This is not the 2020 Hospice & Community Care Labor Day Sports Auction that Ed Flick imagined.

Then again, it’s not really the 2020 — period — that anyone imagined. But here we are, making up our lives and livelihoods as we go. 

So, too, has Flick adapted to the circumstances. 

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no live bidding at any of the auctions that make up the popular annual event, usually held at the Solanco Fairgrounds in Quarryville. So Flick, celebrating his 15th year as chair of the sports auction, and the whole Labor Day Auction team have gone virtual.

Admittedly, that’s kind of a bummer for those of us who enjoy the event. (Full disclosure here, as LNP’s sports editor, and a bigger sports fan, that guy I’m married to and I went to the auction for the first time last year. We left with an autographed Brooks Robinson jersey and card, stomachs full of really awesome food and a vow to return annually for more.)

Perhaps tops on that list of sad people is Flick, is a sports nut whose own passion for collecting informs his year-round commitment to curating each year’s auction offerings. He admits he will sorely miss the happy hubbub of the live auction, where he’d normally be greeting scads of people and telling stories about the items up for bid. But starting Sept. 1 at 12:01 a.m., sports aficionados will be able to go online here and commence bidding for the bounty at hand. The auction will close at 4 p.m. Sept. 15.

This year’s spread of goodies — there’s a six-page list of well over 150 items — includes an autographed Notre Dame jersey from Joe Montana, an autographed Chelsea FC jersey from Christian Pulisic, and 16-by-20 autographed photo of Penn State and New York Giants RB Saquon Barkley. There are autographed baseballs, footballs, basketballs, cards, jerseys, photographs and helmets, plus gift certificates and rounds of golf at courses across the region. (As another aside, I will be lurking around the Villanova basketball pennant autographed by Kris Jenkins. The hubs has not yet decided on his target.)

It’s a little something for everyone that usually turns into a lot for families who may need it. Hospice & Community Care serves more than 500 people each day, regardless of their ability to pay, in their homes, senior living facilities and at its Inpatient Center in Mount Joy. Last year, the auction, which has branches for everything from quilts and art to vacations, raised a record $870,000 in support of that care. The sports auction brought in a record $68,700 of that total, including a combined $13,000 from its big draw — a pair of rare Ty Cobb baseball cards. 

It’s something of a personal mission for Flick, one largely inspired by his daughter, Laurie, who died of cancer in January 1980 at the age of 16.

“For her last Christmas,” Flick recalled last week, “she wanted people to donate to and raise money for World Hunger Appeal. About $13,000 was raised because of her.”

Flick, a former football and basketball player at McCaskey High School in the 1950s who later worked 35 years as a PIAA official and who also serves on the board of the Lancaster County Sports Hall of Fame, first became involved with Hospice in 1984. He served two stints on the organization’s board of directors and took a seat on the very first auction committee. He’s been involved with the event ever since.

He notes that since the inception of the sports auction, a whopping $488,000 has been raised. He expects to pass the $500,000 mark this time around.

And although the auction revolves around the collecting and dispersing of material things, it goes so much deeper than that. 

“It’s all about kindness and the generosity of people,” Flick said. “What a reward it is to be involved.”