Robbie Thompson looks ahead to annual Slo-Pitch Tournament

Robbie Thompson (left) poses at the 2024 tournament with community member Colin Benoit, who gave Thompson the shirt off his back when Thompson complimented it. Image provided by Susan Germain

Disclaimer: This story includes an interview with Robbie Thompson, a volunteer host and board member with CHLY 101.7FM. 

This weekend the annual Robbie Thompson Slo-Pitch Tournament will go to bat, raising money for the Cancer Care Unit at the Comox Valley Hospital. This year’s fundraiser has a special focus on honouring late founder Jim Lalic, and the legacy he created within the community. 

“The annual Robbie Thompson Slo-Pitch is a charity slo-pitch tournament, which is a version of baseball, and each year we raise money for a variety of community issues in the Comox Valley. We've donated money to families, but we've also done things like bursaries for students, set up disability ramps, [and] donated to charities. It's anything basically that really helps out the wider Comox Valley community,” Robbie Thompson said.

Robbie Thompson is the young man who inspired the event 27 years ago when word got out in the Comox Valley community that a family from Courtenay was struggling. Thompson was diagnosed with a severe cardiac illness when he was five months old, but unable to get a pediatric heart transplant in B.C., Thompson’s family had to travel to Toronto for his medical care.

“I think something that people don't realize about having to do long-term medical things, especially stuck in the hospital, is that yes there's a lot of things that are covered like the surgery and the medication [and] treatments, but you still have to worry about all of your finances,” Thompson said. “Like my dad lost his business, my mom had to go on long-term leave, and so we were pretty much broke and the news naturally got back to Courtenay in one way or another, and it happened that a group of people, including members of the Comox Valley Kinsman, found out about this and wanted to do something to help raise money for the family. And what they ended up doing was this slo-pitch tournament.”

A young Robbie Thompson (right) poses with founding organizer Jim Lalic, who passed away in 2022. Image provided by Susan Germain

Thompson said that the fundraiser was born entirely out of community ambition to support the young family in their time of need, and though their friendship grew strong in the many years since, founding organizer Jim Lalic had no prior personal connection to the family. 

“I think [Jim] was one of the first people to suggest doing this, so he's been right at the front lines forever. Losing him was devastating, but I think it's only promoted us to go harder this year to make sure we're living up to the standard,” Thompson said.

Without the support of this tournament, and other charities, Thompson said his family may have lost their house that year. But because this group of people came together that year, and every year since, Thompson’s family and many more community members and organizations have been supported through crises and challenges of many shapes and sizes.

“It's very, very hopeful. I could go on about the subject of news, media and communication forever, because that's my degree, but essentially we are awash all the time with all the horrible things going on in the world at this big, big, big level. And it's bigger than all of us, so naturally we feel very small, and I think, very unable to do a lot. And events like this show us that that's not the case,” Thompson said. “It's shown myself that if you can just get a group of people together with a mission and the right attitude and the right organization and you know, throw in maybe some food and some beer in there for good measure, you can have something that is truly amazing and going on for almost 30 years. And hopefully more.”

Thompson emphasized how significant it is that small business owners and working class people who don’t have a lot to spare, especially in times of economic instability, come together and raise thousands of dollars through their own contributions. Last year Thompson once again became critically ill, diagnosed with a type of transplant lymphoma, and was hospitalized multiple times over the course of the year. Despite the lingering economic impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic on the community, the new organizers pulled together two tournaments to raise money and support Thompson once again in his time of need.

“This year we are raising money for the North Island Hospital cancer clinics. That's Comox Valley Hospital, because I received treatment there last year for my transplant lymphoma, so it's a giving back sort of thing …  And they've got a really nice clinic up there, I can attest. So making it better is all the better,” Thompson said.

Growing up, it was tradition for Thompson to throw the first pitch of the tournament. Image provided by Susan Germain

In previous years, Thompson played more of a figurehead role in the fundraiser, throwing the first pitch. This year he is dipping his toes more into the organizing side by supporting promotion of the event. Due to his health, Thompson has never competed in the event, but he enjoys the festivities every year and described it as “almost like a giant picnic.”

“I just sit on the sidelines, watch some baseball, eat, drink, that sort of thing, and it's always a good time. It's a really good atmosphere to just sit and enjoy life and chat [with] people, especially people that you haven't seen in a while. And now that I'm old enough and well enough to actually go in and help more directly with things, I'm really excited to be able to participate more in that,” he said.

Thompson said now that he’s an adult, he’s hoping to take on less of a public role and make space to include more members of the community.

“Because even though it's named after me, it's ultimately about helping the rest of the Comox Valley. So I am becoming more involved, hopefully, with the organizing as time goes on. But not so much with the throwing the first pitch,” he said.

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 12th to 14th, 22 teams will take over the Lewis Park ball fields in Courtenay, competing in the 27th annual Robbie Thompson Slo-Pitch, raising funds through direct donations, raffle draws, a 50/50, and maybe even a bat raffle. Funds raised will go to the Cancer Care Unit at the Comox Valley Hospital.

“So if people want to go online to find out about the tournament, you can go to lindacreates.wixsite.com/robbiethompson, that's where you'll find all of the main information for the event,” Thompson said. “You can also look up on Facebook, Jim Lalic Legacy Annual Robbie Thompson Tournament #27, and you will find everything as well on that Facebook page.”

Events are scheduled Friday evening from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., all day Saturday from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“And you especially wanna be there on [Sunday] the 14th because that's when all the raffles and 50/50 draws are. So you definitely don't wanna miss that,” Thompson said.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada. Reporting done in the Comox Valley is done in partnership with CVOX.