All Hans Falkenhan would like to do today is have a beer with his dad.
Frank Falkenhan III was always there for Hans, the youngest of his three children. He was Hans? first baseball coach and went to all of his games as Hans grew up in Silver Spring.
But all that changed on July 1, 2000 when Frank succumbed after a yearlong battle with lymphoma. He was 53.
“I was just 15 years old and at a baseball tournament when he passed away,” said Hans, a senior infielder with the Towson University baseball team. “It hurt not being there for him at that time.”
Frank spent his final days at Montgomery Hospice in Rockville, a place Hans credits with helping his father and his family cope with such a difficult time. Hans said hospices are more than just a place where someone goes to die.
“People think that if you go into hospice, that you?re giving up,” said Hans, 22. “But his cancer was terminal. They had counselors there to help us and my dad and really helped us all a lot.”
The Falkenhan family has donated money to Montgomery Hospice a number of times in the years since Frank passed away. However, Hans had always wanted to find the perfect way of helping out the center while also honoring his father?s memory.
It came together recently by accident. Hans? mother, Susan, was looking at her son?s baseball schedule online when she stumbled upon a program created by University of Jacksonville baseball player Logan James called “Hits for Hospice.” James got people to sponsor him for every hit he got last season and donated the funds to an area hospice in honor of his late grandfather.
Hans loved the idea and proposed it to Towson baseball coach Mike Gottlieb and school athletic department officials. After getting clearance from the NCAA, Hans will take the idea one step further, gathering sponsors for every hit Towson?s baseball team gets this season and giving the funds to Montgomery Hospice. The Tigers have averaged 551 hits the last three seasons, including 557 in 54 games in 2006.
“I can?t think of a better way to honor my father?s memory,” Hans said. “Even when he was really sick, my dad would get out to my games. And like I said, the Montgomery Hospice was so helpful to my family when we needed them.”
Hans is excited about the charity drive, but coping with his father?s death has not always been easy. He has dealt with some pretty tough memories of his father?s final days.
“Losing my dad made me grow up pretty fast, and I definitely wasn?t as outgoing for a long time,” he said. “Baseball helped a lot because he would have wanted me to keep playing. The hardest part right now is seeing others on the team with their dads, and it?s like they?re more buddies than parent and child. I never got to experience that with my dad.”
Gottlieb said he is very proud of what Hans is doing and has promised the team?s full support for this endeavor, including providing pledge forms at all Towson home games.
“IfTowson has done one percent of the work, then Hans has done the other 99 percent,” Gottlieb said. “I?m going to wait and see on whether we?ll do this in the future, but I?m receptive to the idea. If the support is there, I say, ?Let?s do it.?”
Those interested in making a pledge online can visit montgomeryhospice.org/baseball.
Ron Snyder is a staff writer for The Examiner. He can be reached at [email protected].
