Delts Go Head-to-Head for Diabetes Research in JDRF Madden Tournament
In April, nine Delta Tau Delta chapters faced off in a Madden 22 community tournament organized by JDRF Game2Give, a program within JDRF that pursues fundraising opportunities in the video game community.
Madden NFL is a long-running series of football games made by Electronic Arts, named after legendary football coach and commentator John Madden. A new installment releases each year, with real-world player statistics and playbooks incorporated. Over time the series has become a premier esports experience, with the most recent Ultimate Madden Bowl champion winning a $250,000 prize and the Twitch broadcast of the championship game earning a Sports Emmy® Award nomination.
The JDRF Game2Give Madden 22 tournament had two brackets, PlayStation and Xbox. The competition started with chapters selecting an individual champion to represent the chapter in the tournament. Some chapters had 10 or more members competing for that spot, while others put forward an undisputed Madden GOAT (greatest of all time). Chapter champions then went head-to-head to determine who played in the championship game. Participating chapters were encouraged to fundraise alongside the tournament, which resulted in almost $3,500 raised for type 1 diabetes research across the event.
JDRF was an important cause to John Madden, who died in December 2021 at age 85. His grandson has type 1 diabetes, and the Madden family are longtime JDRF supporters. The cause is also personal to RG Glick, the Madden competitive gaming community manager, whose fiancée lives with T1D.
“Huge shout out to Game2Give all of Delta Tau Delta for putting on such an amazing and fun event. Their efforts allowed many folks to join in and support an important cause while having a lot of fun doing it, which was awesome,” Glick said. “I was highly impressed with the stick skills of the finalists, especially Matthew from James Madison who I wouldn’t be surprised to see on the pro Madden eSport circuit at some point.”
RG and Madden influencer OneGreatUser hosted the PlayStation bracket’s championship game on Twitch on April 24. Playing as the Arizona Cardinals and representing Kappa Beta Chapter, Matthew Bridge (James Madison University, 2022) competed against Alex Schmidt (University of Nebraska at Kearney, 2025) playing as the Kansas City Chiefs and representing Theta Kappa Chapter. Bridge won the match 50–12.
In the Xbox bracket’s championship game (which had to be played separately due to scheduling conflicts), Anthony Hansler (University of Alabama, 2022) played as the San Francisco 49ers representing Delta Eta Chapter against Edward PascualRosales (University of Oklahoma, 2025) playing as the Dallas Cowboys and representing Delta Alpha Chapter. Hansler won the match 31–10.
Theta Delta Chapter at Baylor University was the top fundraising chapter during the tournament, amassing $1,010 for T1D research. An additional $2,000 was raised during the PlayStation championship stream, culminating with RG, OneGreatUser and Bridge completing a fundraising incentive challenge.
“Competitive Madden and Tecmo Bowl games were a memorable part of my own college fraternity experience, so matching up the drive of the Delta Tau Delta men with the immersive experience of Madden 22 gameplay was a real treat,” says Josh Larson, director of the JDRF Game2Give program. “We’re eager to grow this tournament in every way next year.”
Until then, if individuals or chapters want to dive into livestream fundraising, they can start at https://tiltify.com/jdrf. Also online are Madden 22 match and share tournament and fundraising ideas on the Delt Discord server (https://discord.gg/QVd57bYVuw).
