(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Marco Stoovelaar & European Softball Federation)
IN MEMORIAM
...Willem Drullman....
(1935 - 2024)
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
 Former softball-umpire and -observer Willem Drullman passed away
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Willem Drullman, who was a softball-umpire for many years, passed away on Sunday, August 4 at age 89.
After his umpiring career, Willem Drullman became an umpire-observer and a technical commissioner.
In this position, he was also assigned to international tournaments.
Besides that, Willem also was a longtime contributor to the Haarlem Baseball Week.
The memorial service of Willem Drullman was held on Saturday, August 10 in Haarlem.
Willem Drullman was born on May 10, 1935 in Weesp.
However, it was after he had moved to Haarlem that Willem (some called him Wim) become more and more involved in softball.
It was there where his daughter Mieke played softball and that Willem became a well-respected umpire.
In the early eighties, Willem Drullman acted as a representative for Second Division-teams at the annual council-meeting of the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation (KNBSB).
A few years later, Willem began his umpiring career at a high age, as he was 50-plus when he was first listed as a softball-umpire in what then was Rayon Haarlem in 1986.
In previous years, he already had officiated games on club-level.
When Willem Drullman debuted in Rayon Haarlem, other regional umpires back then included Harm de Fonkert, Rob Goossen, Nico van Heemskerk, Ruud van Houten, Rob Kerkman, Jan Lievense, André van der Meulen, Roel Meijering, Frits Mulder, Rob Oene, Willem Schutterop, John Stevens, Jan Termaat, Ton Verton, Toon Verzijlberg, Jan van der Wardt, Jos Welboren, Frank Westerkamp and Willem de Wijs.
From this group, Van Houten, Kerkman, Lievense, Meijering, Mulder, Oene, Schutterop, Stevens, Termaat, Verton, Verzijlberg, Van der Wardt and De Wijs also belonged to the group of umpires at that moment who were also officiating games in national leagues.
Around the same time, in 1988, Willem became one of the many volunteering contributors in the Haarlem Baseball Week.
During nine tournaments, through 2006, Willem Drullman was one of the so-called stewards or controllers.
Other stewards in several of these years included Frans Klozen, Albert Tolen, Martin Tolen, Erik Hoekzema, Wim Vermaat, Jack de Vries, Frank van der Putten, Frank Vaatstra, Harry van Bekkum, Reinier Weijland, Nico Weijland jr., Wilfred van de Bom, René Meijaard, Auke Put, Joost Lub, Diana Teunenbroek, René Veenendaal, Vok van Balen, Roderick Borst and Norbert Spruyt.
In 1989, Willem Drullman promoted as an umpire and also became eligible for assignments in national leagues, making his debut in the Second Division.
Besides the above mentioned umpires from Haarlem, other wellknown national umpires at that moment included John Bakker, Erik Bokern, Wil ten Bosch, Bert Brebde, Herman Brouwer, Anne de Bruijne, Johan van den Emster, Rob Flipse, Henk van Harrewijn, Dirk Jong, Herman Kok, Ron Kok, Henk Leeflang, Jaap Lind, Ton Meijer, Marianne van Peelen, Gilbert Peloz, Pieter van der Ploeg, Jean Rijksen, Hennie de Roos, Rob Smit, René Sterkenburg, Ruud Stolting, Cor Veraar, Jan Vlasveld, Marjan Vlasveld, Co van de Wateringen and Ron Wille.
Although officiating games at the national level, many of these umpires also remained active in their respective region (Rayon).
And so, Willem Drullman also would continue to lead games in Rayon Haarlem.
Willem Drullman remained an umpire at the national level through 1994.
