(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Willem Hurkmans...
(1940 - 2017) |
 Former players Heddy van Mourik and Willem Hurkmans passed away
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Former baseball-player Willem Hurkmans has passed away on Friday, October 20 at the age of 76.
He would have turned 77 next month.
Last week, we also had to say farewell to Heddy van Mourik, another former player, but also administrator.
He passed away on Friday, October 13 at the age of 75 after a brief illness.
The memorial service for Willem Hurkmans will be held on Wednesday, October 25 at Crematorium Westerveld at the Duin en Kruidbergerweg 2-6 in Driehuis.
The service begins at 3:15 PM, but attendees are requested to come together at 2:50 PM.
Afterwards, there is an opportunity to offer condolences to the family.
It is also possible to say farewell on Tuesday-evening, October 24, from 7 to 8 PM at Verpleeghuis Overspaarne at the Lansierstraat 25 in Haarlem.
IN MEMORIAM
...Heddy van Mourik...
(1942 - 2017) |
Both Willem Hurkmans and Heddy van Mourik played for Terrasvogels during its lone season in the highest Dutch baseball-league in 1970.
However, they are not that known for their baseball-career, but more for what they did after retiring as players.
They were very much alike, as they did an enormous amount of work, serving in several positions.
And not only for Terrasvogels.
In the last two decades, Heddy van Mourik was very active for tennisclub LTC Groeneveen
Willem Hurkmans was a longtime member of the groundscrew of the bi-annual international Haarlem Baseball Week.
Both were modest, never like to be on the foreground and just did what had to be done.
Van Mourik was at the site of Groeneveen almost daily, Hurkmans was at the site of Terrasvogels almost daily.
Hurkmans was a solid catcher and Van Mourik a speedy outfielder, who played in the Terrasvogels baseball-team that captured the Championship-title in the First Division in 1969.
With that, the team from Santpoort-Zuid promoted to the Dutch big league.
Both Hurkmans and Van Mourik played for the team at the highest level in 1970.
That was to be the lone year in the Dutch big league, as the team relegated at the end of the season.
In this period, Heddy van Mourik married Ludy Handgraaf, who already was a talented player.
As Ludy van Mourik, she went on to become a very wellknown and popular popular, but also well-skilled infielder and hitter.
For many years, she played in the Dutch softball big league for Terrasvogels and in the Netherlands National Softball Team.
With both, she celebrated many successes.
...Willem Hurkmans with his characteristic orange...
...wooden shoes working on the field during the...
...2010 Haarlem Baseball Week...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
While Hurkmans kept on playing in following years, Van Mourik retired after a few seasons, but he remained active in other capacities for Terrasvogels.
He was one of the hard workers that looked after the playing grounds, but also help building the scorebox at the softball-field.
For several years, he was a member of the board of the softball-section for equipment affairs, then was its chairman in 1992-1996.
Later, Van Mourik focused more on hockey and later also was very active in billiards, but also found another love in tennis.
At LTC Groeneveen, Van Mourik became a club-icon and was named Honorary Member.
He was the club's groundskeeper, did repairs, was one of the builders of the clubhouse and did much, much more.
In April of this year, Van Mourik received a Royal Decoration for his many activities through the years for both Terrasvogels and Groeneveen.
After retiring from the main squad, Hurkmans kept on playing baseball in lower teams.
Besides that, he also played soccer for Terrasvogels, was a baseball-umpire and served as linesman in soccer.
Hurkmans did a lot of voluntary work for Terrasvogels, helping with all kinds of building-activities in the clubhouse, the dug-outs or dressing rooms and other tasks.
Hurkmans also was active as a groundskeeper and looked after the baseball- and soccer-fields of Terrasvogels.
Since at least 1988, he was a member of the experienced groundscrew that worked during the Haarlem Baseball Week, where he also did maintenance work.
Hurkmans also was a member of the groundscrew that worked at the games played in Haarlem during the World Baseball Championships of 2005 and 2009, as well as the European Baseball Championship in 1995 and 2003.
The same crew also took care of the fields during the World Softball Championship in 2014 in Haarlem and during several European Cup Softball-events organized at the site of Sparks Haarlem.
As groundkeeper during the Haarlem Baseball Week, Hurkmans was known for working the field, while wearing his characteristic orange wooden shoes.
With that, he became a fan-favorite.
Unfortunately, the Baseball Week-groundscrew lost another member when Hans van Deursen passed away in December last year.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Heddy's wife Ludy, their daughters and other family and to Willem's wife Ria, their sons and other family and wishes them a lot of strength with these big losses.
(October 23)
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