Saturday May 14 the girls softball team rededicated their field in his honor out of respect for all that he has done.
Assistant softball coach and former player Andrea Papadopoulos felt that the ceremony revealing the new name of the field honored Hessling in the right light.
“I thought the memorial was beautifully written, I think that Bill Sherman did an excellent job of showing respect to Hessling and all of his accomplishments at Seaholm,” Papadopoulos said. “He really did a nice job of pulling it all together and I’m glad we renamed the field to Coach Hessling but also kept Foresters name on it because they were both important figures to Seaholm and softball.”
Papadopoulos believes that Hessling deserved to have the field named in his honor due to his role in building the softball program.
He built the program, he’s the one who started it all,” Papadopoulos said. “He knew little about it but he started from the ground up and built an amazing softball program. He made many girls like me really love everything about softball.”
Hessling shared a special bond with many of the girls he coached like former player Alyssa Tropea.
“[Hessling] was one of the first people that ever truly believed in me, minus my father, so I think we put this in his honor just to show our appreciation for him.”
Tropea and her family donated $600 for the memorial in Hessling’s honor.
Like Tropea, Papadopoulos shared a similar relationship with Hessling during her playing days at Seaholm.
“He was like a father figure to me very loving and caring tough on the outside but very sweet and considerate I was always very close with him.” Papodopoulos said.
Tropea’s father, Richard Tropea also understood his kind heart and great relationships with his players.
“He was not only a coach, he was a friend.”
