Tourney for Tim Still Going and Growing

It is a sound like no other. Wiffle balls meeting Wiffle bats creating that plastic-on-plastic crime’s distinctive sound. Hundreds of people gathered on the playing fields behind the North Andover Middle School to compete in the seventh-annual Tourney for Tim on Saturday, August 6. The tournament is named for Timothy (Timmy) Patrick Roberts, a young adult from North Andover, who in 2005, lost his brave battle with esophageal cancer.

Roberts’ closest friends and family founded the Reeling in a Dream foundation, which, administered by the Dana Farber Institute, “Fulfills the dreams and wishes of young adult patients that can not be granted within the scope of traditional medical care.” The tournament donates all proceeds to the foundation and in 2010, 10 iPads were donated to the cancer center, according to Timmy’s father, Tim Roberts.

The elder Roberts said that Timmy and his friends organized a wiffleball league back in high school at Jeremy Cote’s house on High Street, laying groundwork for the idea of a wiffleball tournament.

“We started a league in my backyard, like eight teams, 20-25 of my friends,” recalled Cote, still putting the finishing touches on the team brackets. “And that summer is when Tim started going to the hospital and we found out a few of our other friends started a ‘Rockets for Roberts’ event and we kind of just brought the events together.

“It turned out pretty well. We did the first year over at Drummond [Playground]. It was really hot, but it was fun and it was successful.

“Then the second year came around and we were like, ‘Are we going to do it again?’ ‘Of course we are!’”

Cote went on to say that by the third Tourney for Tim, things began to get a little more organized and they decided to make it a legacy for Tim.

Cote now lives in California and has traveled home to North Andover the last three years for the Tourney.

“What started as something humble and small and fun, and it’s pretty awesome to see the legacy kind of live on,” he said.

About 20 wiffleball fields were lined up on the playing fields equipped with foul poles (each sporting an American flags), fences, homemade strike zones and about 10 tents containing shaded areas, silent auctions, and even massage stations blended with the crowd. Roberts said that Stachey’s Pizza of North Andover donated the food for the BBQ portion of the all day event.

Acting as a Master of Ceremonies with a P.A. system in the middle of the playing fields was another friend and founder, Matt Steele, who kicked things off with a Jimmi Hendrix-esque Star Spangled Banner.

“It’s pretty incredible,” Steele said of the event turnout. “It could be easy for people to forget about it, but it seems like the crowd’s getting younger every year which is great.”

The tourney was split up between two divisions not taking the traditional baseball-route of names such as “National” and “American,” but Pro and Amateur instead. Steele explained that the Pro division was a little more competitive and the competitors were older, teenage to college aged and beyond, whereas the Amateur division housed younger kids and families. Teams from as far as Cotuit and Braintree turned out as well.

On hand at midday was none other than Boston Red Sox mascot, Wally the Green Monster. For five-dollar donations, children could take their photo with the famed mascot. Wally also made rounds around the fields to the further delight of the young wifflers.

Volunteer and family friend of the Roberts’, Renee Ippolito, helped coordinate bringing Wally to North Andover.

“We put in a request to have Wally come out for a non-profit fundraiser,” said Ippolito, who added that the Red Sox responded promptly to send out their lovable mascot. Ippolito also helped organize and make the sponsor signs from local businesses on each field.

Nick Blanks, a Mechanical Engineering student at Northeastern from North Andover was in his third Tourney for Tim, playing in the Pro division.

“I love it, I wouldn’t miss it,” said Blanks, whose team got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs the year before. “I’d pass up any vacation to come to this.”

I love raising the money,” he continued. “Everybody plays wiffleball, so it’s great to come together with all the local businesses for [the tournament].”

What began in 2005 with about 30 teams had expanded to more than 50 on Saturday.

The tournament raised over $11,000 for the Reeling in the Dream foundation last year and Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, along with Cote, Steele and Ippolito, are hopeful to raise even more this year.