Joining him from 1990 (and in following years) in this group were Eduard de Beer, Marianna Bokern, Frits Budding, Peter Charité, Peter van Geijlswijk, Hans Hornstra, Frits Korzilius, Bert Loggen, Michael Nendels, Arie Nokkert, Aad Peperkoorn, Gerrit Preker, Leon Ravestein, Henk Reuvekamp, Carolien Stadhouders, Marlies Struyvé, Boyd Suk, Albert Tolen, Rob Veldkamp, Peter Vonk and Rob Wurtz.
Van Geijlswijk had also first debuted in Rayon Haarlem in 1990, as did Fred Siegerist.
From 1992 on, the nine Rayons were re-aligned into four Districts.
Haarlem became part of District West.
From 1992 through 1994, amongst the umpires in this District also were Albert Tolen, Martin Tolen, Rob Tichelaar, Cor van Nunen, Suze van Breukelen, Philippe Hubčr and Howard Rafaela.
...Willem Drullman has a talk with Rob Kerkman...
...during the 2008 Holland Series in Haarlem (Neth.)...
...Kerkman passed away in 2013...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In 1995-1999, Willem Drullman solely was listed as an umpire in District West, but when needed, he also filled in at national league-games.
Joining him at the District-level in 1999 were Frank Duits, Wout van der Horst and Louis (Ponkey) Rohan, who all would promote the following year.
Willem returned to the national level in 2000 and then joined a group that also included Ab Baart, Hans van der Helm, Albert Jung, Bob Krijnen and Jac van Riel.
Later, Sander Bootsman and Jan Grefhorst also were added to this group, which at this time, still included many of the above mentioned umpires.
Through the years, Willem Drullman officiated with many of these umpiring colleagues, including several games in the women's big league.
In his first national level-season in 1989, Willem also was assigned to games in what was then called Pool A and Pool B in men's softball.
These Pools were the predecessors of what was to become the men's big league.
Willem also would lead games in this highest men-league and was a much-liked and well-respected umpire.
Willem retired as an umpire after the 2002 season, although he did fill in a few times thereafter.
From 2003 on, Willem completely focussed on his role as a softball-umpire observer, something he had started to do in 1999.
He also handled the assigments of the observers for the games.
Other observers from that year on included several other former umpires, like Ruud van Houten, Dirk Jong, Albert Jung, Rob Kerkman, Ton Meijer, Roel Meijering, Marianne van Peelen, André Prins, Hennie de Roos, Jean Rijksen and Jan Vlasveld.
Another observer back then was (Netherlands Team) softball-coach George Presburg.
In later years, other umpires also became observers, like Peter van Geijlswijk, Albert Tolen, Anne de Bruijne, Bert Loggen, Marlies Struyvé and Rob Wurtz.
Being responsible for the observers-assignments, Willem Drullman was a member of the Commission for Game Officials of the KNBSB in 2000.
This commission was chaired by Dick Bliek, who also was the Commissioner for Baseball Umpires, while Ruud van Houten handled this position for Softball Umpires and Huub Nelissen for the Official Scorers.
Other members were Rinus Paardekooper (secretary), Paul Paul (observers baseball-umpires), Willem Broertjes (on behalf of the Umpires/Scorers/Observers Association, BUBS) and Albert Jung (who made the notes).
In his new position, Willem not only observed umpires during regular season-games, but also when he was a commissioner during international tournaments.
From 2001 on, Willem participated in thirteen tournaments.
In 2001, Willem was one of the two Dutch commissioners during the European Cup Tournament in women's softball in both the A-Pool and B-Pool on the sites of Sparks Haarlem in Haarlem and Terrasvogels in Santpoort.
Amongst the umpiring crew then were Dutch umpires Peter van Geijlswijk and Hans Hornstra, while Ger van Dongen was the Scorer-in-Chief.
In 2003, Willem first traveled abroad, as he was assigned as Umpire-in-Chief for the European Cup B-Pool Women's Softball in Antwerp (Belgium).
Another foreign tournament followed in 2004 when he was the Assistant Umpire Commissioner in Roissy (France) where the European Juniors Championship was held for both girls and boys softball.
