Dustin Clanton Kickball Tournament – Dustin Clanton Suicide Awareness Kickball Tournament

Join Us!: September 16, 2023

Registration open through August 24!

Interested in Sponsoring?

Sponsor logos appear on all player tournament shirts, plus you help a great cause!

Tournament Background

On April 20th, 2019, 33 year old Dustin Clanton of New Market, AL, tragically took his own life. Dustin was an amazing guy and an even better friend. He was always there to help anyone in need without hesitation or question. He never met a stranger and his smile was a force to be reckoned with. Dustin loved kickball, hunting, outdoors, hanging out with friends, but most of all he loved his family. Dustin was a mechanical engineer and built the suspension on the Polaris Lunar Rover. He left behind his wife Rachel and two children, Robert (4) and Eleanor (3). This tournament is being held not only to honor our friend’s memory and all of our family members, but also to raise money to bring awareness to the suicide epidemic.

I started this tournament to help Dustin’s wife and toddler children because I felt something just had to be done. Since then, it has become abundantly clear that this tournament can do so much more. We can use this platform to raise awareness of how much suicide affects the people we love. We can work to remove the stigmas placed on mental health and teach people that IT IS OK, TO NOT BE OK. And most importantly, we can normalize talking to someone about our problems and learning ways to work through them. I have time to listen; your story isn’t over!

This year we have our non-profit set up and we are ready to give out scholarships to North Alabama Seniors who have been directly affected by suicide from a parent or guardian.

– Suicide Awareness Kickball Tournament Scholarship Fund Page

My Story

My name is Krystal Boyles Junge. I am the creator of this tournament and the founder/President of the Suicide Awareness Kickball Tournament non-profit. I am 40 years old and live in Meridianville, AL, with my wife, Cat, and our son, Maddox. I grew up in Decatur and Hartselle, AL. For those of you who do not know my history with suicide, and why this tournament means so much to me, I want to share my experiences with you…

When I was 7, my cousin, Phillip McBride, committed suicide. A short time later, Ray Mahenny, my mom’s boyfriend, left my brother, myself, and his daughter and took his life. In 1998, I was in a dark place in my life dealing with abuse, family issues, and other teenage problems. I thought that suicide was the only answer. Lucky for me, I met 3 new friends while in Baltimore, MD, on a mission trip. They walked with me, prayed for me, listened, and encouraged me. I soon realized that I had a bigger purpose in this life, and what I was going through at the time was temporary. I learned to use what I had been through to make myself stronger and more resilient.

Then, in August of 2000, a high school friend and classmate, Blake Mooney, took his life just three short months after we graduated while he visited his mother’s grave, who had also committed suicide. In December of 2005, after battling depression and other illnesses my uncle Rick Edwards committed suicide. In February of 2016, my cousin John McBride III, one of my first and best friends in life, and father of two, succumbed to his mental illness and depression and committed suicide. And just when I thought suicide had given its final blow to my life, it showed up again in a way that would change me forever. In January of 2017, my big brother, my protector, and father of two daughters and grandfather to one granddaughter, Steven Boyles gave in to a lifetime of battling his inner demons and other struggles and took his own life. Then, in September of 2017, my cousin Bradley Ashford, a seemingly happy father of one daughter also killed himself. In April of 2019, one of the happiest guys I’ve ever known, Dustin Clanton, committed suicide. And then in March of 2020, after being the one that found my brother Steven, his nephew, and battling an abundance of other obstacles in his life, my uncle Mike killed himself.