Memorial Cornhole Tournament to Honor Elek Brown

The Elek Brown Memorial Cornhole Tournament will be held Sunday, November 8 in celebration of his life and to raise money for his family.

Elek was a 5-year-old boy who loved numbers, Mario, painting, Legos, and cooking. His life was cut short on Saturday, October 17, 2020, when he unexpectedly died of cardiac arrest at his Franklin Township residence. He was a student at North Sewickley Church Pre-School and was loved and cherished by his parents James A. and Shannon Kay Higgins Brown.

The tournament in his honor will be an outdoors, family friendly event held at Vinny’s, 620 Beaver Avenue.

The event’s organizer Jared Nash said hosting this memorial was a no brainer.

“I was inspired to do this event because my heart just broke for that family,” Nash said. “This is every parent’s worst nightmare and if we can bring a little bit of light and hope to this family it would be crazy not to do this for them.”

He said the family is thankful for the community support.

“I have since spoken to the family and they are more than amazing people and appreciate everything that is being done for them to help honor their son Elek,” he said.

Registration for the tournament will begin at 11 a.m. The tournament begins at noon. Cost is $30 per team (double elimination) with 50% of the payout going to the winners.

If you don’t wish to play cornhole, there is plenty of other things you can do to show support. There will be a 50/50 drawing, raffle baskets, pizza courtesy of Vinny’s, beer and beverages provided by Pete’s Uptown with donations appreciated for food and beverage.

Nash who lives in Ellwood City and is a father himself of two young boys (aged 3 and 11) said Ellwood City is a great community that helps its neighbors.

“We would love for the whole community to come out and wrap this family in a community hug and let them know that they have a support system here,” Nash said.

He said the local businesses have really stepped up to help.

“This is way more than a cornhole tournament, this is a community banding together to lift a family at their darkest hours,” Nash said. “The outpouring of support from Ellwood City and its businesses is incredible. Whatever I have needed has not only been accommodated, it has been done swiftly and followed up with a question of what else is needed.”

Nash said special recognition should be paid to all of those responsible for each piece of getting this memorial tournament together:

• Ryan Kelly- Western PA Cornhole for running the cornhole event
• Linda List, Rick Myers, Mayor Antony Court, Borough Manager David Allen and the whole Ellwood City Police Department for helping in getting the road closure done
• Jessica Smith, Sue Rowan, David Zinkham, Jennifer Zinkham for acquiring donation baskets for the raffle
• Vinny’s restaurant for providing the pizza for the event
• Smokin’ Dave’s BBQ for also doing the food trailer and fire rings
• Pete’s Uptown Beer and Beverage for donating the party wagon
• T&M Hardware for donating the tents and tables for the event
• Speakeasy Cornhole and Jim Workman for emceeing the event
• Rj Lagana, Sean Conway, Eugene Nash and Sean Myers for sponsoring lanes in the cornhole event
• Jason Rinker for help and support

“There are so many more people involved behind the scenes and it would take me a week to thank them all,” he said. “You know who you are, and I am forever grateful for all the help and time everyone has invested in this event. Thank you for being a tight knit community that looks out for one another. Let’s make Sunday November 8th a day of celebration and healing for the Brown family. We hope to see you all there.”