A cornhole tournament is coming to South 21 in Matthews on Saturday, October 3, with all proceeds benefiting a man who once patrolled the town's streets before making history hundreds of miles away. Donald “Smokey” Belin, who served the communities of Monroe, Matthews, and Waxhaw in law enforcement before retiring, later moved to Glenville, West Virginia, where he became the state's first Black sheriff. Now he's battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and the North Carolina community that once called him one of their own is stepping up.
The event was announced in a Facebook post by the Union County Sheriff's Office, which is helping spread word of the tournament and its hashtag, #SmokeyStrong. According to the post, 100% of proceeds will go directly to Belin and his family, with organizers setting a fundraising goal of $10,000. Teams can register for $50 each, with registration running from 9 a.m. to 9:45 a.m., followed by rules and regulations from 9:45 to 10 a.m., before the double-elimination bracket kicks off at 10 a.m.
Beyond the competition itself — which includes a $1,000 cash prize pool split among the top three finishers, with $700 going to first place, $200 to second, and $100 to third — organizers are running a 50/50 raffle and promising a live set from DJ Yeti. Participants can bring their own lawn chairs and cornhole bags or use the tournament's, and the eventual champions will walk away with a championship ring. Sign-ups and donations are being handled through Scoreholio, and the post also offers thanks to the tournament's sponsors.
A Trailblazing Career That Started in Union County
Belin's path to the West Virginia sheriff's office began decades earlier in North Carolina law enforcement. Per WV MetroNews, Belin served in the U.S. military until an automobile accident ended that career, after which he spent 21 years working in North Carolina law enforcement before retiring to West Virginia. He and his wife Leigh purchased a farmhouse in Gilmer County in 2016 and moved there full-time in 2020 to retire, according to a GoFundMe page describing his story — but retirement didn't stick, as Belin was recruited as chief deputy in January 2023.
That role set the stage for a historic run. The station's report notes Belin was elected sheriff of Gilmer County in November 2024 and took office in January 2025, becoming the first Black elected sheriff in West Virginia history. His tenure has not been without controversy: in December 2025, civil rights attorneys at the Chandra Law Firm revealed that Belin had hired Timothy Loehmann, the former Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014, as a Gilmer County deputy sheriff — a hire that drew national scrutiny given that Loehmann had previously been terminated by the Cleveland Police Department for lying on his application.
A Diagnosis That Echoes Family Loss
Belin's Stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis in May 2026 came after devastating personal loss: his brother died of pancreatic cancer shortly before Belin's own diagnosis, and his mother died of the same disease back in 2010, the same WV MetroNews report states. The disease carries a grim prognosis at that stage — per the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database, pancreatic cancer diagnosed at the distant stage carries a five-year relative survival rate of just 3.1%, compared with an overall 13.7% survival rate across all stages. The American Cancer Society projected pancreatic cancer would cause an estimated 52,740 deaths nationwide in 2026, making it the country's third leading cause of cancer-related mortality.
The response from law enforcement has crossed state lines. Ahead of the North Carolina cornhole benefit, local supporters and multi-state law enforcement officers held a benefit dinner for Belin on September 6 at the Gilmer County Recreation Center in Glenville, West Virginia, with officers from both West Virginia and North Carolina traveling to Gilmer County to show solidarity, per the same account.
Continuing a Matthews Dining Tradition
The tournament's host venue carries its own local history. South 21 Matthews was established in May 2006 by the son of a founding owner, continuing a Charlotte-area dining tradition started in 1955 by Greek immigrant brothers Sam, Nick, and George Copsis, according to the restaurant. The original South 21 opened on South Boulevard in Charlotte before expanding across the region — a legacy Hoodline previously touched on in its guide to the Briarcreek-Woodland neighborhood.
Under West Virginia law, a county sheriff serves a four-year term as both the chief law enforcement officer and official treasurer responsible for tax collections, limited to two consecutive terms, according to Gilmer County, West Virginia. For now, the focus in Matthews is less on Belin's official duties and more on the fight ahead — one that a community stretching from Union County to Gilmer County is determined to help him wage.
