Lose your fantasy football league in Rockwall, and you spend 24 hours in a waffle booth. Unless you eat or donate your way out.

The Rockwall Gridiron Gang, a 12-member league of local business owners and civic leaders, punishes its last-place finisher each season with the "Waffle Challenge." The loser parks at a local IHOP or Waffle House for a full day. Each waffle eaten shaves an hour off the clock. Each $100 donated to a nonprofit of the loser's choosing does the same.

Three seasons in, the penalty has raised real money.

Trevor Reed of Volkert finished last in the most recent season and raised more than $1,200 for the Children's Advocacy Center for Rockwall County. The center was recently named Non-Profit of the Year by the Royse City Tri-County Chamber of Commerce.

In an earlier season, Mitch Ownby, a Rockwall County EMS member who also serves on the Heath City Council, landed in the waffle booth and raised more than $1,200 for the Texas Valor Project. That organization funds brain-health treatment for veterans and first responders dealing with traumatic brain injury.

Justin Holland of Legacy and Co. Real Estate finished last in the league's inaugural year and directed his penalty toward a local cause, though the specific nonprofit was not named.

The league grew out of connections members made through Rockwall Area Chamber of Commerce events, Rockwall Noon Rotary Club meetings and Leadership Rockwall. According to the group's account shared with Blue Ribbon News, members compete hard and talk trash all season before rallying around whoever ends up eating waffles for charity. Gerald Hendrik of Rockwall Wealth Advisors, a league member, submitted the group's story.

Past champions include Rob McAngus of Mueller Family Law Group, Logan Lance of American National Bank of Texas and Dylan Labonte of Century 21 Judge Fite. The roster also includes members from Wells Fargo, Happy State Bank, Key Element Media and other area firms.

Season four is underway. The next last-place finisher will pick a nonprofit and head to the waffle booth after the NFL season wraps in early 2027.