Red Hamilton's Golf & Grill Raises Record $115,000 for Melanoma Canada
The Canucks equipment manager, whose own melanoma was spotted by a fan behind the bench in 2021, hosted the fourth annual tournament Thursday at Tsawwassen Springs.
The fourth annual Melanoma Canada Golf & Grill Vancouver raised a record $115,000 on Thursday at Tsawwassen Springs, the biggest haul yet for an event built around one very specific tap on the glass.
That tap came in October 2021, when Vancouver Canucks head equipment manager Brian "Red" Hamilton was working a game at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. A fan sitting behind the bench noticed an unusual mole on the back of his neck and held up a phone message telling him to get it checked. He did. It was melanoma, caught early enough to treat.
Hamilton has spent the years since talking about skin cancer, sun safety and early detection to anyone who will listen. The tournament, hosted jointly by Melanoma Canada and the Jess and Red Hamilton Fund with support from the Canucks and other partners, is the centrepiece of that work. Canucks alumni, friends, family and coworkers filled out the field.
The returns are not abstract. Before last September's tournament, Hamilton did a live hit with Sportsnet 650 and again pushed listeners to get suspicious moles looked at. Someone made an appointment, was diagnosed early, and later wrote him a letter to say thanks.
"Between Sportsnet radio, my story, and the golf tournament, we have one less cancerous mole in a body," Hamilton said.
Proceeds go to the Sun Guardians Grant Program, launched two years ago through the Jess & Red Hamilton Fund. It supplies daycares, camps, recreation programs and sports leagues across British Columbia with free UV protective clothing, sunscreen, shade structures and educational resources. Melanoma Canada CEO Falyn Katz helped the Hamiltons get it off the ground. The program matters to Hamilton in part because he spent 15 years working outdoor summer camps and running daycares before the NHL.
The target for next year is $200,000.
"This whole thing is crazy because I get reminded every year how many good people are in my life," Hamilton said. "I make a speech at the end of the day, and I look around and I have friends, I have family, and I have coworkers, and then a few strangers, and most of the people in the room have been there all four years."
