WALDO YARNALL,
A 1920S ATHLETE WHO BECAME PROFESSOR AND COACH
Source: The Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts; publication date: October 11, 1985, Third Edition, p. 25.
WESTFORD, MASS. - Waldo W. (Rusty) Yarnall, 82, of Westford, Massachusetts, a retired professor of economics and college athletic director who was a distinguished athlete of the 1920s and '30s, died Wednesday, October 9, 1985, at St. Joseph's Hospital, Lowell, Mass. after a short illness.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, he attended Swarthmore High School in Pennsylvania, where he lettered in football, basketball and baseball. Mr. Yarnall attended the University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth College and was graduated from the University of Vermont in 1926.
His baseball career included seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Red Sox.
Mr. Yarnall pitched for the International League in Canada and played for and managed the former Lowell and Nashua New England League.
His football career began with the St. Alphonsus team of Boston and continued with the Boston Fittons, a team of All-America players from colleges all over the United States.
Mr. Yarnall began coaching at the former Lowell Technological Institute in 1927. He coached baseball for 39 years, football for 21 years and basketball for 20 years.
Mr. Yarnall married the late Lillian Ryder of Boston on the pitcher's mound of the baseball diamond at Lowell Tech after the last game of the season in 1929.
He was appointed to the college faculty in 1935 and taught economics until 1960, when he became athletic director, a position he occupied until his retirement in 1973.
From 1942 until 1946, he served with the Navy, attaining the rank of lieutenant commander.
Mr. Yarnall was inducted into the Helms Athletic Hall of Fame for college baseball in 1960. In 1970, he was elected to the American Association of Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame and the University of Vermont Hall of Fame.
In 1972, he was elected to the Collegiate Lettermen's Hall of Fame and received the New England Coaches Association's distinguished award.
Mr. Yarnall was an honorary member of the University of Lowell Alumni Association and was a Golden Member of the University of Vermont Alumni Association.
In 1973, he was the recipient of the University of Lowell Hall of Fame award.
He was a charter member of American Legion Post 437 here, and was a member of American Legion Post 247 of Tyngsborough.
Mr. Yarnall was also a 39-year member of the Nabnasset Country Club, and was a member of the Bosox Club of Boston and Elks Lodge 2310 of Chelmsford.
He leaves three daughters, Jane Walker of Westford, Dorothea Schmid of Papillion, Neb., and Virginia Balliett of Lake Worth, Fla.; a son, Raymond T. Yarnall of LaPlata, Md.; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
Services will be held in the Morse-Bayliss Funeral Home, Lowell, tomorrow at 10 a.m.
Burial will be in Fairview Cemetery, Westford, Massachusetts.
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