When Vicki Wade, League Operator for the Orange County APA (OCAPA) in California, was informed that a dedicated member of the OCAPA family and her close friend, Brock Noteboom, nicknamed “Brockstar,” unexpectedly passed away on July 4, 2014, at the young age of 33, she immediately began planning to host a charity tournament to raise money for his two young daughters and to help provide closure from this sudden loss for all of his friends and family in the OCAPA.
Brock joined the APA on June 3, 2006. He played 338 8-Ball matches and 203 9-Ball matches on 63 teams. He participated in three U.S. Amateur Preliminaries, the 2010 U.S. Amateur Championship, the 2012 and 2013 Jack & Jill Championships, the 2013 8-Ball National Team Championship, the 2013 Masters Championship and four Singles Regional events. He also participated locally in nine Tri-Annual tournaments and nine Local Team Championship tournaments since 2010.
Announcing there would be a raffle during the benefit, donations poured in. Local cuemaker, Ariel Carmeli, donated a custom cue that he made just for the event. It was raffled during the tournament and brought in $2,710. Vicki also set up an online Give Forward Donation page, which raised over $4,000.
There were 89 players in the double elimination 8-Ball tournament and well over 100 more people who just stopped by to donate and share stories of a man they admired. As everyone gathered around to watch the final match, in the background there was a video playing on the big screen of Brock playing pool. He was shooting an amazing shot on a 8-Ball, coming off four rails to make the ball (with his notable little chuckle) and he set himself up perfectly on the 9-Ball just as the final shot of the tournament was made. That’s our Brockstar!
The tournament champion, Brian Parks, was presented with a custom plaque. He donated all of his winnings back to the fund, as did others who won money. Brock’s parents, who never imagined how much influence their son had in the local pool community, were present. It was a bittersweet, tearful moment for everyone and a final goodbye to a great friend who will be missed more than words can say. It’s so hard to say goodbye but everyone gathered around Brock’s parents, hugged, cried and bid a final farewell. Through raffle sales, outside donations, tournament entries and the Give Forward page, $12,925.80 was raised!
“All of the people who came to show their support, generously donated, as well as volunteered their time to this charity event can now feel content knowing we all had a big part in making Brock’s children’s future just a little bit brighter as they go through one of the hardest times of their lives,” said Vicki.
Along with the money, the children were presented with a huge banner that everyone signed and wrote notes to Brock. A copy of the local newspaper, which featured a story about their daddy, bracelets, stickers, custom t-shirts that were made and donated for the event and boxes of toys were collected for the girls during the tournament. “It touched my heart when Brocks oldest daughter read me the story Is Your Mama a Llama as we sat in the grass playing with all of the toys, Vicki stated.
Brock’s dad now plays on two teams a week in the OCAPA and is using his son’s cue. Everyone is thrilled to have him and see that Brocks memory is alive and well every week in the league.