Dick Tol

Born in Volendam as the son of well-to-do fishmonger, Kees Tol, Dick Tol began playing for FC Volendam after World War II. He was not a technical gifted player, but mainly relied on his explosiveness and physical strength. He was nicknamed "De Knoest" ("The Burl"), an honorary title his grandfather once earned after he saved his boat as a captain during a storm by scooping the boat empty with a bucket for eight hours in a row. De Knoest therefore refers to the primal power of the fisherman, a symbol of the town of Volendam. Despite Tol being a renowned goalscorer as a youth player, exemplified by scoring 12 goals in a whopping 48–0 win over RKEDO from De Goorn, he only made his debut in the first-team of Volendam at age 21 under head coach Leen van Woerkom. In his first season in the top-tier Eerste Klasse, he scored thirty goals. A season later, in the newly established Eerste Divisie, he hit the target 36 times, making him the top goalscorer of the competition. In the 1958–59 season, Volendam was promoted to the Eredivisie, only to suffer relegation again a year later. A second promotion followed a year later. Tol became the top goalscorer of the Eredivisie in the 1961–62 season with 27 goals, despite missing nine matches that season due to an injury. His team finished seventh that year. The striker's good performances led to his first call-up to the Netherlands national team, who played against Denmark on 26 September 1962. Three days before the international fixture, Tol…

After his playing career, Tol coached amateur club OSV from Oostzaan. Later, he was a coordinator of the FC Volendam coaches as well as a youth coach at the club. He was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 1973, and died at the age of 39 in the Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis hospital in Amsterdam due to complications shortly after receiving colon surgery.