CINCINNATI — West-siders pride themselves on many things, but what four generations of the Mazza family celebrated this Thanksgiving involved trophies of special mettle.
"I just wish my brother Tony could have been here to experience this," Ray Mazza said.
Ray and his wife Kay raised eight children on the same street as Ray's brother Tony and Maggie Mazza, who have 10 children. They lived a few doors apart. Fifty years ago, the two fathers brought their children together for a game of football before Thanksgiving dinner.
"It was a PIA," Kay Mazza said laughing.
Why was it such a pain?
"The story of that is it almost caused divorces because we would play no matter what the weather was," Ray Mazza said. "So here we are all muddy coming home from football all muddy and stuff, and the ladies cooking Thanksgiving, they didn't like that too much. They handled it okay."
As families grew, so did the game.
MVPs took home a can of tomatoes as their prize, and the winning family took home a repurposed youth baseball trophy.
Tony Mazza last held one in 1993 — he died a year later. His legacy includes dozens of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and children who still play or watch every year.
"I feel so blessed that God let me be this blessed," said Maggie Mazza, Tony's wife. "Gratitude is my thing."
It is the Thanksgiving treat Ray Mazza cannot imagine doing without and wants all four generations to savor it too.
"I'm so glad that they look like their dad because every time I look at one of them it reminds me of having a lot of support around you," he said.
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