CKSR (Longtime Calvin Coach and Professor Passes Away)

SPECIAL CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR JUNE 18, 2011

LONGTIME CALVIN COACH/PROFESSOR DIES

GRAND RAPIDS - Calvin College has lost one of its legendary Knights.

Dr. Marvin A. Zuidema passed away late this afternoon after a battle with
illness of just over a year. He was 75.

Known as "Dr. Z" to those in the Calvin community, Zuidema touched many lives
at Calvin, in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association and in
collegiate athletics across the country.

A native of Muskegon, Zuidema graduated from Calvin College in 1957. He
continued on to earn a master's degree at Michigan State University and in
1961, returned to Calvin as an instructor and coach in the school's physical
education department. For the next 43 years, he served the Calvin physical
education department as a professor, department chair, coach and director of
men's athletics.

"My life at Calvin has been one of wearing many hats," said Zuidema in a
retirement tribute in Calvin's alumni magazine Spark in 2004. Indeed.

As a coach, Zuidema was the head coach of the Calvin men's tennis team for
seven years as well as the head baseball coach for 10 years. As baseball coach,
he led Calvin to three MIAA titles. His most storied coaching run however came
in men's soccer soccer as he served as Calvin's head coach for 36 years.

Zuidema took over the reins of the Calvin men's soccer program in 1961 and
remained in that position through the 1997 season, missing only the 1968 season
while completing work on his Ph.D at Indiana University. In 36 years as men's
soccer coach at Calvin, Zuidema posted a won-loss record of 341-175-48 for a
.647 winning percentage which included 14 MIAA titles, four NCAA III Tournament
berths including an appearance in the national quarterfinals in 1980. He is
ranked 16th all-time in NCAA Division III men’s soccer for career victories. In
1993, he became the first coach in the state of Michigan - at any level - to
reach the 300-win plateau in soccer.

Prior to taking over as men's soccer coach in 1961, Zuidema had little
background in the sport. He had gained some knowledge as a graduate assistant
at Michigan University before coming to Calvin but had never played the game
himself. Nonetheless, Calvin's director of athletics at the time, Dave Tuuk,
convinced Zuidema to take the job. "He (Tuuk) said to me, 'Marv, I know you
love baseball but I really have to ask you to take soccer. It's OK if you don't
know everything about the game. You can learn it; the guys on the team will
help you. You'll be fine,”” recalled Zuidema in his interview with Spark.

A year later, the man who had never played organized soccer coached Calvin to a
first-place tie for the champoinship of a league that included the only seven
schools in the Midwest to field soccer teams; Calvin shared the title with
Michigan State University. In 1970, soccer became an official varsity sport in
the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

Under Zuidema's director, Calvin began to host soccer clinics and tournaments
for the area's Christian high schools. From Grand RApids-area high schools,
excitement rippled outward and spread, as Calvin soccer players graduated and
took jobs teaching the sport. At one time, Zuidema counted more than 100 of his
former players coaching soccer in schools around the state and country. His
successor as Calvin men's soccer coach, Dave VerMerris, was one of his former
players. Calvin's current head men's soccer coach Chris Hughes, was a four-year
player for Zuidema from 1987-to-1990. Calvin's current head women's soccer
coach, Mark Recker, was also a four-year player for Zuidema from 1976-to-1979.

"It's a warm, wonderful feeling to see the sport develop the way it did in our
community," said Zuidema in his retirement tribute in Spark. "To see your
former players spread the love of the game has been very gratifying."

During the 1970's, Zuidema began taking college and high school players every
four years on summer trips overseas to Europe where the Knighseries of games against club teams in France, Germany, Switzerland and the
Netherlands. The trips to Europe were based just as much on culture and
education as they were on athletics however. Players on the tours visited
historical sites in cities such as Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and Munich. The
tours also featured visits to the World War I battlefield in Verdun, France as
well as to Arnehm's John Frost Bridge in the Netherlands made famous in the
1977 World War II film A Bridge Too Far. Zuidema took great pleasure in
watching the players experience European history in person for the first time.

