(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Sparks Haarlem)
IN MEMORIAM
...Tinus van Rullen...
(1939 - 2018)
(© Photo: Sparks Haarlem) |
 Sparks Haarlem club-icon Tinus van Rullen passed away
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Tinus van Rullen, who was a club-icon of Sparks Haarlem, passed away on Thursday, October 11 at the age op 79.
The memorial service was held on Wednesday, October 17 at Crematorium Westerveld in Driehuis.
A special condolence register has been opened to leave a remembrance.
For more than forty years, Martinus Anthonius van Rullen has been associated with baseball- and softballclub Sparks Haarlem.
In that period, he did all kinds of activities for the club and became known for many as 'Uncle Tinus'.
For many years, Tinus van Rullen was the Team Manager of the main baseball-team.
In that role, he arranged everything around the team, including equipment, uniforms, traveling and so on.
Besides that, he also served as the groundskeeper, which included putting the lines on the playing field.
He looked after the fields for both baseball and softball.
Not only during regular season-games, but also when European Cup-tournaments were organized at the site of Sparks Haarlem.
But he also organized winter-events in the clubhouse, helped compiling the club-magazine and much more.
After the 2008 season, the passionate Van Rullen decided to slow things down a little.
For his many years of hard work with the main baseball-squad, it was then decided to give his uniform number 23 a special place in the clubhouse.
But for Van Rullen, it was not easy to slow down and so, he stayed very involved within the club and not only was at its home site every weekend during the home games of the baseball- and softball-teams, but also frequently during the week.
Not only to be active, but also to just watch to the games of the baseball- and softball-teams.
Tinus van Rullen also was closely involved in the activities in the clubhouse and attended the game-officials.
All these activities made him a wellknown and much loved figure for many, not only from within the club, but also outside the club.
It earned him the name 'Mr. Sparks'.
Always friendly, always time for a talk with everyone, always there.
A club-personality in heart and soul.
For his many activities for Sparks Haarlem, Tinus van Rullen received a Royal Decoration.
In 2007, he was made a Member of the Order of Orange-Nassau.
In the same year, he was named Volunteer of the Year in the Municipality of Haarlem.
For many years, Tinus van Rullen also was a member of the groundscrew of the bi-annual Haarlem Baseball Week at the nearby Pim Mulier Stadium.
The same crew worked on the field of the stadium when games were played there during the 2005 and 2009 World Baseball Championship, as well as the 2014 World Softball Championship at the site of Olympia Haarlem.
Van Rullen was one of the veterans of this groundscrew with Gerrit Ligtenburg, Sjaak Beljaards, Herman Muller, Johan Kluijskens, Hans de Nieuwe, Willem Hurkmans, Hans van Deursen, Dick Boxman, Gerard Rutte and Jan Polderman.
Sadly enough, Van Deursen passed away in 2016 and Hurkmans in 2017.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to the family of Tinus and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(October 30)
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