(Story & Photos by Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Anne de Bruijne...
(1949 - 2024)
(Private-photo) |
 Former longtime Softball-Umpire and Committee-member Anne de Bruijne passed away
Nederlands
 VOORHOUT (Neth.) -
Anne de Bruijne, who officiated in many softball-games as an umpire in more than 25 years, passed away on Thursday, March 14, which also was the day that he turned 75.
Anne de Bruijne led games in the highest Dutch softball-league (women and men) for some 18 years.
Besides that, he served in several committees (regional and national) for 36 years.
Overall, he has been active in Dutch softball for over 40 years.
For this many contributions, Anne de Bruijne was decorated Member of Merit of the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation (KNBSB) in 2018.
There will be an opportunity to say goodbye to Anne de Bruijne on Friday, March 22 from 12:30-1:00 PM in the auditorium of Crematorium Ockenburgh, located at the Ockenburghstraat 21 in The Hague.
Afterwards, the funeral and memorial service will take place at the same auditorium.
Anne de Bruijne was born on March 14, 1949 in The Hague.
It was in this area where Anne lived and worked his entire life.
And where he got acquainted with and developed a love for softball, the sport in which he was active for more than 40 years.
In these years, Anne has been either an umpire or a committee-member.
But he also has been a coach and even was a co-founder of a softball-club.
It was in 1976 (he played softball himself at that moment) that Anne de Bruijne decided to become a softball-umpire.
And so, in 1977, at age 28, Anne made his debut in Rayon The Hague, which through the years has produced many umpires, who not only were very recognizable, but also became very skilled and well-respected.
Amongst Anne's colleagues in his first season at the regional level were John Barrett, Fred Bergenhenegouwen, Bert Brebde, Wil ten Bosch, Wim van Damme, René Hanou, Gé Hogenbirk, André Prins, Ton Verbeten and Al Vogel.
From this group, Barrett, Brebde, Prins and Vogel also already officiated games at the national level.
All others would promote in following years.
However, through the years, many umpires who were assigned to national level-games, including the highest league, kept on also leading games in regional divisions.
Anne kept on officiating games in the Rayon The Hague through 1991.
In this 15-year period, Anne was later joined by John Bakker, Robert Bos (who later switched to baseball), Fred Charité, Henk van Harrewijn, Hans van der Helm, Piet Heppener, Philippe Hubčr, Bram Klijnsmit (who was a big league baseball-umpire), Herman Kok, Ron Kok, Victor van Lijf, Meggie McIntosh, Piet Pannen, Fred Reuling, Gerard Salemink and Rob Smit.
When the nine Rayons were re-aligned into four Districts, Anne de Bruijne continued officiating games in what had became District West through 2000.
Many of the before-mentioned umpires did the same.
In the meantime, in the early eighties, Anne de Bruijne also was involved in the realization of a new softball-club in the city of Leiden, where he lived at the time.
After a few previous unsuccessful attempts by a number of enthusiasts, who all worked as school-teachers, to set up a new club, they succeeded in December 1981.
It were Ruud Smit, Paul de Jonge and Anne de Bruijne who then created Volle Bak (which is Dutch for 'full count'), which was officially founded in January 1982.
De Jonge (secretary) and Smit (game-secretary) were longtime administrators of the club, which in its first two seasons played at a school sports-yard without a clubhouse and dressing rooms.
From 1984 on, Volle Bak played its home-games at Sportpark 'Leidse Hout'.
Through the years, Anne acted regularly as a coach at Volle Bak, where he also had played himself.
It also was in these late seventies and then in following years, that Anne joined André Prins in coaching youth softball-players in what went on to become the Haagse Softball School.
...Anne de Bruijne (standing in the middle) with a team of...
...umpires representing The Hague in an umpire...
...softball-tournament (Piet Schijvenaar Trophy) halfway the...
...eighties at the site of Amsterdam Pirates in Amsterdam...
...Anne is one of the umpires on this photo who were active...
...in the highest Dutch SB-league; The others are André Prins...
...(standing 2nd right), Rob Smit (sitting at left), Wil ten Bosch...
...(sitting 2nd from right) and Bert Brebde (sitting at right)...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Anne de Bruijne became a national league-umpire in 1980 and would remain so through 2002 after which he retired as umpire.
After a few years, De Bruijne promoted to the Dutch league,
For some 18 years, he would be one of the regular umpires in the highest softball-leagues for both women and men.
Anne retired after having been one of the umpires in the 2002 women's Holland Series between Sparks Haarlem and Terrasvogels.
However, his career in softball would be far from over.
Since 1993, Anne was one of the Dutch international softball-umpires.
Through the end of his career, he was assigned annually to international softball-tournaments, that were organized by the European Softball Federation (ESF, now WBSC Europe).
