UAH Battle of the Buffalo raises nearly $30,000 for cancer research

Apr 18, 2013

THETA PI (Alabama-Huntsville)–The Battle of the Buffalo took over Big Spring Park Saturday as 17 restaurants competed for the title of best wings, all in the name of a special cause.

Eight years ago Nancy Salmon lost her son Paul to Lukemia. Since that time Alpha Tau Omega, the UAH fraternity he was a member of, has held a wing making contest in his memory to raise money for the Russell Hill Cancer Foundation.

“When you thinking about these young men, they never knew my son. He passed away 6 years ago. They were still in high school. They never even knew him. The level of commitment they have to Russell Hill Cancer Foundation in his memory is incredible,” Nancy Salmon said.

The way they remember him is through one of his favorite things.

“Some of the older brothers were wanting a way to remember Paul Salmon, and they remembered how much he like to eat wings, and so that’s where the idea came from, was to do something he loved to do and to do it to raise money for the place he received treatment,” ATO brother David Oberle said.

The fraternity invited local restaurants to come out and compete. Each year the competition gained more attention and more competitors. This year 17 restaruants in the Tennessee Valley wanting to be named the Battle of the Buffalo Champion.

“We were second place last year. We are going to take number one place this year for sure. Why are we going to take it? Because we have the best wings,” Roland Lowry owner of New Orleans Lunchbox said.

Roland Lowry was right in his confidence. New Orleans Lunchbox won the competition this year, and as the public paid to try those wings, money poured into the ATO’s fund to help the Russell Hill Foundation meet needs and save lives.

“With the money raised last year we were able to donate a digital microscope that reduces the time it takes to diagnosed Leukemia from 30 days to 30 minutes,” Oberle said

Nancy Salmon said for a cancer patient and their family, that reduced time makes a huge difference.

“To hear he may have cancer and then you just have to wait to know, that’s torture. Just to know that maybe someone’s life has been made easier because of what we went through, it just means everything,” Salmon said.

*Original article credited to WAAYTV.com: http://go.ato.org/ZuTRMv

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