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Police, Cancer Patient Win At Badge Bowl

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Angelo Cerchione, 7, and his family let balloons go with other participants before the start of the Badge Bowl Saturday night at Wharton High School. The game between the Tampa police and fire department was to benefit the Foundation of Courage, a nonprofit organization suporting children in the Bay area with cancer. This year, a portion of the proceeds will help support Angelo, the 2008 Taylor Dumke Courage Award Recipient.

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TBO.com

Published: November 22, 2008

The Tampa Police Department Gladiators edged the Tampa Fire Rescue Firestorm 28-22 in the annual Badge Bowl charity flag football game.

But the real winner was 7-year-old Angelo Cerchione, who suffers from acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The game benefits the Foundation of Courage, a nonprofit organization supporting Tampa Bay area children with cancer. A portion of the proceeds is placed in a secured account to benefit a Bay area child fighting the disease. This year it will be Cerchione.

Organizers chose Angelo in part because his father, Air Force Staff Sgt. Eddie Cerchione, was overseas when Angelo was diagnosed in 2005, said Mike Pease, a Tampa Fire Rescue driver/engineer and the foundation's president.

Eddie Cerchione is now at home. The family, which includes a 10-year-old sister, is awaiting the results after Angelo's latest chemotherapy treatments.

"Keep your fingers crossed for good results," mother Katie Cerchione said.

Tampa Fire Rescue spokesman Bill Wade said more than 2,000 people attended this year's game.

"I have never seen it so busy," he said. "The crowd was terrific; the game was great."

Wade said the game raised about $40,000 for Angelo through admission fees and donations. It was roughly the same last year's game raised for Brooke Martin, now 6, Pease said. Brooke is scheduled for a bone-marrow transplant after Thanksgiving, he said.

The game was held at Wharton High School. There was a carnival, a 30-foot rock wall, and music from Radio Disney and the University of South Florida's showcase marching band.

"It's so great to see that other people care," Katie Cerchione said. "All these kids who go through this deserve something like this to boost their courage up."

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