Softball players honor late umpire Morris

Bob Morris was an umpire almost anyone who played softball knew. Morris umpired for more than 30 years at various locations in and around the Sacramento area, including Roseville. Upon his death last September, some softball players, including Richard Peeters of West Roseville, felt something should be done for Morris. "Bob was an umpire that pretty much every single adult softball league player knew who he was," Peeters said. "He umpired my daughter's softball games and he did our adult softball games and he also refereed basketball and football games. He'd do fast-pitch softball games in the morning, football games in the afternoon and then basketball games in the evening." Peeters contacted the city of Roseville and USA Softball trying to get a memorial for Morris, but to no avail, so he decided to do something about it himself. "This guy deserved something major so I threw a weekend softball tournament and everyone came together and we raised $3,000 and had a bench made in his honor," Peeters said. "He's a good dude and everyone respected him. He was a friendly guy and a good umpire who did his job well. He was an all-around good guy."