Palatine’s Casey Pohl Memorial Tournament turns 20

The 20th year of the Casey Pohl Memorial Tournament in Palatine is beyond bittersweet.

The youth baseball tournament — named for a young man who loved the game and died at the age of 20 — is hugely popular, with all spots booked and thousands of people attending. At 46 teams in 11-under to 13U brackets, organizers can’t squeeze any more in, said Steve Pohl, Casey’s father. The family lived in Inverness, but their home was within the Palatine Park District boundaries.

In the first year, 2004, after retired coach and Palatine Youth Baseball President Tim Storm asked the PYB board to rename an existing tournament after Casey, 10 teams played. It’s built a name and reputation.

Palatine Mayor Jim Schwantz, the former Chicago Bear, as per tradition, showed up at the opening ceremonies Thursday at Ron Gbur Sports Fields, 1037 N. Smith St.

“Tournament central,” Steve Pohl called Gbur park, because with that many teams over a four-day stretch from May 16-19, games occur at several fields around town.

Schwantz has said that on the weekend of the Casey Pohl Tournament, the “P” on the home Palatine Travelers ball caps stands for “Pohl.”

It’s a community effort. From the park district prepping the fields to the parents selling hot dogs to the annual scholarships for a senior ballplayer at both Palatine and Fremd high schools, often presented by their varsity coaches after Sunday’s championships.

The Casey Pohl Memorial Scholarship was started by Pohl’s family to recognize his love for the game. To date, approximately 40 scholarship recipients have been awarded $10,000 each. A portion of the tournament’s concession proceeds have helped support the scholarship fund.

One of those scholarship winners eventually worked in Springfield for former Gov. Pat Quinn when he was in office. It was then a short time before Quinn came to the Pohl Tournament to congratulate the winners, and to write a check.

In short, as Steve Pohl said: The Casey Pohl Memorial Tournament is a big deal.

And it can get emotional.

Steve Pohl and his wife, Debbie, their daughter, Kim, and uncounted coaches, teammates and pals would trade it all for Casey Pohl to still be here, for this not to be a memorial.

“Most of our friends, we talk about him to this day. We wonder what he’d be like,” said Eric Hoffman, one of his baseball teammates and classmates at Fremd High School, Class of 2001.

Hoffman now lives in Downers Grove and coaches travel baseball with the Downers Grove Fury. His 11-year-old son, Hayden, will be playing in the tournament for the second year.

“Of all the tournaments that we are in, my players know that this one means more than any of them to me,” Eric Hoffman said.

He called Casey Pohl “the life of the party.”

With Pohl at second base as a junior, Fremd placed fourth in the 2000 Illinois High School Association Class AA baseball tournament.

Pohl did not have a chance to defend that standing. He was diagnosed with cancer and had to step away from a game he started playing at 6 years old. After more than a two-year battle, Pohl died on May 30, 2003, just over 20 years old.

As an indication of where his heart was, Pohl attended a community college near Iowa City, Iowa. His health prevented a commitment to the University of Iowa, but he wanted to be near his friends who went there.

“I think the first thing you recognized with Casey was his ability to make people laugh,” said retiring Palatine baseball coach Paul Belo, who began as a head coach with Fremd in 1998 before moving to Palatine starting in the 2003 season.

“He really was a lighthearted young man. It made forming relationships with him very easy,” Belo said. “He was respectful and well mannered, but he also had a competitive edge to him.”

Integral to the tournament and the scholarship program, as is Fremd coach Chris Piggott, Belo gave a eulogy at Pohl’s wake in 2003.

Belo’s son, Bryan, played in the Pohl Memorial Tournament, as did Piggott’s son, Jackson.

“My commitment is to make sure Casey’s life is remembered,” Belo said.

At Thursday’s opening ceremonies, 9-year-old Casey Siebrass, a student at Central Road Elementary School in Rolling Meadows, threw out the first pitch. The son of Kim Pohl and Travis Siebrass, a deputy managing editor at the Daily Herald, Casey is named in memory of his late uncle, Kim’s brother. He wears No. 47, just like Casey Pohl did.