Krause: Local Memorial Day tournaments honor four deserving individuals

Memorial Day is the appropriate time to pay homage to those who have gone before us and have left indelible impressions on our lives.And we are fortunate, in this area, to be associated with four such people. The first two, Edward “Nipper” Clancy and John Holland, were adults who otherwise contributed mightily in areas of youth sports. The latter two, Courtney Corning and Brendan Grant, were athletes who died before they ever had a chance to really live.First up are the Clancy and Grant baseball tournaments, which begin Friday evening and end Saturday. The Holland and Corning softball tournaments begin Saturday and end Sunday.If you’re from Lynn, and you like baseball, Nipper Clancy needs no introduction. He was among the pre-eminent baseball coaches in this area, having coached many local luminaries, including the late Tony Conigliaro. His coaching tree sprouted many branches, including the four who began this tournament in 1982: Dick Maag (Classical), Bart Conlon (Tech), Jim Tgettis (St. Mary’s) and Frank Carey (North Reading).Along the way, Tech bowed out, with English taking over the spot.Carey’s Hornets are defending tournament champions (they are also defending Division 3 state champs, and seem to be poised to make another run this spring). They will play the early game Friday (4) against English while Classical and St. Mary’s match wits in the late game (7). The consolation game is at noon Saturday, the final at 3 p.m.The tournament was run by the Clancy family from 1982 until two years ago. Now, the four participating schools run it on a rotating basis.Brendan Grant was an 18-year-old kid from Belmont who, in 2001, was killed in an on-field collision in a Senior Babe Ruth game. Among those who knew Grant is Lynnfield coach John O’Brien, who comes from Belmont. As a result, Lynnfield joins Belmont, Winchester and Austin Prep in the tournament named for Grant. It also begins Friday night and ends Saturday.John Holland might not have had the coaching chops of Nipper Clancy, but nobody worked harder on behalf of the youth of Lynn than he did. Whether it was parks, baseball, soccer, whatever ? Holland made sure that the city’s youth had safe places to go. I had the privilege of serving on the Lynn Babe Ruth board of directors when he was president, and I won’t say he was always the easiest person to deal with (his family wouldn’t say it either!!).He could be direct. He had no problem telling you what he thought. But anyone who thought that John was in it for his own glory, or because of some special agenda, would have been incorrect. He was one person who, truly, was in it for the kids.Saturday night, St. Mary’s will play Swampscott in the early game (5) with Classical and English battling for the second time this week in the late one (7). The consolation game is Sunday at 11 a.m., with the championship at 1.Courtney Corning was a hockey and softball player for Peabody High who was killed in an auto accident during her senior year in January 2007. Almost immediately upon her death, plans began for a memorial softball tournament that was played the same spring.The tournament is held on the campus of Endicott College, with Beverly playing Danvers at noon Saturday and Peabody going against Bishop Fenwick at 2.The consolation game is Sunday at 10, followed by the championship at noon.There are scholarships involved in all four tournaments.Please, I know it’s a busy, busy weekend. But if you have any time, and you want to donate your money for a good cause, please patronize one, or more than one if possible, of these tournaments.Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].