February 24, 2022
Surrey, Canada: It is with profound sadness that the Canada Cup recognizes the passing of a beloved member of our family, and a true ambassador of our community, Frank Demaris.
A cherished family man, Frank was also considered an integral member of the extended Canada Cup family. Frank joined the Canada Cup in 1994, not because he had a daughter in the sport, he didn’t, but because he believed in community and wanted to volunteer to contribute to his. For 26 years Frank led our transportation and logistics team, the first friendly face that international teams met as they arrived in Vancouver and the last to wish them safe travels on their return home. The impact of Frank’s contribution to our city and community can never be fully measured, as there is no way to quantify or calculate how impactful his ambassadorship of our city, province and country was to the athletes, coaches, sport delegates and dignitaries from around the world who thought better of our tournament and city because of Frank. Frank’s accomplishments for our tournament were vast, but perhaps reached their crescendo when, at the age of 84, Frank headed Transportation and Logistics for the Surrey 2016 WBSC Women’s World Softball Championships, successfully greeting and transporting 2500 international guests as part of the largest multi -port team World Championships in Canadian history. Frank embodied what the Surrey World Championships, and in fact Surrey, became known for worldwide within our sport – Random Acts of Kindness. We at Canada Cup continue to hear stories to this day of Frank’s incredible efforts to welcome visitors from afar in a way that made them forever “Canadians in spirit”.
In honouring Frank, the Canada Cup has partnered with the BC Amateur Sports Fund in the creation of the Frank Demaris Volunteer Spirit Award which will support a female athlete who competes in our tournament and also demonstrates the spirit of volunteerism. Those wishing to donate can do so via:
http://support.bcamateursportfund.org/P0457
The Canada Cup committee is also committed to honouring Frank at our 2022 event. We hope to do so in a way he would have approved of, first and foremost with a smile.