Loek Loevendie

Loek Loevendie (Ome Loek)

• Born ~1931
• Died February 6, 2021

Loek Loevendie is a member of the Dutch Baseball Hall of Fame.

Loevendie helped found the baseball section of the soccer club Rap in 1959; he had been coaching youth soccer there since age 16. He promoted baseball for Rap, with advertisements in Amsterdam area newspapers. The Rap youth team would win numerous national youth titles. More than 100 of his players played in either the Hoofdklasse or for the Dutch national team (or both). Among his products were major leaguer Rikkert Faneyte, Marcel Joost, Frank Koot, Haitze de Vries, Ronald Stoovelaar, Jan Hijzelendoorn, Tonny Cohen and Raymond Hofer. He finally ended his coaching career in 2013. In 2014, he became the 49th member of the Dutch Baseball Hall of Fame and first inductee since Jan-Dick Leurs in 2009.

Sources: Marco Stoovelaar article, Dutch Baseball Hall of Fame