The trailer parked in the driveway of the Simkovic home on Bedilion Road in Waynesburg is wrapped in all things #ColbyStrong. The words “BE LIKE COLBY” frame one side of the smiling image of Colby Simkovic (September 20, 2001–March 7, 2021), forever 19 and ready to cheerlead another season of fun and games with plenty of muddy moments. To his left is a rambunctious image of an ATV with “Ridin’ 4 A Legend—Offroad Benefit Ride” That event logo sits above the bold orange letters spelling out the heart and soul of Colby’s Stars Foundation: “Assisting others in their battle against cancer since 2010.”
But more to the point today when I come to visit is the logo below those letters, showing a ball being kicked high over the words “Kicking Cancer’s Butt—Kickball Tournament.”
“This is our Eighth Annual Kickball Tournament,” Colby’s mom Carrie Bedilion Simkovic tells me. She’s taking a break from her in-home salon Addictive Hair Design to do more prep work. She’s helping husband Jerry and daughter Morgan, 26, pack up the trailer for two days of fun, games, fireworks, live music, good food and plenty of raffles on May 17-18 that will happen, rain or shine, at Rices Landing Athletic Club’s fields.
Friday kickball is all kids’ day, with teams in two-year brackets from first to 8th grade, Carrie explains, including a kindergarten bracket. (Kickball, originally a playground game, is the way most kids learn the rules of baseball, by kicking an inflated ball instead of batting and only using hands to throw each other out.)
On Saturday, high school and adult teams gather for a day of fast and furious twenty-minute games as they vie for the annual Colby Cup: “The last team standing is the winner!”
This yearly fundraiser is one of the ways the Bedilion and Simkovic families have found to pay it forward to those who stood by them both financially and emotionally when eight-year-old Colby was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor in 2010.
Carrie remembers the months of staying over for intensive treatment at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital after Colby’s diagnosis. Husband Jerry stayed home with daughter Morgan to maintain the normal family life Colby thrived in and lived the life of a normal kid.
As the initial cancer was destroyed, the family started the Colby’s Stars Foundation and began doing events to raise money to help others facing the day-to-day challenges they faced and overcame—with a little help from their friends.
“Colby was so proud of his foundation. He’d give bracelets to his medical staff when he was ready to go home. We could never do what we do without the people who volunteer to help out. We’ve raised well over $500,000 and have helped more than 75 people in the tri-county area with what they need. Especially kids. We get them what they need: a laptop for learning at home, gas cards, help with bills, trips, equipment. We even got one family a van. No one should have to face financial problems when these things happen.”
For a kid who loved to play outside, make things with his hands and not afraid of a little mud, kickball seemed to be a perfect fit.
Carrie is all smiles. “We were trying to think of something and my friend Julie Venick said, ‘Let’s do kickball!’ It usually rains, and it’s an ugly, dirty slip and slide. We call it Colby’s Rain Day. The teams bring tents and it’s 50 acres of fun!”
Colby’s Stars has found other ways to carry Colby’s spirit of kindness, generosity and perseverance that carried him through when a secondary cancer from his treatments nine years before occurred in 2019. He graduated Jefferson Morgan as a superior marksman on the rifle team and earned his CD license at CGCTC. He hunted antelope in Montana and mule deer in Oregon and continued to be his own loving, positive self to all who knew him.
Carrie remembers the lines of students who came to pay their respects and the inspiration she found in the two shy boys who told her, “Colby was our friend. He always stuck up for us.”
The Be Like Colby Award now honors a graduating student from each school district, including GCCTC, who exemplifies Colby’s traits: “compassionate, non-judgmental, hardworking, fun loving, genuine, always positive and selflessness.” Teachers observe students throughout the year. The students do not know they are being singled out until awards night.
“Every student who is chosen gets at least a $1000 award.”
The 4th Annual Be Like Colby fundraiser Ridin’ for a Legend, is a fun, muddy off-road day on 4-wheelers and side by sides. It will be held August 24, and the money raised will go to the 2025 Be Like Colby Awards.
For more information, including how to nominate a child for recipient help, email or go online: colbysstarsfoundation@windstream.net, or www.colbysstarsfoundation.org. Or call Colby’s mom at 724-998-5116.
