Photo Gallery: Matt Henk Softball Tournament Draws Thousands To Mentor

"Matt Henk is the toughest man I know," Mentor Fire Chief Richard Harvey said during the opening ceremony of the fourth annual .

Harvey refers to Henk in the present tense, though he died from colon cancer in 2009.

"To me, he was the definition of toughness," Harvey said. "He was coming in, even when he was sick."

Henk lives on in the softball tournament that his former cohorts at the Mentor Fire Department hold for him each summer.

This year, 53 teams from all around the country traveled to Mentor to participate this weekend.

The International Association of Firefighters Local 1845 (the Mentor firefighers' union) began the tournament to raise money for the family of Henk, who left behind behind a wife and twin daughters.

Since its inception, this tournament has grown each year to the point where the money raised from it can go to other noble causes as well, including Mentor Youth Hockey, the Ireland Cancer Center and the family of Tom Hough, another firefighter who died because of cancer.

The tournament was huge this year -- bigger than my camera could capture alone. Feel free to add your own photos from the weekend to our photo gallery.