Members of the Potter Tour baseball team are all smiles as they wait to play at a marathon volleyball event at Butler High School Saturday. The volleyball marathon ran from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. to raise money for youth cancer research.

BUTLER TWP — Wesley Zablocki died of cancer at age 11 two years ago.

The East Butler youth's war against the disease has been raging on since — and is picking up in intensity and number of soldiers.

“Through various events, we've probably raised more than $125,000 for youth cancer research,” said Nikki Zablocki, Wesley's mother.

Those events include Wes Stock, a fundraising concert held two weeks ago, the annual Ultimate Hike in West Virginia, and Saturday's volleyball marathon at the Butler High School gym.

From 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., volleyball teams of all ages and backgrounds paid $100 per team to play for a designated hour in the gym. Ages of players ranged from 10 to 60-over.

Two courts were used simultaneously and 20 teams registered.

“We had teams from class reunions, businesses, high school kids, you name it,” Butler girls volleyball coach and event organizer Meghan Lucas said. “This is a format that we can build on.”

Lucas and the Golden Tornado girls volleyball team hosted an eight-team tournament to raise money for CureSearch in past years. The marathon is an idea that debuted Saturday.

“We can really grow this,” Lucas enthused. “We could house 50 to 60 teams in a day-long event like this. Our goal is to grow it, get a lot of businesses to enter teams.

“It's all for charity and it's a lot of fun at the same time.”

Besides the volleyball, T-shirts and food were sold all day. Lucas estimated the marathon raised $4,000 or more for CureSearch.

The Jeff Potter Baseball Tour, based out of Maryland, made its seventh consecutive summer stop in Butler and participated in the volleyball marathon. The Potter Tour consists of 15 youth baseball players who stop in various communities to put on baseball clinics, promote the sport and do charitable work as needed or requested.

The Potter Tour has done clinics in East Butler in past years. Wesley Zablocki was a youth baseball player there.

“Our kids are there to work and/or play in this event, whatever Coach Lucas needs them to do,” Potter Tour manager Jeff Potter said. “If a team needs a player or two, we're here.

“The movement here to support Wesley Zablocki and honor his name through childhood cancer research is astounding. We're proud to be a part of this every year.”

The childhood cancer statistics — displayed on signs outside of the gym Saturday — are sobering:

One of every eight children diagnosed with cancer will not survive.

There are 43 kids diagnosed with cancer every day.

Over the last 20 years, only three cancer medications have been specifically developed for children.

“This is a great experience for my volleyball players as well,” Lucas said. “We don't always fund-raise to help ourselves. Sometimes you have to reach out and fund-raise for other people who need help, too.”

Butler volleyball players Maria Lucas and Sophia Sacriponte agreed.

“It's fun because you get to know kids from other teams and work with a lot off people for a good cause,” Sacriponte said.

“The games are not real competitive and everyone's out to have a good time,” Maria Lucas said. “You learn some things are bigger than yourself. We're having so much fun and we're contributing to a cause at the same time. You can't beat that.”