighters conduct throughout each year to raise money for those who suffer from MD, noted Harry Wolfe, president of the Boardman Firefighters Union Local 1176.

Members of the Boardman Fire Department and others plan to be on hand to collect donations for MDA around Labor Day during the first several Boardman High School home football games, Wolfe said.