WILLIAM E. HATZELL
b. 23 August 1936 - d. 12 August 2000

Bill Hatzell was born on August 23, 1936 in Dyess, Arkansas and then moved to the bay area with his family during the 1940's.  He was a switch-hitting infielder for El Cerrito High School; won a state championship and batted .306 as a senior and team captain.  Bill was offered a baseball scholarship to Fresno State University, but instead chose to attend West Contra Costa Jr. College and went on to win another state baseball championship.

Bill majored in microbiology at San Francisco State University and then worked for a surgical supply company from 1966 to 2000.  Family was his most important activity and along with his wife Jean, raised five children in their San Jose home.

Bill umpired high school and youth baseball games from the 1970's until a few months before his death.  A member of the SCVFU for more than 20 years, he was a role model with superior umpiring skills and judgment.  Bill always complemented ball players when extra effort was delivered.  He said he umpired because it gave him the opportunity to "give back" to the game, something that he loved his entire life.

JAMES W. LEWIS
b. 20 January 1933 - d. 13 January 1998

Jim Lewis was born on January 20, 1933 in Cleburne, Texas and moved to Fresno, and then Oakland, before settling in Sunnyvale during the late 1940's.  Jim gradated from Fremont High School in 1951 where he "lettered" in football.

Jim worked as a production supervisor for Westinghouse in Sunnyvale for more than 39 years while raising three daughters and his only son, Jamie, who followed in his dad's footsteps at Westinghouse and in umpiring.

Jims interest in baseball began in Little League.  After coaching and winning several championships and volunteering for various league positions, he started umpiring in PONY and high school baseball during the early 1980's.  He spend more than 20 years umpiring youth baseball and was an SCVFU board member during his last few years.  In August of 1985, Jim was on stand-by duty for Major League Baseball because of a pending umpire strike.  For three days Jim headed a crew of three men who almost fulfilled their dreams of making the "big show."  In 1997, his last season in baseball, Jim did get to fulfill another dream and was accepted into the ranks of the CCCBUA and became a college umpire.