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

New Faculty Deans Announced for Currier House

Education professor Nancy Hill and her husband Rendall Howell will start their roles in July.

Mark Carney on the Limits of Soft Power

At the 2026 Davos summit, the Canadian prime minister echoes Harvard’s Joseph Nye.

Are Creators the Future of Democracy?

A Harvard panel considers how “parasocial relationships” might drive democratic engagement.

Most popular

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

Can new approaches to education address a growing gender gap?

Harvard Students Restore the Old Burying Ground

Members of the Hasty Pudding Institute help revive the graves of former Harvard presidents.

Five Questions with Dick Friedman

Harvard Magazine’s longstanding football editor reflects on his career in journalism.

Explore More From Current Issue

Four men in a small boat struggle with rough water, one lying down and others watching.

The 1884 Cannibalism-at-Sea Case That Still Has Harvard Talking

The Queen v. Dudley and Stephens changed the course of legal history. Here’s why it’s been fodder for countless classroom debates.

Four young people sitting around a table playing a card game, with a chalkboard in the background.

On Weekends, These Harvard Math Professors Teach the Smaller Set

At Cambridge Math Circle, faculty and alumni share puzzles, riddles, and joy.

Evolutionary progression from primates to humans in a colorful illustration.

Why Humans Walk on Two Legs

Research highlights our evolutionary ancestors’ unique pelvis.