Caring, compassionate, thoughtful, and humorous – just a few words friends use to describe Scott Trapp, a Langley resident who lost his battle with cancer at the age of 20.
This Saturday, March 18, Trapp’s friends from the Delta Kappa Epsilon Phi Alpha Fraternity at University of British Columbia are once again hosting a co-ed ball hockey tournament, in memory of Trapp, to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society.
Trapp, who was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, died in December 2014.
He was initially deemed cancer free in October of that year, but just as he was hoping to go travelling, he was re-diagnosed with terminal cancer on Dec. 8.
Through it all, Trapp “battled with a vengeance,” recalled Kieran O’Connor, a friend and fellow fraternity brother.
He died on Boxing Day, leaving behind his parents Lennie and Doug, as well as his younger sister, Janelle.
Now, each March, Trapp’s family watches from the sidelines as 50 of Trapp's closest friends, and more than a hundred others battle it out on make-shift ball-hockey courts for the Scott Trapp Stick it to Cancer Memorial Ball Hockey Tournament.
RELATED: Stick it to Cancer at UBC on March 18
An event, centred around a hockey-type sport, is rather fitting as Trapp was a competitive lacrosse player who loved ice hockey, recalled O’Connor, a White Rock resident who met Trapp in his second year at UBC while pledging to join the fraternity.
“Scott mentioned numerous times that joining [Delta Kappa Epsilon] was one of the best decisions he ever made,” O’Connor said.
There, the pair’s “bond of the brotherhood,” as well as their love of sports, brought them together as friends.
During the time he knew Trapp, O’Connor said the two would mostly talk about their love for hockey – particularly the Canucks.
Now, O’Connor is the media chairman for the ball-hockey tournament, a role in the fundraiser he’s held for two years. He helps organize the tournament, not only to make a difference in the community but to “continue Scott’s legacy as a ‘brother' who defined the three qualities of a DKE: gentlemen, scholar, and jolly good fellow."
The tournament actually began in 2011, when a fraternity alumni’s mother passed away from cancer. In 2015, the event was renamed in memory of Trapp, “to honour and recognize the enormous impact [he] had on the countless lives he touched in his 20 short years,” O’Connor explained.
Trapp "enjoyed mingling and could get along with anyone,” his buddy recounted. Trapp “saw only the best in people, and he was known for always making everyone feel part of a group.”
While battling cancer, Trapp faced it like he did everything else in his life: Head on. O’Connor said.
“He never took life for granted, and he lived every moment he had to his fullest."
Raising funds year-round for the fraternity
Saturday's tournament takes place 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the corner of Thunderbird Boulevard and Health Sciences Mall at the UBC Vancouver campus.
The fraternity hopes to raise $40,000 for the cancer society from this year’s tournament, in addition to the $100,000 they’ve raised during the past five years.
An event that once took up half a parking lot on campus, now fills the whole thing, O'Connor said, speaking spoke of the events growth and popularity. The number of ball hockey participants grows each year, as does the crowd of spectators who stop by to watch some of the action and make a donation.
For more information on Saturday’s event, visit stickittocancer.ca.