30 years on, childhood friends who grew up in Alexandria revel in annual Thanksgiving football game

For the past 30 years, a group of childhood friends have played flag football on the field of their elementary school. (WTOP/Neal Augenstein) Source Wtop

ALEXANDRIA, VA. - When they were in elementary school, the athletic field next to James K. Polk Elementary School, in Alexandria, Virginia, was much more expansive. But for two dozen friends who play an annual football game there, it seems to take longer to reach the end zone 30 years later.

“We were 12 or 13 years old when we first started playing, and I’ve gotten considerably slower,” said Ryan Kula, who grew up near the school but now lives with his family in Purcellville, Virginia.

Every Thanksgiving morning at 9 a.m., Kula and his childhood friends gather for a game of flag football that they call the Turkey Bowl.

Source Wtop