National Football Foundation

Although he never played football, Bob Eberly sees the benefits and opportunities the game provides to our nation’s youth, and he has made a lasting impact in the Toledo community during his more than three decades with the NFF.
 
Born and raised in the Toledo area, Eberly grew up helping his father raise Yorkshire hogs on the family farm, which helped develop his strong work ethic and organizational skills. He graduated from St. Francis de Sales School in 1968 before attending the University of Toledo.
 
Eberly began his career in the sporting goods industry in 1971 before he and his business partner, John Brennan, opened their own sporting goods company, Team Sports, in 1980. Team Sports supplies athletic equipment, uniforms and apparel to institutions, schools and teams in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia. Eberly continues to serve as the company’s general manager.
 
A member of the NFF Toledo/Wistert Chapter’s board of directors since 1987, Eberly served as the outpost’s president in 2000 and 2001 and has been its executive director since 2001. The chapter has presented more than $325,000 in scholarships in its history, and it honors around 40 scholar-athletes annually at its banquet alongside local coaches and officials.
 
Each year prior to the Toledo/Wistert Chapter’s banquet a major college head football coach, who serves as the event’s keynote speaker, spends time with the high school scholar-athletes and accompanies them to a Toledo area children’s hospital to visit patients. The impressive list of past speakers includes Ryan Day, Pat Fitzgerald, Jim Harbaugh and Nick Saban, among many others. The chapter also hosts a golf outing to raise funds for its scholarships. In 2021, the chapter partnered with BCSN to create a show to honor its 40 high school scholar-athletes while distributing eight scholarships totaling $21,000.
 
“Volunteering with the NFF has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my adult life and career,” said Eberly. “The people I have been blessed to be involved with on our board are the pillars of the Toledo community. The Toledo banquet is the highlight of our NFF year, and seeing the faces of the honored young men as they walk into the banquet with 1,000 people in the hall is something to behold.”
 
Eberly and his wife, Carol, have been married for 46 years and have two sons and two grandsons. In his spare time, Eberly is an avid golfer and enjoys traveling, history and spending time with his family.