THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 3, 1994 TAG: 9407020167
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 28 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Lee Tolliver
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Frank Mehrtens loved softball. Few have ever loved the game any more.
Oh sure, there were those who played the game better. But that doesn't matter.
Frank was what softball is all about.
Unfortunately, local softball won't have Frank anymore. He passed away a week ago, Wednesday.
At 34, he went too young because of complications and internal bleeding from aneurysms around the spleen and liver.
He will be dearly missed.
Frank's softball career started after he graduated from Kellam High School in 1978. He and a bunch of friends formed a team known affectionately as the ``Dirt Rats.''
The name fit this crew.
Their jerseys were nothing more than T-shirts with numbers and a small logo of a funky looking rat. Some wore blue jeans, and others, cutoff shorts. There was little uniformity about this bunch.
And there was little question that the guys could play ball. They were a scrappy, base-hitting, hard-running bunch who prided themselves on exiting the field in the dirtiest state and with another victory under their belts.
These were the developing years for a group of young softballers playing a game dominated by those with considerably more experience.
They were the days Frank learned to love the game.
Frank usually played catcher or first base because of his size. You didn't want to run into Frank.
Through a thick, bushy, Fu Manchu mustache, he would pose a devilish smile when the opportunity for a collision arose.
But Frank wasn't one to hurt anyone on purpose.
No, he leaves behind a reputation as a caring person who would do anything he could for a friend.
He never shared his pain, a suffering that had gone on since he had a bout with hepatitis as a youth.
``I talked to him a few weeks ago, and we were making plans to go to Atlanta to see Kurt (Coffield),'' said former Dirt Rats teammate Rick Perez. ``We were going to see a few Braves games. I asked how he was feeling, and he said he felt great - said he was getting better.''
Frank's death has been - like it is for most friends of someone who has passed away - extremely hard on those around him.
``It really has,'' said Dewey Fussell, a fellow Norfolk Naval Shipyard Shop 99 employee who was on the softball field with Frank and the rest of the Harrison's softball team the day he began to suffer from bad stomach pains.
``We worked together for about 15 years. We won a game that morning and went to breakfast. Frank wasn't eating and you know that wasn't like him. That's the last we saw of him and it's really shaken a lot of us up.''
The softball field won't seem the same for Fussell, Perez and guys like Mike Barnhart, who played with Frank on the Dirt Rats and Ivey Coaches teams.
``He really loved the game more than most, even though he knew he wasn't a great player or anything,'' Barnhart said. ``He was a team player. He did what needed to be done - you know, coaching a base or whatever.
``Everybody knew Frank, and everybody is in shock.''
The Virginia Beach Department of Parks and Recreation - in honor of Frank - has decided to name its male player of the year award the Frank Mehrtens Memorial. The top women's player receives the Kathy Tafelski Memorial Award.
Nearly 150 people showed up for Frank's funeral - many old friends from Kellam and new ones made almost weekly on the softball fields of South Hampton Roads.
No one ever wants to see a friend go, but when they have to, there is hope that they will go happily - doing something they love.
Frank's last days were spent on a softball field - a place he loved more than anything. MEMO: Got an interesting sports-related story to tell. If so, call The Beacon
at 490-7228 and let us know about it, or write to The Beacon, Sports
Department, 4565 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach, Va. 23462. The
fax number is 490-7235. by CNB