(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by AFC, De Kieviten & Amstelveenweb.com)
IN MEMORIAM
...Johan de Bie Junior....
(1936 - 2024)
(© Photo: AFC) |
 Former longtime Kieviten-administrator and AFC/ABC-club-icon Johan de Bie passed away
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
Johan de Bie, who was a longtime boardmember of both De Kieviten and the Bleesing Fund, has passed away on Sunday, August 4 at age 87 after a declining health in recent years.
Johan de Bie was the twin-brother of Hans de Bie and has served for a record of forty-one years in the board of De Kieviten, the baseball and softball promotion/alumni association.
Mister De Bie was a club-icon of Amsterdam-based combi-club AFC (soccer) and ABC (baseball), being a club-member for 75 years.
The memorial service of Johan de Bie will be held on Tuesday, August 13 at 2:30 PM in Crematorium Bouwens, located at the Noorddammerweg 40 in De Kwakel (Uithoorn).
Johan de Bie was born on October 24, 1936 in Amsterdam, some 45 minutes after his twin-brother Hans.
Around 1950, Johan joined Amsterdamsche Football Club (AFC), where they began playing soccer at age fourteen, Hans did the same two years later.
AFC, which is nicknamed 'The Reds' (because of its red shirt), is the oldest soccer-club in Amsterdam, founded in 1895.
Since 1962, AFC plays its home-games at Sportpark 'Goed Genoeg', which is located at the De Boelelaan in Amsterdam.
At the same site, the baseball-section of the club, founded in 1934 as Amsterdamsche Baseball Club (ABC), also played its home-games.
Later, in the fifties, a softball-section was added, which played under the same name (ABC).
AFC also had a cricket-section, the Amsterdamsche Cricket Club (ACC).
Before its move to the new complex, the soccer-section played at the sports-fields at the Zuidelijke Wandelweg.
Before moving to 'Goed Genoeg' in 1962, the baseball- and softball-teams had played at Schinkelsportpark near the Olympic Stadium, but also played some games at the AFC-complex, as well as at the baseball-field at the Jan van Galen Sportpark, which later became the home of HVA and then Amsterdam Pirates.
Some years ago, in a column on the website of AFC, Johan de Bie wrote about how he joined AFC:
,,In 1950, I became a member of AFC after my twin-brother Hans and I were rejected by Blauw-Wit after having played a try-out game there.
We wanted to play for Blauw-Wit, as our father played for that club in the seniors.''
Later, Johan and Hans de Bie also began playing baseball for ABC.
The two have always been very close and from the beginning, the twin-brothers were very involved in all (sports-)activities of the Amsterdam-based club.
Their parents Joop (Johan Sr.) and Dora de Bie also were very active for both AFC and ABC.
Joop de Bie was ABC's so-called game-secretary in 1957-1966.
In four of these years (1963-1966), son Johan de Bie was ABC's secretary, while Joop Peeters Sr. handled the youth-section.
Johan de Bie was succeeded as secretary in 1970 by Bert Staller.
From then on, there were four diffferent secretaries in five years, before Jogriet Endel took over in 1975 and handled the administration for many years, most of them together with her brother Wim Endel.
Through the years, Johan and Hans de Bie both became members of several club-commissions and also became members of the board of both AFC and ABC.
Johan de Bie, who has been a member of the club's youth-committee, was a boardmember of AFC for 22 years (1984-2005), most of them as the club's secretary, but he also was vice-chairman.
He also was the longtime chairman of the Silver Team, which consists of AFC-members who are with the club 25 years or longer.
For many years, Johan accompanied the main soccer-team of AFC on its annual pre-season trip to the Canary Islands to prepare for the new winter-season.
Johan also served twelve years as board-member of ATC, the tennis-section of the club.
And for more than thirty years, Johan was a member of the board of the Goed Genoeg Foundation.
Hans de Bie went on to become a journalist and was a longtime contributor the AFC's official club-magazine, 'De AFC-Schakel' and also was a longtime member of the club's Press and Publicity Committee.
Johan, who worked in insurances, also contributed to the club-magazine, as did Pim Adriaansz, another wellknown member of the club.
Unfortunately, the baseball- and softball-section of the club (ABC) was dissolved several years ago.
