Northborough mother’s pickleball tournament honors son, supports mental health

A Friday pickleball routine near Chauncy Lake became something larger in Northborough, where Ann-Marie Rogers and Suzanne Cox turned the loss of Rogers’ son Jacob into the Jacob Rogers Memorial Pickleball Tournament. Now in its fourth year, the fundraiser has become a vehicle for remembrance and for support of the Shine Initiative.

A March 30, 2026 community feature said Jacob, known as Jake, died by suicide four years earlier. The tournament was promoted as a Memorial Month event, and its proceeds benefited the Shine Initiative, a Central Massachusetts organization focused on youth mental health literacy, stigma reduction, and resources for students, educators and communities.

Cox, who is listed by Northborough Recreation as a PPR-certified pickleball coach and a USAP Pickleball Ambassador for Worcester County and Northborough, helped build the event around the same sport she once shared with Rogers every Friday. After playing near Chauncy Lake, the pair would head to dinner at Red Heat Tavern, a routine that now sits at the center of the memorial tournament’s origin story.

The effort also widened beyond one circle. The 3rd annual tournament listing said volunteers came from Northborough, Shrewsbury, Westborough, Milford and Grafton, showing how the event drew help from across the region. That kind of turnout matters because the tournament is not just about honoring Jacob. It is also a way to turn a local court event into a practical fundraiser for mental health awareness.

The timing fits the sport’s broader growth. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association reported 19.8 million Americans played pickleball in 2024, up 45.8% from 2023. USA Pickleball’s 2024 growth report counted 68,458 known courts nationwide, with 18,455 new courts added last year. As pickleball keeps expanding, more nonprofits are using it as a fundraising platform, from Alzheimer’s awareness efforts in Indiana to other tournaments built around grief support, marrow donation and similar causes. In Northborough, that trend has a face, a name and a purpose: Jacob Rogers, remembered through a game that keeps bringing people together.