Jun132008
The #1 sports fan until his death - happy fathers day dad!
Filed under Fans, General, Good Ole Days, Parents, Sportsmanship by bob hammerstrom at 4:20 pm
I’ve photographed and read about people named #1 sports fans in their communities, but I have never met one who inspired so many people, lived to help others, and suffered through cancer so much, as my father, Duane Hammerstrom.
He was nicknamed the first “Hammer” in the family. I am the second, and my son, Brandon has carried on the tradition. My dad wasn’t an athlete as a youngster, but rather a team manager. He carried the water and took care of the teams.
After surviving brain surgery for a massive tumor when I was 11-year-old, my father’s character changed, and he became even more dedicated to living his life to help others. He was given a very short life expectancy, and our family moved from Chicago, to the small town of Whitehall, Wisconsin, where my grandparents lived.
The kindness shown to my dad and our family was overwhelming, and the friends he made, stood with him, remaining true friends through all the pain and suffering he withstood.
The cancer had crippled his left side, and took part of his brain. Short-term memory was poor, and he had to learn how to walk again. When I began playing football in junior high, my father used a cane and delivered my 3-mile-long paper route for me on weekdays. He fell twice, breaking his leg. But that didn’t stop him. He was never asked to do it, but wanted to help me out so I could stay in sports.
During my years of high school sports in Whitehall, my parents became very involved in forming a booster club. My dad also was the Sunday School superintendant at church, and active with the Lions Club and American Legion. He attended every game I played, and it didn’t stop there!
After I graduated from high school and went on to college, dad never stopped supporting high school sports and other school activities. Nearly every night of the year, he was attending some kind of event. He either walked with his cane across town to the school, or caught a ride with a parent to an away game.
My dad stood out in a crowd. It was that horse-shoe shaped scar that circled his head, where the grapefruit-sized tumor was cut out. He yelled a little louder than most sports fans, and struggled to control his emotions when the referees made a mistake in his mind.
When the cancer came back 11 years later, it spared nothing in making him suffer. The inoperable tumors had grown through the back of his skull. The cancer took its unsweet time, and my father fought for two years in the hospital, before he died on March 15, 1986, the night before the Whitehall Norseman basketball team played out an incredible game, sending them to the Wisconsin State Tournament. A feat that hadn’t happened in many years. The team dedicated the game to him, as well as Mrs. Anderson, the principal’s wife who was suffering from a brain cyst.
Before his death, school officials and the Letterman’s Club presented him with a lettermans jacket, complete with all the sports medals, his name, and “#1 fan” displayed on the front. Dad was given a signed game ball the summer before from the school baseball team, who went on to the state tournament. He was also recognized as a Life Member of the Lions Club, and presented with a Distinguished Service Award from the American Legion.
His casket was decorated with an American Flag for his military service, and surrounded by orange and white flowers - the school colors. Athletes wore their lettermans jackets and filled the front rows of the packed church during the funeral.
As a child it wasn’t easy dealing with the stares and rude comments from people who didn’t know him. Only as an adult, have I realized how dedicated and proud he was to be my father, and supporter of the school athletics, years after I graduated.
I will never meet another person as kind and unselfish as my father. I will strive to promote good sportsmanship and pass on the qualities and traditions taught to me by my parents. In my eyes, there only is one #1 fan, and that is my dad.
Happy fathers day dad!
-Bob Hammerstrom
(Top) My sister, Dawn gives a kiss to my father after her wedding. He was hospitalized and not able to attend.
(Center) Whitehall Times newspaper clipping of my father being presented with the lettermans jacket by the school administrators, coaches and athletes who were his friends.
(Bottom) Portrait by Don Himsel of Bob Hammerstrom holding his father’s lettermans jacket.
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