Peter Hulswit
Honored in 1999

Oak Harbor , Washington

Peter is a native of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where he was active in many sporting pursuits during the 1930's. He completed training in physical therapy and massage in 1939, acquiring the incredible manual ability he would put to such good use for decades to come. World War II brought a decided change to Pete's life. From 1939 to 1942 he was part of the Dutch Resistance, aiding in the effort to smuggle Jews out of Holland. He was captured by the Nazi's in 1942, and was imprisoned at the Sachsenhausen-Orienburg concentration camp until the liberation in 1945. He credits his sports experience and massage, with helping him to survive the camp experience.

In 1957, under an Eisenhower-administration program that sponsored former concentration camp inmates to come to the United States, the Hulswits came to Oak Harbor. Starting in 1970, Pete began to volunteer as a trainer at the Oak Harbor High School. He traveled with the football, wrestling, and track teams regularly. In order to be prepared for serious injuries to the athletes he felt responsible for, he completed the Emergency Medical Technician course and was certified as an EMT.

He is well known to the wrestling and track coaches in Washington as the man to see if your athletes need the "miracle hands" to maintain or restore competitive status. Pete has been an important part of every state wrestling tournament (initially "AAA", and then for all 11 Mat Classics) since 1974. He has worked on literally hundreds of state-level wrestlers. His skill in massage has become legendary, and his special joy is to help a wrestler, who otherwise would not make it through because of pain or injury, stay in the tournament and get up onto the medal stand. He even works on injured officials and coaches.

His nominator and former Contributors Award recipient Warren Howe writes, "For all he does, Pete has never accepted a penny in compensation. He pays his own expenses to the tournaments at which he works, and gets to watch the action for only short bursts of time between massages. He is, for the most part invisible to most everybody except those who depend on him, and they are never disappointed. Several years ago, when Mat Classic happened to overlap Pete's February 22nd Birthday, he was overwhelmed when Ed Aliverti led the Tacoma Dome assemblage in singing 'Happy Birthday to Pete.' As a previous recipient (of the Contributors Award) I would say that if I deserved it, Pete deserves it a great deal more."

Nominated in 1999 by Warren Howe, Contributors Award Recipient