During these events, Peter Vonk was one of the umpires.
Later in 2004, Willem was a Technical Commissioner at the European Cup-tournament in men's softball at the site of Sparks Haarlem, where Bob Krijnen and Bert Loggen were the Dutch umpires and Olga Lablans was the Scorer-in-Chief.
...Willem Drullman (left) as Asst. Umpire Commissioner...
...during Opening Ceremony of 2005 European...
...Women's Softball Championship in Prague (Czechia);...
...Standing besides him are Marlies Struyvé (Chief...
...Technical Commissioner), Gilbert Tobback (Umpire...
...Comm.) and Mike Jennings (Techn. Commissioner)...
(© Photo: European Softball Federation) |
In 2005, Willem Drullman got another assignment for a tournament abroad.
This time, Willem was the Assistant Umpire Commissioner at the European Championship Softball Women in Czech capital Prague, where both the A-Pool and the B-Pool were organized simultaneously.
Marlies Struyvé was the Chief Technical Commissioner in Prague, while Rob Veldkamp represented the Netherlands as umpire.
In 2006 and 2007, Willem was active at two tournaments in the Netherlands.
First, in 2006, he was a Technical Commissioner during the European Cup Winners Cup men's softball at the site of Sparks Haarlem.
During this event, Peter Vonk was the Dutch umpire and Marco Stoovelaar was the Scorer-in-Chief.
In the following year, during the European Cup women's softball on the sites of Sparks Haarlem and Terrasvogels, Willem was one of the two Local Technical Commissioners, the other being Peter van Geijlswijk.
They supported Rob Kerkman, who was the Assistant Umpire Commissioner during this tournament, where Huub Nelissen was the Scorer-in-Chief and Frank Duits was the Dutch umpire.
Earlier in 2007, Willem had his final assignment abroad.
In Beveren (Belgium), he was the Assistant Umpire Commissioner of Umpire Commissioner Marlies Struyvé, while Albert Tolen was one of the umpires.
Willem's final two international tournaments came in 2010, which were held simultaneously at the site of Olympia Haarlem, while some games also were played at the site of RCH in Heemstede.
Willem was a Local TC for both tournaments, the European Cup and European Cup Winners Cup women's softball.
During the latter tournament, Peter van Geijlswijk was the Assistant Umpire-in-Chief, while Arie Nokkert and Albert Tolen were the Dutch umpires.
Mariana Prins also was one of the umpires, but she represented Bulgaria.
Bob Gieskens was an umpire in the European Cup-tournament, while Harry Wedemeijer was the Scorer-in-Chief for both events.
Willem Drullman retired after 2010 season at age 75, but he would remain interested in softball.
He became a frequented visitor of the home-games of Sparks Haarlem and also regularly was at games of Terrasvogels in Santpoort.
Seven years later, in 2017, Willem contributed to one more final tournament, which was the European Premier Cup women's softball at the Noordersportpark, the home of Sparks Haarlem.
During the event, Willem assisted Peter van Geijlswijk as liaison for the group officials, which included the umpires, official scorers, commissioners and umpire/scorer-in-chiefs.
In following and more recent years, Willem was less visible on the softball-fields.
Although he now mostly stayed at home, he kept informed about softball.
For his longtime contributions to the field of umpires and observers in softball, Willem Drullman was decorated by the KNBSB in September 2007.
Willem Drullman was a textbook example of someone, who felt more comfortable in doing things, instead of being a being of some committee.
He never put himself on the foreground and mostly did a lot of his work behind the scenes, outside the spotlights.
In his role as commissioner during tournaments, Willem always walked around, was busy and very active, made sure that there were enough balls available during a game and also ensured that the officials were well looked after.
Willem Drullman was a colorful and much-liked person, who will surely be missed by many of us.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Willem's wife Josje, son Rob, daughter Mieke, other family and friends and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(August 14)
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