"The trips to Europe were very memorable," said Zuidema in an interview with
the Calvin Sports Information office a few years back. "Our players came back
from those trips with a new appreciation for history and the way Europe views
the game of soccer."

Zuidema also had a national impact in soccer in America, serving as the
Division III National Chairperson to the National Soccer Coaches Association of
America. In 1998, he received one of the highest honors in all of collegiate
soccer as he was awarded the Bill Jeffrey Award by the National Soccer Coaches
Association. The Bill Jeffrey Award is named in honor of the legendary Penn
State and former U.S. National (Men’s) Team coach who served as NSCAA's
president in 1948 and received the NSCAA Honor Award in 1949. It is presented
annually for outstanding service to or achievement in intercollegiate soccer.
The individual's contributions must have made a positive impact on the
improvement, advancement or presentation of intercollegiate soccer.
In addition, Zuidema served the MIAA as the conference men's soccer coordinator
for over 20 years. In 1999, the MIAA instituted the Dr. Marvin Zuidema Award
for men's soccer. The award honors a senior men's soccer player in the MIAA
each fall. The recipient is selected for his contributions to team play,
leadership qualities, demonstration of ethical virtues and excellence in
athletics and academics -- all principles that Zuidema cherished deeply.
In 2005, the soccer field at Calvin was renamed Zuidema Field in his honor. The
renaming of the field took place at halftime of a men's soccer game between
Calvin and Hope.
After retiring as men's soccer coach at Calvin at the conclusion of the 1997
season, Zuidema transitioned into an administrator's role, taking on the
position of Calvin's director of men's athletics - a position he held from
1997-to-2003. During his six-year term as Calvin's director of men's athletics,
the Knights captured four national championships - two in women's cross country
and one each in men's basketball and men's cross country. Calvin also captured
19 MIAA team championships during that time.

While serving as the men's AD at Calvin, Zuidema took on the additional role as
MIAA secretary to the Committe on Athletics. Zuidema served as MIAA secretary
up through this winter.

Zuidema also had a deep passion for academic scholarship and instruction. After
completing his Ph.D. at Indiana University in 1968, he was encouraged by Nick
Wolterstorff, then a professor in Calvin's philosopy department, to begin to
work out on paper the Christian approach to physical education that he was
practicing on the field and in the gym. Those jottings eventually became an
entire K-12 curriculum published by Christian Schools International (CSI). Now
in its fourth printing, the curriculum is used by schools far beyond the CSI
umbrella.
As a professor in the Calvin physical education department, he served as
department chairperson for several years and also served as the director of the
department's teacher education program.

In 2009, Zuidema received the Faith and Learning Award from the Calvin Alumni
Association. The award, given annually since 1992, is granted to a current or
former Calvin professor for excellence in teaching, spiritual impact, concern
for students and lasting influence. Candidates are nominated by Calvin alumni
and chosen by a committee of alumni boIn a congratulatory note to Zuidema upon receiving the award, a 1974 Calvin
alumn wrote: “Your writings on physical education, especially in materials
produced for CSI had a lot of impact on the programs of the schools with which
I worked. [You are recognized] as a colleague concerned with the development of
people who see their bodies as a gift from God and are committed to their
maintenance. Thank you for your work. It has had an impact far greater than you
know.”
His former players also sent words of thanks at the time of the award one of
whom wrote: “Coach Marv Zuidema was a coach whose leadership, influence and
speech, on and off the field clearly portrayed a Christian lifestyle and
witness that positively influenced us during our tenure at Calvin.”
Zuidema is survived by his wife Virginia, sons Roger and Kevin, daughter Vonnie
and several grandchildren.
Funeral and visitation information will be released when available.
Received on Sat Jun 18 19:56:20 2011