Kicking Cancer’s Butt: Greene County kickball fundraiser to return May 21
Colby Simkovich
Photo courtesy of Carrie Simkovic
A player kicks the ball during a past Colby’s Stars Foundation Kicking Cancer’s Butt Kickball Tournament in Rices Landing. This year’s tournament will be held on May 21.
Photo courtesy of Carrie Simkovic
In this file photo, Colby Simkovic, left, then a freshman at Jefferson-Morgan, poses with the winning team “Believe” after the Colby’s Stars Foundation’s annual Kicking Cancer’s Butt Kickball Tournament in Rices Landing.
Colby Simkovic inspired many during his 19 years of life.
The 2020 Jefferson-Morgan High School graduate actively spoke of hope and perseverance at various fundraising events during his decade-long battle with cancer, supporting others struggling with serious illness.
And he and his family established the Colby’s Stars Foundation Inc., a nonprofit created to help children who are fighting cancer and other life-threatening illnesses in 2010 to help those families in his native Waynesburg and surrounding communities.
“Colby always wanted to pay back the kindness and support he and his family received when he was diagnosed,” event organizer Julie Venick said.
A little more than a year ago, Simkovic passed away – but the nonprofit named for him will continue his mission to inspire and help others with its sixth Kicking Cancer’s Butt Kickball Tournament on Saturday, May 21 at the Rices Landing Athletic Club fields in Rices Landing. The tournament is a fundraiser for the foundation.
“What started as an every-other-year event has turned into an annual event that just keeps growing,” Venick said.
The tournament, which hasn’t been held the past two years because of the pandemic, meant a great deal to Colby.
“Colby was so proud of it and he presented the Colby Cup to the winners. It’s become so popular. (Colby) would be all smiles the day of the tournament. He loved it,” Venick said.
Since it started, the foundation has raised more than $100,000 through spaghetti dinners, auctions and ticket sales. Volunteers have participated in a “Dancing with the Stars”-type competition, where Colby’s teachers, relatives and friends danced on stage to raise money. The foundation also works in conjunction with local businesses to raise money.
The May 21 tournament will feature co-ed adult teams in bracket play, along with a 15-and-under tournament and other divisions.
“The Rices Landing Athletic Club has helped us from the start and continues to expand the land we need for the kickball tournament that started as an adult event that now includes kids. It’s been a total community effort,” Venick said.
“The … club has been on board from the beginning,” Venick added. “After Colby passed, they named the field after him. We are all proud to be part of this effort and the foundation.”
Simkovic, an all-state and all-county standout on the Rockets’ WPIAL champion rifle team, will be honored in June as one of two recipients of the Washington-Greene Co. Chapter Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame’s “James C. (Jimmy) Montecalvo and Luke Blanock Memorial Courage Award” presented annually by the chapter.
Registration for the kickball tournament is continuing through May 6. For information about the kickball tournament, call 724-322-4529 or 724-998-5116 or email colbystarsfoudation@windstream.net.
To register for sponsorship or donations to the foundation, contact Carrie Simkovic at Colby’s Star’s Foundation Inc., 112 Bedillion Road, Waynesburg, Pa., 15307 or call 724-998-5116.