Harvard Baseball Coach Dies At 58

July 31, 2012 / Baseball
ESPNBoston.com

http://espn.go.com/boston/story/_/id/8218547/longtime-harvard-baseball-coach-joe-walsh-dies

Longtime Harvard baseball coach Joe Walsh, who led the team to five Ivy League championships, died on Tuesday at his home in Chester, N.H.

“This is a tragic day for everyone associated with Harvard athletics, Massachusetts baseball and the larger baseball community,” Harvard athletic director Bob Scalise said in a release. “Joe’s passion for the game redefined success in the Ivy League and he positively impacted the lives of so many people. To say that he will be missed would be an understatement.”

Walsh, 58, held what he called his “dream job” of coaching Harvard baseball for the past 17 years. Before that he coached at his alma mater, Suffolk University, for 15 years and was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.

In 32 years as a college coach, Walsh posted a 569-564-3 record. His most successful year at Harvard was in 1998, when he led the team to a 36-12 record and a top-25 national ranking.

He won Northeast region Coach of the Year honors in 1997 and 1998.

Walsh was also heavily involved with the Cape Cod League, where he coached the Brewster Whitecaps in 1988 and worked with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox and the Wareham Gatemen in the 1990s.

In addition, Walsh was known to throw batting practice at Fenway Park, and ran youth baseball camps and clinics throughout the region.


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