Office-towers are now located at what once was the site of the baseball-field.
For some years, the baseball-team of ABC played in the highest league.
ABC also was known for organizing an international youth baseball-tournament on April 30, which then was Queen's Day (celebration of the Queen's birthday).
...The AFC-board in the 1999-2000 soccer-season...
..Johan de Bie sits at left, besides Kees Gehring...
...Sitting in the middle is chairman Dick van der Klaauw...
...Standing in the middle is TV-commentator Jack van Gelder...
(© Photo: AFC) |
In their years with the club, Johan and Hans de Bie belonged to a wellknown and recognizable group of baseball-members of ABC.
Amongst them also were Cees Boer (sr. and jr.), Wim Endel, Jogriet Endel, Henk Clemens, Jan Meijer, Lex Rimini, Wim Telle, Frans Bridié, Dick van der Klaauw, Bert Staller, Hans Buiskool, Bob van den Bergh, Frans van Rooij, Simon Mossel, Els Bridié, Ben Heesen, Wim Crouwel, Edwin Geluk, Arno Snellenburg and Ed van Wersch.
Through the years, several of them also have been very active for AFC.
For some years, amongst Johan de Bie's colleagues in the AFC-board was Jack van Gelder, the wellknown sports-journalist and -commentator and television-personality.
Van Gelder still is an active member of AFC.
Another wellknown member of AFC is television talkshow-host Ivo Niehe.
Both Van Gelder and Niehe have been associated with AFC for over fifty years.
For many years, several wellknown members of nearby baseball/softball-clubs Giants Diemen, HCTIW or Blauw-Wit were frequently at the site of AFC during the soccer-season.
Not only to attend the soccer-games, but maybe more so to be together at the cozy club-house of AFC and socialize with several of the above mentioned personalities.
Amongst them were Wim Ascherman, Henk Dorenbos, Ad Visser, Jaap Kuggeleijn, Rinus Onderwater, Willem Broertjes and Ton Hout.
For his many contributions to the club, Johan de Bie was named Honorary Member of AFC in 1995 when it celebrated its 100th anniversary.
Johan also was named Honorary Member of ABC and ATC.
His brother Hans, who passed away in 2020, was named Member of Merit in 1996.
Both are were members ot the so-called AFC-Ridders (AFC-Knights), a recognition someone gets for being a member of the club for 50 years (or longer).
Johan de Bie was a member of AFC for 75 years and in 68 of them, he served in many capacities for the club as a volunteer.
In an In Memoriam on the website of AFC, Honorary Member Kees Gehring wrote the following:
,,Within the AFC-board, Johan was known as 'Minister of Social Affairs'.
He knew the date of birth and telephone number of a large number of AFC-members by heart and his AFCs-Bie-specialities section in 'De Schakel' provided important connections within our club.
Johan was also a sworn civil registrar of Amstelveen and in that capacity he married many young couples (including many AFC members).''
Gehring shared many years with De Bie in several boards.
They were together on the board of ATC in 1972-1983, of Foundation Goed Genoeg in 1974-2017 and of AFC in 1985-2005.
Gehring continues in his In Memoriam with the following notes:
,,Johan de Bie was a clubman through and through, never missed a game of the first team as a board member whenever possible and, as an official, attended the summer and winter training camps of AFC 1 for many years, where he surprised the group of players every time with his great arsenal of jokes.
He participated intensively in club-life, but was not really what you would call a sportsman.
AFC-members have occasionally made fun of him about that over the years.
He played at AFC as a right back in the 10th soccer-team because, as he always said, there was no 11th team and in ABC's 3rd baseball-team.
He was once instructed by the coach to steal second base.
That worked wonderfully, but he then had to be taken to the hospital with a broken leg...
Jopie could laugh about that the most and that was to his credit, because not everyone is gifted with some form of self-mockery.''
...Johan de Bie receives a certificate from vice-chairman...
...Wim Oosterhof after being named Honorary Member...
...of De Kieviten in 1997...
(© Photo: De Kieviten) |
Besides their many activities for both the soccer- and baseball-sections of AFC/ABC, Johan and Hans were also active for many years in other fields in Dutch baseball.
