Head Baseball Coach Joe Walsh Dies Suddenly

He coached for the past 17 seasons and won five Ivy League championships.

Coach Walsh in a photograph taken on April 9 <a href="http://harvardmagazine.com/2012/04/harvard-at-fenway-100-years-later"> at a Harvard baseball practice at Fenway Park, part of the Red Sox centennial celebration</a>

Harvard Athletics has announced that head baseball coach Joe Walsh died suddenly at his Chester, N.H., home early this morning. “This is a tragic day for everyone associated with Harvard athletics, Massachusetts baseball, and the larger baseball community,” Nichols Family director of athletics Bob Scalise told The Boston Globe. “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, served proudly in his self-professed “dream job” for the past 17 seasons, winning five Ivy League championships. He made a name for himself, writes Steve Buckley of The Boston Herald, at his alma mater, Suffolk University, where he overcame the small detail that his school had neither a practice facility nor a home field by sneaking into other schools’ facilities.

“He definitely wore his heart on his sleeve,” longtime Suffolk University athletic director Jim Nelson, who coached Walsh, told The Herald. “To have him as one of your friends was a true blessing, and he was definitely one of my friends. I’m still coming to grips with the reality of this as I speak the words.”

On the night of Walsh's death, the crowd at Fenway Park stood and removed its caps for a moment of silence in his honor as the scoreboards and displays were turned off. The PA announcer introduced the observance with a few words of rememberance, including a mention of Walsh bringing his Harvard team to Fenway on April 9 for a batting-practice workout to commemorate the first game played there, between Harvard and the Red Sox, 100 years earlier. Walsh appears in the video included with this report on that memorable day at the ballpark.  

You might also like

Harvard Medalists

Four people honored for exceptional service to the University

Two Momentous Faculty Retirements

Arthur Kleinman and Harry Lewis depart the classroom.

Five Questions with Cass R. Sunstein

The Harvard Law professor and constitutional scholar on what Star Wars can tell us about today’s Supreme Court

Most popular

A Ray of Light amid Middle East Devastation

Harvard’s Lisa Randall on Israeli and Palestinian scientists working together

The New Gender Gaps

What to do as men and boys fall behind

Rebecca Henderson: Does Capitalism Need to be Reimagined?

How to reform capitalism to confront climate change and extreme inequality, with economist and McArthur University Professor Rebecca Henderson

Explore More From Current Issue

The Trump Administration's Impact on Higher Education

Unprecedented federal actions against research funding, diversity, speech, and more

89664

Jessica Shand—Math and Music at Harvard

Jessica Shand blends math and music.

89677

Paper Peepshows at Harvard's Baker Library

How “paper peepshows” brought distant realms to life

89684