CARVER – Behind every amateur baseball team are people working behind the scenes to make things happen. For the Carver Black Sox, that man was Hollace Brockoff.
The man they call “Holly” worked tirelessly over the years helping the organization. The Black Sox family suffered a huge loss back in November when Brockoff passed away due to health complications.
“We all kind of knew he wasn’t feeling very well,” Black Sox manager Brian Tichy said. “This last year he was really struggling with things. We knew he was in the hospital. It wasn’t so much of a surprise as it was the finality of it all. We kind of anticipated it that with his breathing problems something was going to happen.”
While the passing of Brockoff wasn’t that much a surprise, it still hit the Black Sox family hard.
“The void is the big thing,” Tichy said. “You go through life with people all around you and all of a sudden they’re gone. That’s when the void starts to show up. That hit pretty much everybody. You always expect a miracle.”
Brockoff has been a staple of the Carver organization. Through the tough times where wins and players were hard to come by, to becoming one of the top teams in Class C and a perennial powerhouse, Brockoff was there.
“He’s been around the block forever,” Tichy said. “When I got there 12 years ago, he was already a fixture. You need that kind of person to base your group of people around. Even though when I came over we made some changes, there was still some consistency that Hollace brought.”
When Tichy arrived to manage the Black Sox, Brockoff made the transition easy. Already a presence in the community, learning the ropes came easy for Tichy.
“He was part of the old Carver,” Tichy said. “He was the old Carver. He knew everybody in town. That made it a lot easier for me. When you talk about doing things in Carver, everybody knows Hollace. They all knew him. He was the foundation of the organization.”
Tichy and Brockoff became close over the years. After rebuilding Carver over the years, it all came together for the Black Sox when they reached the state tournament in 2017, breaking their 34-year drought.
“It had been 30 some years the last time Carver had been to the state tournament,” Tichy said. “Carver’s record hadn’t been very good for a few years. In 2017 when we first went to the state tournament, it was a big deal. It was a big thing for him to be part of it. He was very much a part of it. Even the last few years we’ve made it, it means just as much as that first time. You can never assume you’re going to make it again. He always appreciated it every time we made it.”
Brockoff was known for showing up to practices throughout the season. He just so happened to come at the right time when things were wrapping up and some cold adult beverages were being served as well.
“I think that was the most memorable thing about Hollace,” Tichy said. “Maybe it was the games, but more it was the relaxing times at the park and in the dugout after practices. We’d have practice and he’d like to get out there about a half-hour before the beer came out. They tried charging him for beers but finally started to just give him some at the games. He was kind of rough around the edges, but he was a lot of fun. When we had practice, he would always sit around the dugout after. He would pull up a chair, light up a cigarette, and pull out a cooler and tell stories.”
With the 2022 season coming up shortly, Brockoff’s presence has already been missed around the Black Sox. Over the past few months since his passing, stories have been told and beverages have been had.
“We had a meeting last week and the bartender at Lisa’s knew Hollace really well,” Tichy said. “She came over to the table and talked about how weird it’s going to be this year without him. It will be very different. You had to know him to see how much he meant to the team.”
While Brockoff’s rough exterior might chase away some, he was a simple man. A man who loved baseball. A man who loved the Carver Black Sox. But most of all, he was a man who loved his son.
“He loved his son Dustin,” Tichy said. “He’s his only kid. I think he would do anything for him. The one thing I will say about him is every time we left the park and Dustin was there, he’d tell Dustin he loved him. It’s kind of striking to see a father and son like that. Guys aren’t always emotional people, but that one thing is one of the most striking things about Hollace. The relationship between the two of them was really strong.”