In 1962-1964, Johan de Bie was a member of the board of what was then called Rayon Amsterdam.
He was a member in 1962, then the treasurer in the other two years, after having succeeded Cees Boer Sr..
In his three years in the Amsterdam-board, Jan van Mook was the chairman and Rinus Onderwater the secretary.
Other board-members were Hennie Roerdink and Henk Dorenbos.
In 1965, Roerdink succeeded Johan as treasurer.
Johan and Hans also both have been involved in the Haarlem Baseball Week.
Hans has been a member of the Organizing Committee of the wellknown international tournament for 22 years (1969-1984; 1989-1994).
He handled the press affairs in 1969-1978, then was the vice-chairman in 1978-1984, before retiring.
Hans returned in 1989 and was an advisor of the Organizing Committee through 1994.
In the years that Hans de Bie was a Committee-member, twelve Haarlem Baseball Weeks have been organized.
Johan has been a liaison officer during four Baseball Weeks.
In 1972, he was the liaison officer for Alaska Goldpanners, a strong American Summer League-team (semi-pro) from Fairbanks, Alaska.
One of the players in that team during the Baseball Week was future Major League-player and future Hall of Famer Dave Winfield.
In 1974 and 1976, Johan was the liaison for Sullivans (USA) and in 1978, he was the contact-person between the organization and the team for Cuba.
For many years, Johan de Bie was a board-member of the two charitative and supporting organizations in Dutch baseball and softball, De Kieviten and the Bleesing Fund.
In 1972, Johan succeeded Henk Bruyns as the secretary of the board of De Kieviten, while Cees Boer Sr. became the new chairman.
He succeeded legendary M.C. Bakker, who had founded De Kieviten in March 1938.
De Kieviten was created as a propaganda-club to encourage the playing and spreading of baseball and softball and to improve the conditions to play.
In more recent years, it became an alumni-club, but also still supports several projects.
Since it was founded, Bakker had been the chairman for a record 34 years.
Other members when Johan de Bie joined the board were Jan Rijkeboer (treasurer) and Theo Vleeshhouwer.
For Johan de Bie, this was the beginning of a record-setting period as a boardmember.
In 1973, the board was expanded from four to seven members, as Johan's father Joop de Bie, Ton Schouten and Willem de Ruiter were added.
De Bie senior would be a board-member for six years.
In 1976, Johan de Bie was succeeded as secretary by Kees Leseman, but he stayed on as board-member, succeeding De Ruiter, while Joop van Hattem was added as new board-member.
De Bie would serve as board-member for five years.
Thereafter, in 1981, he succeeded Cees Boer and became the third chairman in the history of De Kieviten.
Three years earlier, in 1978, Maartje Nierop Groot had become the secretary.
Two years earlier, in 1979, Wim Ascherman (treasurer) and Line Klein-Desta (member) had joined.
Johan de Bie would be chairman of De Kieviten for 32 years, before being succeeded by Henk den Duijn in 2013.
...Johan de Bie with his brother Hans at the 70th...
...anniversary of VVD Amstelveen in 2016; Standing at left is...
...Petra Kirch-Voors, VVD-provincial council-member of...
...North Holland, at right is former alderman Piet van den Heuvel...
(© Photo: Amstelveenweb.com) |
From 1982 on, several new members joined the board and several of them would serve for many years.
In 1982, Theo Vleeshhouwer became vice-chairman.
In 1990, he was succeeded by Wim Oosterhof (who already had been a member for eight years), who also stepped down in 2013, alongside Johan de Bie.
Maartje Nierop Groot would be the secretary through early 1998, except for 1992-1993 when Tiny van der Poel handled the administration.
From 2000 on, Dries de Zwaan would be the secretary for many years.
He was succeeded in 2014 by current secretary Ben Goorts.
Wim Endel succeeded Wim Ascherman as treasurer in 1997, but the latter returned in 2005, before being succeeded by De Zwaan in 2008.
Other longtime board-members during De Bie's tenure as chairman were Willem Broertjes and Piet van Rijswijk.
Broertjes joined the board in 1991 and would continue through early 2005.
Van Rijswijk was a member from 1996 through early 2007.
