The Sam McQuade Sr. softball tournament is an annual charity softball event held in the

Bismarck–Mandan Bismarck–Mandan, colloquially referred to as BisMan, is the metropolitan area composed of Burleigh, Morton, and Oliver counties in the state of North Dakota. Its core cities, Bismarck and Mandan, are located on opposite sides of the upper M ...

area of

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

. Officially the "Sam McQuade Sr./Budweiser Charity Softball Tournament", this event draws approximately 400 teams from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

areas, as well as roughly 15,000 fans that attend the event. The event is hosted at several softball complexes around the Bismarck-Mandan area every June, and claims to be the largest charity softball event in the world.

History

The Sam McQuade Sr. softball tournament is a non-profit, one-weekend slow-pitch softball tournament founded in 1976 by Sam McQuade Sr. of McQuade Distributing Co., Inc., the local distributor of

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. ''Budweiser'' may also refer to an unrelat ...

beer of the Bismarck–Mandan Area. The father of a special needs son, McQuade was aware of the financial challenges of local charities and organizations. The first year of the tournament raised over $1,000 and brought 103 teams in 4 divisions to

Bismarck, ND Bismarck () is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the state's second-most populous city, after Fargo. The city's population was 73,622 in the 2020 census, while its metropolitan popula ...

. The event grew to over 400 teams in 13 divisions and raised over $30,000 in total donations in 1992, the year McQuade died. In 2009, the tournament raised over $75,000. Today, the tournament is run by a Board of Directors, which includes Sam McQuade Jr., his daughter Shannon McQuade-Ely and several other community leaders.

Teams

Teams have come from neighboring states, such as Minnesota, South Dakota, and Montana; and as far away as Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Washington state and Wyoming. Teams also come from 2 Canadian provinces. In addition, the tournament also helped sponsor international divisions in 2006 in Bosnia, three in Baghdad (2007, 2008 & 2009), and one in Kosovo in 2010. The tournament also showcases the North Dakota Military All Stars team, which includes active and retired military members. All of the proceeds benefit local charities and organizations, especially those that help run the tournament.

Champions

2015 tournament champions

References

{{Reflist Softball in the United States Softball competitions Softball in North Dakota