Babe Ruth League Bids Farewell to a Legend

With a smile on our face, a tear in our eye, and a hole in our hearts, Babe Ruth League bids farewell to a legend - Manuel “Manny” A.Manny Gouveia, 90, who passed away on Sunday, October 2, 2016.  

Manny was a lifelong resident of Clifton.  In 1955, he married Helen Van Dongen, and they enjoyed 44 years together before her passing in 1999.  Together they raised three daughters.  While attending Clifton High School, Manny was drafted into the Army in WW II.  He was a combat veteran who served with the 36th Division, 143rd Regiment, Co. K in Germany.  After the war ended, he returned home and attended night school to earn his diploma.  Manny was employed as a truck driver and maintenance worker for Howe Richardson Scale Company for over 45 years before his retirement in 1992.

Manny’s lifelong passion was sports.  He played semi-pro football for various teams around the Clifton area, raced ¾ midget cars and played softball for his company team.  He lost his chance to try out for a professional football team when he broke both wrists in a semi-pro game a week before the tryout.

Because of his love of sports, Manny was an avid youth football and baseball coach.  He took coaching seriously and made sure the players were well coached and well educated in the art of playing the game. He never forgot one important thing as a coach:  the object was to have fun, and he made sure that happened.

Involved with Babe Ruth League, Inc., for 61 years, Manny first served as a manager and league officer with the Clifton Babe Ruth League, then as the Northern New Jersey State Commissioner and as an Assistant Middle Atlantic Regional Commissioner.  He received numerous awards form civic groups over the years for his dedication to the youth of Clifton.  In 1998, he was elected to the Babe Ruth League International Hall of Fame, and in 2012, to the newly formed Middle Atlantic Babe Ruth League Hall of Fame.

Positively changing the lives of children and meeting new people were the big reasons why Manny stuck with the Babe Ruth League program for 61 years.  Gouveia would often comment about how much he cared about the youth, the community and the Babe Ruth League program as a whole.  In addition, he would always boast about the wonderful people he met on the road traveling for Babe Ruth League and the great time he had getting to know them.  In addition to traveling to Middle Atlantic Regional Babe Ruth events, Manny attended over 40 Babe Ruth League World Series.  His World Series travels brought him to well over a dozen states where he met hundreds of people and survived two hurricanes – one at the 1991 Babe Ruth 16-Year-Old World Series in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and the other at the 1992 13-15 World Series in Houma, Louisiana. 

Manny’s love for the game was contagious.  His daughter, Evelyn Skiendziel, fell in love with baseball when she was 9 years old.  She was proud to follow in her dad’s footsteps, serving as a bat girl, coach, and a state and regional volunteer for Babe Ruth League.  Evelyn is still involved with Babe Ruth League today as an Assistant Regional Commissioner for the Middle Atlantic Region.

Manny was also an avid New York Yankees fan.  He was the type of fan who would drive 13 hours from his home in Clifton to catch a ballgame because the New York Yankees weren’t in town. 

Manny sincerely cherished the countless hours he was able to spend at the ballpark.  He enjoyed an occasional cigar and a package of cheese doodles.  He was a man with simple tastes, but more importantly, he was a man who had a huge and lasting influence on all who knew him. 

Babe Ruth League is extremely fortunate to have had Manny Gouveia a member of its team.  His memory will live on in all of us.  He was Babe Ruth Royalty and is truly a Legend.

Manny Gouveia (pictured far left) and his daughter Evelyn Skiendziel (far right) pose for a photo at the ballpark.
Manny And Evelyn

1969 Bertelli's Football Team from Clifton Park, New Jersey.  Picture far left is head coach Manny Gouveia.
Manny As Football Coach