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By Linda Thomas
Hometown Weekly Correspondent
Play ball.
It’s more than a sport. It’s a way of life. At least it is for Rich McCarthy – Walpole’s community advocate. If he sees a hole, he’ll fill it.
“I’m not one to sit on the sidelines and just watch,” said the 70-year-old McCarthy, who retired three years ago after serving 20 years as custodian for the Walpole Public School District.
He’s touched the lives of students, teachers and staff at every school in the district. He’s been a catalyst for the recreation department, the Council on Aging and the town’s youth.
“Time I can put in,” he said. “I don’t have a lot of money to say, ‘Here, this will help you.’ All I can offer is a hand and my services.”
He says he doesn’t have to be the leader. He just wants to be involved.
“He was like the face of the school,” said Christine Sheedy, former instructional aid at the Johnson Middle School. “It didn’t matter whether it was during the school year, at a community event or just hanging out at the senior center, Rich was there – making every effort to take that extra step to be a community player.”
McCarthy would frequently get involved with projects around the school, including drama productions.
“He was always there to help during our drama productions,” Sheedy said. “After working all day he’d come in and help us set up, greet the people and hand out flyers. He’d volunteer his time even when he didn’t have to be there - finding the good in everyone, making everyone feel good and the first to offer encouragement.”
It was June 2012 and the school held its annual field day - the year McCarthy retired.
“He brought all the uniforms – tee-shirts from his old Little League days,” Sheedy said. “We asked him to be master of ceremonies, and recognized him because of our love for him. It was like he was receiving an award. There was a lot of fanfare. It was awesome. And he started the day off by shouting: ‘Play ball.’”
McCarthy has lived in Walpole since he was six months old. He is one of four brothers.
He and his wife Beverly (Johnson) have been married since 1970. The couple has raised two children: daughter Tracy and son Kevin. They have two grandchildren: Samantha and Zachary.
As a kid, he spent most of his time after school and on weekends playing baseball in a vacant lot across the street from his house.
"We had it divided between the big kids and the little kids," he recalls. "You couldn't play with the big kids until you hit the ball over the railroad tracks.”
Though some couldn’t get that ball over those tracks, young Rich McCarthy made sure they got to play in the game.
“That's what we tried to do ... to get the kids who couldn't really play for the big team and we wanted to make sure if we were shorthanded we let them play,” he said. “A lot of other kids said, 'you can't play because you're not a big kid, yet.' But I just wanted to make sure ... saying, ‘he's there ... we need a body ... get him in.’”
He grew up in a neighborhood where neighbors helped each other out.
Still, as he did growing up, McCarthy takes leaves to the compost dump, shovels snow and mows lawns for his neighbors.
He’s also spent most of his adult life mentoring and managing the town’s youth baseball and serving as president of the Babe Ruth League.
“You won’t find a better person in the town of Walpole than Rich McCarthy,” said Eric Kraus. “He’s made it his mission to improve the lives of our kids through athletics as well as just being an incredibly nice, warm and gentle individual.”
Kraus, a selectman and former president of Walpole Babe Ruth, said McCarthy ran the program by himself for a couple of decades. He gave those who played in Little League the opportunity to also play in Babe Ruth.
“If Rich didn’t do that, I question whether the town would have had a Babe Ruth program today,” Kraus said.
Like he did as a young boy, McCarthy is still making sure everybody gets to play in the game.
There was one shy freshman that benefited from McCarthy’s longstanding desire to get everyone involved. He put the teen on a team with a coach he knew would help the youngster flourish.
"What made me feel good was this kid came back the following year to play," McCarthy said.
But in his senior year the young man dropped his bat in favor of the drama club.
McCarthy’s efforts have gone beyond helping individual players.
Five years ago he suggested that the Walpole Babe Ruth establish a scholarship to help aid those former players with college tuition. And last spring, McCarthy led an effort to dedicate the Bird Middle School fields in honor of two longstanding coaches in town.
“While I worked with him on that,” Kraus said, “he was the driving force to ensure that two legendary coaches were honored – and we renamed the playing field at the Bird Middle School after coaches Ralph White and Bill Tompkins.
“Rich did the lion’s share of the legwork and basically came up with the concept himself.”
Since his retirement – and probably even before then – he’s bridged the age cap between senior citizens and teenagers through the office of the Council on Aging.
“He’ll turn an idea around in his head and make it happen,” said Bob Murphy, who teaches 6th grade math at the Bird Middle School. “He’s a person who starts the ball rolling,” Murphy said.
Last fall he assembled 21 students from the two middle schools and high school to rake and remove all leaves out of Walpole senior housing.
“After the students were done raking, they asked if they could come back in April to help plant flowers,” McCarthy said. “And the seniors can’t wait until then.”
McCarthy is a member of the Walpole High School Alumni Association (founded in 2011). He participates in helping with fundraising special projects for Walpole High School.
Some of those projects include power point projectors, new instruments for the music department. And last Veteran’s Day the names of those Walpole veterans who died in combat are honored on a plague that stands at the front entrance of the high school. It didn’t matter, McCarthy said, whether those veterans attended Walpole schools all 12 years – or even a day.
In May 2007, McCarthy was honored as the original Grand Marshal at the first-ever Walpole Day Parade, part of Walpole Day.
“They don’t honor just anyone,” Kraus said. “They honor the best of the best. And Rich McCarthy received the honor because of his thankless unselfish commitment to the town.”
As part of the Walpole Cooperative Bank’s community involvement, they sponsor a dinner for the senior citizens every year. Last year the dinner was held at Raphael’s. When he saw the wait staff was shorthanded, McCarthy got up from his seat to help serve the meals.
"I'm not going to sit there and wait for my meal when I see 100 people sitting and waiting for theirs,” he said. “I figure why not lend a hand.
“That’s what I seem to do. When I see a hole, I jump in.”
Editor’s Note: Linda Thomas writes for Hometown Weekly Publications, Inc. For comments and suggestions she can be reached at lindasfaces@gmail.com
