Photo By Annamarie Robb

ATLANTA— The 12th annual Sam Robb Memorial Holiday Classic basketball tournament took place Dec. 27-29 at Roswell’s Blessed Trinity High School and Queen of Angels School, Atlanta’s Marist School and St. Jude the Apostle School, Sandy Springs.

With the support of the Catholic Metro League of Atlanta (CMLA), parishes and schools, the holiday classic has grown since its inception. The 2018 holiday classic consisted of 52 teams—49 teams from the Catholic Metro League of Atlanta, along with three Catholic high school feeder teams from Blessed Trinity, Marist and St. Pius X. Some 97 games were played over the three days. One new feature to the 2018 tournament was the recognition of an All-Tournament Team for the CMLA Division and the Competitive Division.

In 2002 Sam Robb, a sophomore athlete at Blessed Trinity High School, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (a form of bone cancer), which ultimately forced Sam to end his basketball and football careers. In June of 2007, he died of the cancer.

His parents, Sam and Annamarie, created the Sam Robb Fund at CURE Childhood Cancer in Sam’s memory that same year. To date the fund has raised over $900,000 to support families devastated by a childhood cancer diagnosis and fund research to lead to safer and more effective treatments. According to the Robbs, 2018 was the most successful year ever by generating over $30,000 for CURE Childhood Cancer, an Atlanta-based charity that supports family outreach and pediatric oncology research nationally and at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

In addition to the registration and gate admissions, several parishes supported the effort with student fundraisers and donations. They include the Cathedral of Christ the King and Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Atlanta; St. Joseph Church, Marietta; St. Jude the Apostle Church, Sandy Springs; St. Peter Chanel Church, Roswell; and St. Thomas More School, Decatur.

Here are the 2018 tournament winners:

CMLA Division

4th Grade Girls:  IHM, Coach Gordon Hunt

4th Grade Boys: OLA, Coach Peter Bok

5th Grade Girls:  OLA, Coach, Trey Prophater

5th Grade Boys: SJN, Coach Roosevelt Hudson

6th Grade Boys: OLA, Coach, Daniel Edwards

7th Grade Boys: IHM, Coach Cory Sutter

7th and 8th Grade Girls: OLA, Coach Jorge Umpierre

8th Grade Boys: IHM, Coach Alusio Cordeiro

Competitive Division:

7th Grade Boys: Marist, Coach Jordan Snelling

8th Grade Boys: St. Pius, Coach William Wolf