When a police officer or firefighter is injured or killed in the line of duty, their families will often suffer major financial losses as they have to pay for treatment or funeral costs. Since 2015, the Evesham Police Department has been raising money to help offset the costs through a softball tournament.
On Aug. 25, from 11 a.m. to approximately 5 p.m., 16 teams from within the township will face off in a double-elimination softball tournament at the Diamonds at Arrowhead Park (984 Tuckerton Road) for the fourth annual Fallen Heroes softball tournament. An opening ceremony will take place at 10:45 a.m. with four families, and a young boy who is fighting cancer, throwing out the first pitch.
The event is free to attend, and food trucks, sandart, glitter tattoos, community policing units and more will be available for attendees to participate in.
“It was started four years ago in response to Sgt. Ed Zubrzycki, of the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, and Matt Hempel, of the Evesham Fire Department, who died unexpedly. In response to that, we started the softball tournament as a way to try to raise some funds for their families,” said Capt. Walt Miller.
Miller said the tournament has grown since its start, and they now support families of Evesham’s fire and police departments who were affected by a tragedy, and have other aspects, such as a home run derby and kickball tournament with the police and fire explorers.
Miller said the police and fire explorer tournament was started after Max Scherzer of the Westampton Police Department, who was also a school resource officer, died unexpectedly. Funds are raised for the kickball tournament, and a scholarship is awarded to a Cherokee senior.
“The criteria for the scholarship was designed by his family and it mirrors who he was and what he stood for,” Miller said.
The department gets the high school involved in the tournament by having its baseball players be umpires for the games.
The home run derby was created in honor of State Trooper Bert Zimmerman, who was killed in a car crash. Before joining the State Police, Zimmerman worked at the police department and played baseball throughout his college career.
Winners of each of the three different games are awarded either trophies or plaques. An MVP is selected from the championship softball game and the kickball tournament.
“Everyone’s most interested in the home run derby [trophy] because it’s a wooden baseball bat that’s mounted and it’s really nice,” Miller said. “Everyone’s always interested in it, including myself and I’ve never won it.”
The 16 teams consist of the police and fire departments, Mayor Jaclyn Veasy’s team, township employees, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, Burlington County Police Chief’s Association, Marlton Recreation Council and more.
“The only thing we look for [when looking for teams] is that they’re tied to the community in some regard,” Miller said. “We don’t want a professional team because that’s not what this is about.”
Prior to the event, Mission BBQ is hosting a “Police Night” on Aug. 15 from 6 to 9 p.m. where all proceeds will be donated to the Fallen Heroes Fund.
Those wishing to volunteer for the tournament can reach out to Miller by emailing [email protected], or Wendy Gibson at [email protected]. Donations can be made by mailing a check to the department and putting “Fallen Heroes Fund” in the memo line.
“I was talking about it recently when we were bringing in the younger officers, and we wanted the tradition to continue years to come,” Miller said. “I hope when the day comes when I’m done law enforcement, I can come back and see it continuing and getting better and bigger.”
