Arnie Isberg 1-pitch memorial tournament holds swansong this weekend

TAYLOR B.C. — After over a decade of slo-pitch in memory of a passionate player, the organizers of a charitable event are prepared to say goodbye.

The 15th – and final – Arnie Isberg Strike Out Cancer 1-pitch Memorial Tournament will be held at the baseball diamonds in the District of Taylor over three days beginning on Friday, June 19th.

Arnie was born and raised in Fort St. John, where he lived most of his life before moving to Edmonton in 2010. 

He was diagnosed with cancer that year and died 11 months later in 2011. Trying to navigate that loss, Arnie’s brother, Vern Isberg, began the tournament as a homage to Arnie, whom he described as “a big sports guy.”

“[Arnie] was always involved in sports,” Vern said. “He did refereeing for basketball, and loved slo-pitch. He didn’t play as much as he wanted to, because he didn’t actually get into it until his late 30s.”

“I wanted to find a way [to honour him.] He was my closest relative, my closest sibling. We did everything together. I just wanted to remember him. I wasn’t ready to let him go.”

Vern said he contemplated several scenarios, including a golf tournament, before settling on slo-pitch as a medium, saying the community in Fort St. John “was a second family.”

Unique in its approach, the one pitch in its name is due to the nature of the event: Each player at bat only gets a single pitch to hit on a full count of three balls and two strikes.

“I had played in a one-pitch tournament [maybe 10-15 years] before that,” Vern recalls. “Nobody was doing them, and I thought I would give it a try, just so that anybody could come out and play. Games were quick, and it wasn’t some drawn-out regurgitated experience somebody had already done.”

While Vern said some people had scoffed at the idea, the concept “caught on.” While the first tournament had only eight entrants, the 2026 edition will have 24 teams in the draw.

He adds one squad – named Balls Deep – has played in the tournament since its inception.

After the sixth edition of the event, Vern moved to Alberta, entrusting the tournament’s continuation to current organizers, which include Kerri Ruttan.

Ruttan’s brother, Danny Ruttan, also passed away from cancer, mere days before the inaugural event. Kerri told Energeticcity.ca how the tournament’s experience has helped her heal.

“It was hard,” said Ruttan about the decision to play afterwards. “But it was also good, because [of] what we were doing it for, and it was good to be around people that knew what we had gone through.”

Proceeds from the event have always benefitted the Fort St. John Hospital Foundation’s cancer and diagnostic fund. 

Vern said from the first year, the top three spots that won cash prizes always donated it back to the tournament.

He estimates between $150,000 and $250,000 has been raised throughout the tournament’s history.

“We brought to the forefront the need for cancer development,” said Vern. “Fort St. John [Hospital] was desperate at the time for a few of the pieces of equipment that we were able to buy.”

“We bought a chemo chair, we bought a biopsy gun, with the money that we raised from the tournament.”

While they initially wanted to end the tournament after a decade, they kept it going. However, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, with the tournament halted for two years.

In 2026, Ruttan says that everything, from sponsorship to player participation, is down.  

Now, with 15 years under their belt, people who held the event close to their hearts are going to give it a fond farewell.

Vern says his brother “would be both grateful and humbled” by the impact made in his name, a sentiment Ruttan shares.

“It was a hard decision because it’s been a big part of my heart,” said Ruttan. “I love doing it, but there’s a time when things have to have an ending. I just feel this is a good time.”

The 2026 Arnie Isberg 1-pitch memorial tournament begins on Friday, June 19th, at the Taylor Ball Diamonds located on 98th Avenue in the District of Taylor.