Henk Hendriks

Hendrik Aloisius Hendriks

• Born May 28, 1934 in Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland Netherlands
• Died May 7, 2020

Biographical Information

Henk Hendriks played and coached in the Hoofdklasse. He was with seven champion teams. His son Rob Hendriks played in the Hoofdklasse as well while his daughter Marion played softball.

He joined Sparta as a baseball and soccer player in 1947. By 1952, he was with their top-tier baseball team; he also played two games for their top soccer team during the 1950s. He became their starting third baseman in 1953 as a teenager; he moved to shortstop in 1961 and returning to third in '64. The team reached the top league of Dutch baseball in 1954. Usually hitting leadoff, he was good at drawing walks and beating out bunt hits, scoring lots of runs due to his ability to get on base and run.

He played for the Dutch national team in a 1959 exhibit against Belgium but never played in a major tournament for the country. He won titles with Sparta in 1963, 1964, 1966 and 1967. When head coach John Heyt died in a tragic car accident in 1967, Hendriks became Sparta's manager for 1968, ending his playing career. He guided them to titles in 1969 and 1971 then retired. Brought back before the 1972 season, he led the team to a title in '72 despite numerous injuries. Jan Van Tol then succeeded him as head coach.

Hendriks later was chairman of the Amateur Section of soccer, overseeing Sparta's baseball, softball, soccer and cricket operations. He returned to manage Sparta in 1976 when a coaching committee system did not pan out. He remained through the end of the year. In June 1984, he took over as manager when the team was struggling.

Source: Obituary by Marco Stoovelaar