(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Jan Kruijdenberg, Rob Jelsma, Henk Seppen, Alfred Cop, UVV & Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Frans van Elst...
(1947 - 2022)
(© Photo: Rob Jelsma) |
 UVV club-icon and do-it-all Frans van Elst passed away
Nederlands
 VLEUTEN (Neth.) -
Frans van Elst, who had been the very recognizable face of UVV for many years, has passed away on Thursday (May 19), less than three months after he had turned 75.
Through the years, Frans van Elst has done everything for 'his' club UVV, became one of the club-icons and earned the nickname 'Mr. UVV'.
Unfortunately, Frans was struck with a severe illness and in recent months, his health deteriorated quickly.
Frans van Elst was born on February 28, 1947 in Zuilen, which was a suburb of Utrecht and an independent municipality until 1954 when it became part of Maarssen, which then became part of the new municipality Stichtse Vecht in 2011.
It was in Utrecht that Frans became closely involved at baseball- and softball-club UVV.
Both at the club's old site at Sportpark 'J.C. Verthoren' in Utrecht, as well as its new accommodation at Sportpark 'De Paperclip' in nearby Vleuten, Frans has done almost everything.
For his many contributions, he was named Honorary Member of UVV in 2018.
With the passing of Frans van Elst, UVV lost another beloved club-member.
After the closing of last season, in the off-season, the club already had to say goodbye to some other very valuable club-members.
Club-secretary Marion Heijman-De Graaf passed away on October 19 at age 57.
On November 8, former first-team and youth baseball-coach Morris Cranston passed away at age 85.
Three days later, on November 11, Hans Burger passed away at age of 56.
He had done a lot for the softball-section of UVV and has been a member of the Technical Commission Softball and a member of the board.
On December 5, former player/coach Roly Wout passed away at age 79.
And on January 16, former player/coach Ruben Leysner passed away at age 87.
Frans van Elst not only was a well-respected member of UVV, he also was known and well-liked outside the club.
Frans had a pleasant personality and always had a big smile on his face.
Frans was someone who made you feel welcome and at home at the site of UVV.
Of course, sometimes, he could be critical when UVV lost or show his disapproval when he didn't liked something, for example when it was a mess on the ground in the dug-out.
But the moments that his face was without a smile were sparse.
Through the years, Frans van Elst worked together with a lot of persons within UVV, whether they were players, coaches, staff-members or board-members.
But the person with whom he worked most closely for many years was no doubt René Bransen, who became a close friend.
Frans and René were always together.
Working on the fields of UVV, watching games of both the baseball- and softball-teams of the club, but also while visiting games and tournaments on other sites.
The two always were on hand for most games of the baseball-team of UVV, which plays in the First Division, but also played in the highest division.
They were there for both home and away-games.
But they also attended home-games of the women's softball-team, which also played in the two highest leagues.
In recent years, Frans and René also were frequent visitors of home-games played by Neptunus in Rotterdam.
There, always sat on the terrace behind the backstop to view the game and when it was an evening-game, they traveled early to Neptunus to have dinner there.
Frans and René also visited several games of The Rotterdam Orioles and a few times in a year, they traveled to Belgium to view some games there in the Antwerpen-area, mostly in Brasschaat and Borgerhout.
Of course, the two also were in the stands during the Haarlem Baseball Week in Haarlem and the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam.
...Frans van Elst and René Bransen as Scoreboard Operators...
...during a home-game of the UVV baseball-team in 2016...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
With that, and because of their joyful presence, as well of showing interests in others, they became very recognizable and well-liked by many.
For many years, Frans van Elst has been very active for his beloved UVV.
In good times and in bad times.
He has been a staff-member of the main baseball-squad since at least the early nineties, but he already was active for the club since the eighties.
Since then, Frans was the equipment manager and groundskeeper.
In all those seasons, Frans has been amongst many coaches and players.
He always remained cheerful and did his best to please the players and he certainly has succeeded in doing that.
Frans always was there for them, providing them with equipment or fixing equipment.
In later years, he also started to look after the softball-field and prepared it for many games.