He officiated almost annually in European Cup-tournaments (in Czechia, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands) for either women or men, but also got assigments for European Championships.
In 1998, Anne traveled to Czech capital Prague, together with Bob Krijnen, for the European Championship Juniors (women and men).
In 2000, Anne again led games in this Under-19 event (women and men), which then was held at the site of Tex Town Tigers in Enschede (Netherlands).
There, Anne was one of three Dutch umpires, the others being Hans Hornstra and Bert Loggen.
Two years later, Anne again traveled to Czechia, this time accompanied by Peter Vonk, for his third European Junior Championship.
Besides these events, Anne also frequently officiated games during the annual, international tournaments organized in the Netherlands, such as the Jan de Wit Tournament (Haarlem, women), Mastenbroek Tournament (Enschede, women), Bill Jeffrey Tournament (Haarlem, men) and Zeister Slot Tournament (Zeist, men).
In his 23 seasons at the national level, including some 18 big league-seasons, Anne de Bruijne had many colleagues, all wellknown umpires, most of them also officiating in the highest league (women and men) for many years.
Amongst them were John Bakker, John Barrett, Eduard de Beer, Erik Bokern, Marianna Bokern, Sander Bootsman, Wil ten Bosch, Bert Brebde, Herman Brouwer, Frits Budding, Peter Charité, Wim van Damme, Wim Drullman, Frank Duits, Rob Flipse, Harm de Fonkert, Peter van Geijlswijk, Henk van Harrewijn, Joop van Hattem, Hans van der Helm, Hans Hornstra, Wout van der Horst, Ruud van Houten, Dirk Jong, Albert Jung, Rob Kerkman, Herman Kok, Ron Kok, Bob Krijnen, Henk Leeflang, Jan Lievense, Jaap Lind, Bert Loggen, Cees Maerten, Ton Meijer, Roel Meijering, Frits Mulder, Michael Nendels, Arie Nokkert, Rob Oene, Willem Oort, Marianne van Peelen, Gilbert Peloz, Ad Peperkoorn, Pieter van der Ploeg, Gerrit Preker, André Prins, Leon Ravestein, Henk Reuvekamp, Jac van Riel, Louis Rohan, Hennie de Roos, Lau Rozijn, Jean Rijksen, Willem Schutterop, Carolien Stadhouders, René Sterkenburg, John Stevens, Ruud Stolting, Marlies Struyvé, Boyd Suk, Jan Termaat, Albert Tolen, Rob Veldkamp, Cor Veraar, Ton Verton, Toon Verzijlberg, Jan Vlasveld, Marjan Vlasveld, Wil van Vliet, Ron Voerman, Peter Vonk, Jan van der Wardt, Co van de Wateringen, Ron Wille, Rob Wurtz, Greet van Wijk, Wim de Wijs, Fred Zimmerman and Dries de Zwaan.
Yes, this is a long and impressive list of some very wellknown umpires through the years.
But it also underscores how many umpires we had in those years.
Unfortunately, there are far less umpires nowadays to fill all the current games.
...Anne in a characteristic pose...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
From the above mentioned group, Anne de Bruijne not only led many games together with Hans Hornstra, Albert Jung, Bert Loggen and André Prins.
For many years, they also worked closely together in several committees.
Hans Hornstra and Anne de Bruijne worked together for 26 years (!) in both the Rules Committee and the Protest Committee.
Jung was a member for 21 years.
Anne and Loggen shared the position of Umpire Commisssioner five years.
And with Prins, Anne served in two Regional Committees for some five years, but the two share a long history of officiating games and other activities in the The Hague-area.
During his career as an active umpire, Anne also served as a so-called Umpire Observer (or Technical Commissioner) in five seasons (1988-1992).
Several other active (national league) umpires did the same in those years.
Other none-active umpires who were observers in those years included Vincent Paulus, Joop Schuitemaker, Wil Tessers, Toon Verzijlberg, Al Vogel and Aad Vuik.
In some seasons, several coaches (active or non-active) also acted as observers, including Teun van den Berg, Ton Brand, Nol Houtkamp, Hannie Joosten, Johan Kluijskens, George Presburg, Fred Remmers, Ton Schouten and Peter Schüler.
Several years after Anne had ended his active umpiring career, he returned as a commissioner (observer), when the position was re-introduced.
Other commissisoners then included Peter van Geijlswijk, Rob Kerkman, Bert Loggen, Carolien Stadhouders, Marlies Struyvé and Rob Wurtz.
Not that long after he had become an umpire, it quickly became clear that Anne developed a great knowledge of the game-rules.
Throughout his career, Anne was known for this.
And so, while being an active umpire and in many following years, Anne became a source of information regarding rules for many.
As a result, Anne served in several committees since 1985.