Other boardmembers in De Bie's 32 years as chairman for several years included Jan Meijer, Rob van Tuyl, Gerard Moolenaars, Kitty van Gilst and Andy Houtkamp.
Through the years, De Kieviten was represented by a merchandise-stand during (international) tournaments, such as the Haarlem Baseball Week, Haarlem Softball Week and World Port Tournament.
During these events, brother and sister Wim and Jogriet Endel, Jan Meijer and Wim Ascherman handled the sales at this merchandise-stand and were mostly accompanied by other illustrous Kieviten-personalities as Willem Broertjes, Rinus Onderwater and Henk Dorenbos.
Johan and Hans de Bie also frequently were present at this stand.
For his longtime contributions, Johan de Bie was named Honorary Member of De Kieviten in 1997.
When Johan left the board during the annual council-meeting in 2013, he had been a board-member for a record of 41 years.
Since 1938, there have been only three board-members who served in thirty or more years.
There have been only eleven board-members who were active in fourteen or more years.
They are Johan de Bie (41 years), M.C. Bakker (34), Wim Oosterhof (31), Wim Ascherman (29), Theo Vleeshhouwer (26), Wim Endel (23), Jan Rijkeboer (19), Maartje Nierop Groot (18), Cor Zandstra (17), Wim Broertjes and Dries de Zwaan (both 14 years).
In 1991, Johan de Bie also became a boardmember of the Bleesing Fund, also was founded by M.C. Bakker (and by De Kieviten) in 1952 and was named after Emile Bleesing, the longtime chairman of the Netherlands Baseball Federation, who had passed away in 1951.
The purpose of this Fund was to give support, financially as well as by other means, to clubs in order to encourage the spread, development and improvement of the sports of baseball and softball in the Netherlands.
Bakker would be a board-member for twenty years, all of them as chairman.
Martin Bremer also was an original board-member and would serve in a record 30 years, including eleven as chairman.
Dick Baas, who also was a board-member since 1952, would serve in 25 years, as did Wim Endel.
Jan Rijkeboer was another longtime member, being the secretary/treasurer for 19 years.
...Johan de Bie with former Amstelveen-Mayor...
...Jan van Zanen at the 70th anniversary of...
...VVD Amstelveen in 2016...
...Van Zanen was Mayor in 2005-2013...
(© Photo: Amstelveenweb.com) |
When De Bie joined, the Bleesing Fund was chaired by Wil Koet, while Truus Ruiter was the secretary.
Other members back then were Wim Ascherman and Wim Endel.
The latter already had been a member since 1978.
In 1992, De Bie succeeded Koet as chairman, while Wijnand Agterberg became the new secretary and Paul Bokern joined as new member.
In 1994, Bokern and Agterberg switched positions.
De Bie, Bokern, Endel, Ascherman and Agterberg would continue to lead the Bleesing Fund through 2003.
Besides their sports-activities, both Johan and Hans de Bie both also were active for more than 25 years for the local section of political party VVD in their hometown Amstelveen, which borders Amsterdam in the north.
Johan has been a Council-member for this party in Amstelveen for most of these years, while Hans has been the secretary of the local VVD-section.
In his In Memoriam on the AFC-website, Kees Gehring also mentioned Johan's other activities through the years:
,,In addition to his activities in and around Goed Genoeg, Johan de Bie worked for more than 30 years as an insurance advisor at Hudig Langeveldt and then for (AFC Vriendelijk Company) Polak Roodhart Uilings.
He was part of the Amstelveen Municipal Council for more than 25 years for the VVD, was on the board of the Refugee Work Foundation and was chairman of the Kieviten, an important body within the Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Association, for many years.''
For his many activities in various organizations, Johan de Bie received a Royal Decoration in 2003 when he was appointed Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau.
In 1998, Johan de Bie was decorated by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Association (KNBSB) for his contributions to baseball and softball.
Johan and Hans de Bie loved to be amongst other people, to socialize, to be together, to live the good life.
Johan was known for his extremely good memory, his social awareness and always was a gentleman.
Both were sympathetic persons and both had a great sense of humor.
After having said goodbye to Hans in 2020, we now have to say goodbye to Johan.
We will surely miss the De Bie-twins.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Johan's wife Marjoleine, other family and friends and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(August 7)
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