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Dougie Heymans left huge boots to fill at KovsieSport

15 June 2021 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Supplied

A Shimla great, a passionate rugby and family man, and a dream colleague are just some of the descriptions of how Dougie Heymans will be remembered.

Heymans, Assistant Director: KovsieSport and Head of Rugby, passed away on Monday due to the COVID-19 disease. He was 58.

He will leave a massive legacy in his capacity as rugby administrator, said DB Prinsloo, Director of KovsieSport. “Dougie was so precise in his work. He had a huge work ethic. Everything he did was textbook stuff. He is going to be missed immensely.”

According to Prinsloo, messages of condolence have been pouring in from far and wide. One of many was from former Protea cricket great, Allan Donald, nowadays the head coach of the Knights cricket team.
“It is indeed a shock to the entire sporting world. I knew Dougie very well, his involvement with varsity rugby, but also rugby in the Free State, made a huge impact on sports. This is a huge loss not only for the Cheetahs, but also Bloemfontein and the entire region. We sadly lost a legend,” he said.

Heymans played for the Shimlas between 1989 and 1994 and went on to represent the Free State in 154 matches until 2001.In 2009, he started working for the University of the Free State. He was the man in charge of Varsity Cup matches at Shimla Park.
“They say no one is irreplaceable, but it is going to be tough to follow in his massive footsteps. It is very hard not having him around anymore. He was a fantastic colleague,” Prinsloo said.

Former Shimla and Springbok, Toks van der Linde, who played with and against Heymans, said he had lost a great friend. “He was more than a friend, like a brother to us younger guys. RIP big brother, we are going to miss you.”

News Archive

PSP rejuvenating the South African professoriate

2016-10-25

Description: Dr Olihile Sebolai Tags: Dr Olihile Sebolai

Dr Olihile Sebolai (Microbiology) is
one of two Fulbright scholars the
UFS Prestige Scholars’ Programme
has produced. He was a Fulbright
scholar at the University of Missouri
(Kansas City) and before that
conducted work at the University
of Birmingham in the UK.
Photo: Anja Aucamp

Twenty years. That is the difference between the average age of a UFS Prestige Scholar (35) and the average age of a South African academic (55). Since its inception in 2011, the UFS’s Prestige Scholars’ Programme (PSP) has pro-actively addressed the ageing profile of academia and the need to transform the social composition of the South African academy. In doing so it has generated more than R67 million in research funding, including R10 million in student and post-doctoral funding.

The programme seeks to identify, cultivate and promote outstanding scholarship among “young” members of the UFS academic staff – those who have acquired a doctorate within the last five years. It provides support (funding applications, report writing, etc.) and helps with international placements in order to accelerate the establishment of an international footprint in expectation of the participants’ entry into the professoriate.

The programme mentors scholars from five faculties at the UFS. PSP scholars have conducted research and established collaborations in North America, Europe and Japan at institutions such as Harvard, UCLA, Cornell University, University of Michigan, University of Missouri, University of British Columbia, Oxford University, Cambridge University, University of Manchester, University of Birmingham, Basel University, University of Bologna, Leiden University, Uppsala University, Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology and Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine.

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