(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Piet Gabes...
(1941 - 2022) |
 Former softball-umpire Piet Gabes passed away
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Former longtime softball-umpire Piet Gabes, who officiated games in the sixties, seventies and eighties, passed away on Sunday, January 2 at the age of 80 after a brief illness.
Besides being an umpire, Piet Gabes also served in several commssions, both for the National Federation, as well as for the former Rayon Amsterdam.
Piet Gabes was born on May 14, 1941 in Amsterdam, where he grew up.
Towards the end of the sixties, he moved to Badhoevedorp, near Amsterdam, where he lived since then.
Towards the end of the forties, the first softball-clubs were founded in the Netherlands and in the early fifties, the sport started to grow.
Initially, first in Haarlem and Amsterdam, but later also in other parts of the country.
In following years, competitions were set up and in the sixties, there were several leagues.
Of course, the games played in these leagues needed umpires.
Somewhere halfway the sixties, Piet Gabes, who then was in his early twenties, became a softball-umpire.
First, he officiated games in the Amsterdam-area, but later he promoted and became eligible to umpire in national leagues.
And so, at the end of the sixties and in the early seventies, Gabes also led some games in the highest Dutch softball-league.
After the 1974 season, Gabes initially retired as umpire.
While being a softball-umpire at the national level, amongst his colleagues in the early seventies were
Teun van den Berg, Bert Brebde, Paul Egner, Cor van Elst-Water, Theo Germes, Cor Jonker, Nico Maarleveld, Cees Maerten, Dick Mos, Joop Pleijt, André Prins, Toon Verzijlberg, Ron Voerman, Al Vogel, Jo de Wolf, Greet van Wijk and Dries de Zwaan.
However, a few years later, he put on his umpiring uniform again and started to lead games again, but then only in the then-Rayon Amsterdam.
He continued to do so until 1983, becoming a mentor to some young umpires.
Other umpires in Amsterdam in these early eighties included Leo Geesink, Ben Goorts, Willem Griebling, Paul Hondius, Dirk Jong, Joke Lammen, Willem Oort, Gerrit Preker, Lau Rozijn and Co van de Wateringen.
And of course Cor van Elst-Water, who was the 'Iron Lady' amongst the umpires in these years, as she officiated games almost daily for many years in the Amsterdam-region (and also in national leagues).
Mrs. Van Elst, who passed away in 1983 at age 65, was known for her strict, but always correct way of handling a game and was much respected.
Since the early seventies, Piet Gabes also served in several commissions.
In 1971, he was a member of the Softball Examination Commission, which then was chaired by Wim van Sorge.
In 1972, Piet Gabes was the secretary for softball in the Rules Commission of the Dutch Federation.
Other members of that commission were Piet van Deenen (chairman), Hans Schotel (secretary baseball), Chris Mast (member) and Henk de Ruiter (member).
Another one-year membership followed in 1984 when Piet Gabes was the chairman of the Softball Umpiring Commission, which also included Wil Tessers (secretary), Teun van den Berg (member) and Ron Voerman (member).
In the Rayon Amsterdam, Piet Gabes was a member of two committees in the early eighties.
In 1981-1982, he was a member of the Publicity Committee, along with Henk van Rekum and Paul van Vliet.
And in 1982-1983, together with Wim Niepoth and Henk Ronnenbergh, he was a member of the Amsterdam Committee that handled protests.
Besides his umpiring activities in the seventies, Piet Gabes also showed his administrational qualities.
From 1972 through 1979, he was a member of the board of baseball- and softball-club Lijnden, six of them as the club's secretary.
Since 1987, this club plays under the name of Badhoevedorp.
Piet Gabes has always kept an interest in sports.
Besides his love for baseball and softball, he also very liked pétanque.
And in later years, he enjoyed attending the sports games of his grandchildren.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Piet's family and friends and wishes them a lot of strength with this huge loss.
(January 22)
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