In that year, he became one of the members of the Umpiring Committee Softball in The Hague, a position he held for four years.
In 1987 and 1988, Anne chaired this committee, which also included Herman Kok, André Prins and Al Vogel.
In 1986, Anne became a member of the Youth Softball Committee of Rayon The Hague.
Since 1982, he already had been the coordinator for schoolsport and he continued this role in this committee.
Anne was a member through 1991, then continued to do so for nine more years after the Rayon had become District West.
Other members in the Rayon-committee included John Bakker, Piet Pannen and Ed Rieff.
The District-committee was chaired for eight years by Peter Hollander, while Anne was the lone one to be a member for nine consecutive years.
In 1988-1991, Anne also was a member of the Protest Committee in The Hague.
In these four years, Gé Hogenbirk was the chairman and secretary, while (umpires) Ton Bodaan, André Prins and Anne were the members.
Since 1987, Anne was a longtime member of two national committees.
In 1987-1989, Anne served as secretary of the Protest Committee Softball, which was chaired by Joop van Hattem.
Other members in these three years were Gé Hoff, Gé Hogenbirk and Janke Nijdam.
In 1990-1992, Pia Houtkamp, Marco Stoovelaar and André Prins acted as secretary, while Pieter van der Ploeg was the lone member of this committee in 1990 and 1991 with Van Hattem as chairman.
...Anne de Bruijne with umpiring & commissioner-colleagues...
...Rob Wurtz, Albert Tolen, Bert Loggen and Hans Hornstra...
...during the Softball Holland Series 2011 in Haarlem...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
The committee was expanded again in 1992 and Anne returned as a member, while Hans Hornstra and Greet van Wijk joined.
Rinus Paadekooper took over as secretary in 1993.
From 1992 on, Anne would remain a member of this committee for 26 more years
In 1998, Albert Jung succeeded Greet van Wijk and in 1999, Hornstra succeeded Joop van Hattem as chairman, while Pieter van der Ploeg re-joined the committee.
The committee would not change until October 2010 when Paardekooper passed away.
Not long thereafter, the committee was expanded with Patrick Reus.
At the end of the 2017 season, Anne de Bruijne ended his activities for this committee.
Anne also had a long cooperation with Hans Hornstra in the national Softball Rules Committee in which they worked together for 26 years (1992-2017).
Through 2001, Anne (as chairman) and Hans (as secretary) were the only two members of this committee.
From 2002 on, they were joined by Albert Jung and in 2013, Patrick Reus became the fourth member.
Anne also retired from this committee towards the end of 2017.
That ended a span of 36 years as a committee-member.
In 1993-1999, Anne also had been a member of the Work Group for the Educational Program for Umpires, which was chaired by Paul Bokern.
Ede Pool and Gerrit Sluijters also were members in all these seven years.
Wil ten Bosch was a member in 1993, but he was succeeded thereafter by René Sterkenburg.
Three years later, Marlies Struyvé took over from René.
In 1995, Fred van Groningen Schinkel and Bob Krijnen joined.
Gijs Selderijk succeeded Krijnen in 1997.
Since 1993, Anne also served as an instructor for many years.
Besides that, he wrote about game-rules the magazine of the BUBS (association for umpires, scorers and observers).
And, together with Hans Hornstra, he annually compiled game-rule tests for umpires before the start of a new season.
In 1990, the position of Umpiring Commissioner was introduced, who would oversee the activities of umpires and also would be the liaison.
When Rob Kerkman stopped as Commissioner towards the end of 2004, Anne took over the position and was joined by Bert Loggen as Umpire-in-Chief.
At his own request, Anne stepped down after completion of the 2009 season.
Hereafter, through 2017, Loggen would serve as the next Commissioner.
As mentioned, Anne de Bruijne has been active in softball for more than 40 years.
For his many contributions in the fields of umpiring, ruling and membership of committees, Anne de Bruijne was decorated several times.
In 1990, he was named Member of Merit of Rayon The Hague.
After having received the KNBSB-decoration in 1997, he also was named Member of Merit of the KNBSB in 2018.
Anne de Bruijne had a modest personality and never was upfront.
He was the same when he was on the field.
As an umpire, he never attracted the attention to himself.
However, he surely was one of the best (knowledgeable) umpires and clearly was in command during a game and could handle a game properly.
When needed, he could go into a discussion or sent a coach or player away, but never raised his voice.
And in most of his umpiring years, Anne was very recognizable because of his striking beard.
Because of his rule-knowledge, but also because of his presence on the field, Anne was well-respected by coaches, players, official scorers and umpiring colleagues.
Anne surely will be missed by many of us.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Anne's wife Hilda, daughters Marjolein and Erica, sons-in-law, grandchildren, other family and friends and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(March 20)
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