Real Time Sports Hosts NFL Players to Raise $8k for Brian Beam

Sunday was a big day for Chicago sports fans. The Bears were taking on the Packers to clinch their division, and former NFL players were watching the game at Real Time Sports in Elk Grove Village in support of 20-year old Brian Beam.

Brian, a lifelong Elk Grove Village resident, is fighting glioblastoma, a rare and aggressive brain cancer. During his sophomore year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York in late 2017, Brian was diagnosed and began receiving treatment. His disease has rapidly progressed, and as good friends do, Brian's father Bob's friends were there to help.

This event was spearheaded by Jon Jahnke, Glenn Patterson and Jim Gallo. Gallo then reached out to Tim Tyrrell, his friend since kindergarten, to help bring in more than 20 athletes to meet at Real Time Sports Sunday.

Tyrrell is a graduate of Conant High School, where Brian also graduated from. Playing for seven years in the NFL, and now a member of the NFL Retired Players Association, he called upon his fellow former players to come out to Real Time Sports and put on a benefit to raise money for Brian's care.

With a silent auction that included signed mini helmets from Mitchell Trubisky, Matt Forte and Kyle Long, raffle and meal package, over $8,000 was raised on Sunday afternoon. Fans, supporters and the public spent the afternoon watching the Bears beat their long time rivals, the Green Bay Packers, while lunching and chatting with the former NFL players.

The food was donated by Real Time Sports Bar and Randolph Meats in Streamwood. The beer was donated by Miller / Coors through Town and Country Distributors in Itasca.