As mentioned, in many of those seasons, Frans worked on the baseball- and softball-fields of the UVV-complex with René Bransen.
And not only for the weekend-games, but also on weekdays.
Frans always was on the site of UVV.
When the baseball-team of UVV returned to the big league, the work of Frans and René didn't stop when the game started.
Before a game went underway, of course they had prepared the field and put the lines on it.
For several seasons, the two then went up to the scorers box to do other activities.
When the game started, Frans and René acted as scoreboard-operators.
But they also regularly were public address announcers.
In a few seasons, the Official Scorers had to record how many spectators attended a game.
It was up to the home-team to present the approximate total of spectators.
At UVV, it was Frans van Elst who did the 'counting'.
Around the fifth inning, he left the scorers box and walked around the field, counting the spectators with a counter.
When he returned an inning later, he had the total of spectators.
Frequently, he added some to the total, resulting in UVV finishing in the top of the ranking a few times.
Although the home-games of UVV were also well-visited, Frans added some just to promote his club.
He always stated that he had done the counting properly.
But he said that with his big, familiar smile on his face.
,,I do everything for this club'', he regularly said.
To show the love for his club, Frans always wore an UVV-jacket.
...Frans van Elst doing what he loved to do most...
...Preparing the field for a UVV-game...
(© Photo: Jan Kruijdenberg) |
Frans had been active as groundskeeper for UVV until 2019.
He did everything to make a field playable.
Also when it was covered with a lot of water after rain-showers.
On some days, he kept on working even when it continued raining.
Frans was always really disappointed when a game had to be cancelled.
Frans and René also prepared the fields of UVV when the club organized five All Star Games.
The club hosted the Baseball All Star Game in 2011, 2012 and 2015 and the Softball All Star Game in 2015 and 2016.
Of course, Frans also led the groundscrew when UVV hosted the Europe/Africa Oympic Softball Qualifier in 2019.
And he already was a member of the groundscrew at the old site of UVV where games were played when the Netherlands first hosted the World Baseball Championship in 1986.
The knowledge Frans and René had of playing-fields also was used in the Accomodation Committee of the Dutch Federation.
The two joined this Committee towards the end of 2016, but they left again in 2018.
Amongst the other members were of this Committee were Marten Buschman, Hans Kunnen and Richard Rothengatter.
In some of UVV's big league-seasons, Frans also acted as the team photographer, taking many action photos of both the baseball- and softball-team.
And he also frequently looked after the game-officials for both teams.
When you entered the UVV-site, it mostly was Frans who you first encountered, whether it was outside or inside the clubhouse.
In recent years, mostly together with Rob Hoogkamer and Ruud Fokkenrood, Frans then welcomed the officials, handed them some drinks and had a talk with them.
That made him also wellknown and beloved by the officials.
Frans just loved baseball and softball.
And he loved to be at a playing site.
Of course, most of all being at the site of UVV.
How much he was liked within UVV was underscored on Opening Day 2013 when he was asked to throw the ceremonial first pitch before UVV's first game of the baseball-season at home against HCAW.
Two weeks ago, on Saturday, May 7, Frans van Elst visited the UVV-site for the last time.
Thanks to his friends and the Stichting Ambulance Wens Nederland, Frans was able to be at his fields one more time.
On that day, both the baseball-team and softball-team played at home.
It was the last wish of Frans to visit his teams and his site for one more time.
Unfortunately, due to his health-condition, Frans had to be transported by ambulance and had to look on from a stretcher.
However, he was able to wave and have contact with the many club-members and friends, who attended this special and emotional Frans van Elst Day to say goodbye to their beloved friend.
Also honoring Frans were the players of the softball- and baseball-team, as well as former players.
The baseball-team went on to win 8-3 against Jeka, while the softball-team won both games of its double-header against Red Lions, 6-0 and 12-5.
The presence of Frans and his colorful and pleasant company on the fields will be missed by many of us in the Dutch baseball- and softball-family.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Frans' daughter Simonie, sons Patrick and Stefan and other family and friends and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(May 21)
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