The man dressed as a clown at the Southwest Softball Complex this weekend was Bill McCoy.
McCoy lives in Dolores, works at High Country Transportation and is a volunteer firefighter – but the clown’s name is Hero.
Hero can be found making people smile during Braiden’s All-Nighter Softball Tournament, and he was present this weekend during the fourth annual event.
The tournament started in the summer of 2012, when McCoy’s cousin Misty Smith, and her husband, Mike Smith, learned that son Braiden had acute myeloid leukemia – a type of cancer that affects blood cells.
To fight the disease, Braiden underwent four rounds of treatment including blood and platelet transfusions.
During the third round of Braiden’s treatment, McCoy had an idea.
“I decided I’d try to throw something together to raise money,” he said.
He spoke with his cousin Misty to ask what he could do to help, and the two decided on a softball tournament.
McCoy went about organizing the tournament. He got insurance, reserved fields and officials and promoted the tournament.
In the first year, the event raised over $3,000 to help the Smith’s with the cost of fuel and lodging during Braiden’s treatment, as well as medical bills.
In November 2012, after four rounds of treatment and a four-day stint in the Intensive Care Unit, Braiden was declared cancer free.
With Braiden in remission, McCoy thought little about organizing another softball tournament,but teams that had participated contacted him and said they’d had fun and would like to do it again.
McCoy considered another tournament with the proceeds going to a different local family affected by AML or another illness, but it led to him partnering with the Children’s Hospital of Colorado, and the event has continued since.
The occasion is a family affair. Misty and Mike help organize and McCoy’s mother Kathy Ronquillo sells homemade salsa and shrimp caldo, with those proceeds going to the Children’s Hospital as well.
This year during the fourth annual tournament, there were ten men’s teams and five women’s teams that participated. Some were local teams, but some came from parts of New Mexico and Arizona.
The competition began with round robin pool play all night Friday and bracket play on Saturday, with teams staying overnight in the parking lot in RVs, tents or in cars.
They raised over $3,000 for the fourth consecutive year, with the proceeds going to the Children’s Hospital to support families with children diagnosed with AML leukemia, cancer, heart disease or failure and other illnesses.
McCoy hopes the tournament continues to grow, but he plans to keep hosting regardless.
“If we can make one or two kids smile,” he said, “then it’s worth it.”
One of the ways McCoy brings joy is by helping families financially, but the other is when he transforms into Hero the clown.
McCoy didn’t choose the name for his alter ego.
But it’s fitting.