JOHN WALK | Features WriterMen and women 35 and older have the chance to don helmets, shoulder pads and cleats for a full-contact, tackle football game in Millersville that benefits children in need of prosthetics.
Amputees 18 and older are also encouraged to sign up for the Aug. 3 game organized by Elizabethtown-based nonprofit Iron Leg.
“The shot is there,” said Matt Millhouse, who along with Sean Laukhuff, founded Iron Leg in 2021.
Kickoff at Millersville University's Chryst Field at Biemesderfer Stadium is 7 p.m. People interested in playing can sign up at ironleg.org.
Millhouse’s son, Parker, was born without a right leg in 2012. It’s why the Millhouse family, which includes Parker’s three siblings, has experience with prosthetics and the large price tag that comes with them, especially if insurance only covers a portion of the cost.
“Some families can’t afford them (prosthetics),” Millhouse, 48, said.
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Iron Leg has raised more than $130,000 in its first three years through fundraisers such as golf outings, retro dance parties, sub sales and a car show.
Millhouse and Laukhuff are hoping the football game raises $100,000 through ticket sales, donations and sponsorship opportunities.
The cost to play is $350 per person, which will mostly cover equipment, such as a jersey, helmet, shoulder pads, pants, and pads for the pants. Players will be required to pass a physical.
Millhouse and Laukhuff are hoping 66 to 100 people sign up to play, which would allow for 33 to 50 players for each team. One of those teams will be coached by Mike Wildasin, who was a Penn Manor High School varsity football coach in the 1980s and has been a longtime varsity assistant football coach across the Lancaster-Lebanon League in the decades since. Coaching staffs are still being put together.
A Lancaster-Lebanon League football officiating crew is onboard to referee the game.
“There’s going to be ambulances, minimum one, probably two,” Millhouse said. “Players will be required to sign a waiver (agreeing not to hold Iron Leg accountable in case of injury). We have insurance.”
Sunday evening practices for the game begin May 19 and will be held on the turf field next to Penn Manor High School at 100 E. Cottage Ave. in Millersville.
Iron Leg has helped three children get prosthetics to date, including Shawn Kolar, a 13-year-old York County boy who was born without a left hand. Two years ago, Iron Leg connected Shawn to a prosthetics company in New York, then footed the $9,000 bill for a 3D-printed TrueLimb bionic hand.
The new prosthetic allows Shawn to tie his shoes and play video games, tasks that were previously challenging with just one hand.
“It helped him a great deal with his confidence,” Shawn’s mother, Mindy Kolar, said.
For more information, visit ironleg.org.
