Harvard's baseball coach Joe Walsh dies suddenly at 58

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

Joe Walsh

Head baseball coach Joe Walsh died suddenly at his Chester, N.H., home early on July 31.

Walsh, 58, served proudly in his self-professed “dream job” for the past 17 seasons, winning five Ivy League championships. He played baseball at Suffolk University, where he assumed his first head-coaching job in the 1980-81 season. He came to Harvard in 1996 as the first full-time, endowed baseball coach, a position funded by former player (and now Harvard Corporaton member) Joseph J. O’Donnell ’67, M.B.A. ’71.

Walsh’s college coaching record is 569-564-3, including the Crimson record 1998 season of 36-12. He is survived by his wife, Sandra, and their four daughters.

Related topics

You might also like

Harvard Scholars Discuss Venezuela After Maduro

A Harvard Kennedy School panel unpacks the nation’s oil sector, economy, and democratic hopes.

Five Questions with Willy Shih

A Harvard Business School professor unpacks the economics of semiconductors.

HAA Announces Overseers and Directors Slate for 2026

Alumni will vote this spring for members of two key governing boards

Most popular

Why Men Are Falling Behind in Education, Employment, and Health

Can new approaches to education address a growing gender gap?

Harvard Commencement 2018

Speakers, ceremonies, and celebrations

Explore More From Current Issue

An axolotl with a pale body and pink frilly gills, looking directly at the viewer.

Regenerative Biology’s Baby Steps

What axolotl salamanders could teach us about limb regrowth

A football player kicking a ball while another teammate holds it on the field.

A Near-Perfect Football Season Ends in Disappointment

A loss to Villanova derails Harvard in the playoffs. 

A man skiing intensely in the snow, with two spectators in the background.

Introductions: Dan Cnossen

A conversation with the former Navy SEAL and gold-medal-winning Paralympic skier