Rest in Peace, Emo
“The World of Baseball in South Boston will never be the same without Emo.” (Peggy O’Brien)
By Kevin Lally
The recently departed Harold “Emo” Barron may have lived in Mansfield but his heart resided in South Boston. Emo was a teacher at the Gavin School for many years and the basketball and baseball teams he coached at this Boston middle school were perennial champions. He coached basketball at Millis High School and for Gate of Heaven CYO hoop. He also coached baseball and basketball at Archbishop William’s High School in Braintree. And, Emo taught water skiing lessons at Club Med as well as too many South Boston teenagers.
` For over six decades, Emo coached in the South Boston Babe Ruth League. He began coaching in this league in 1957 and this spring he was entering his sixty-third season. During his long and storied Babe Ruth career, he coached and mentored over two thousand South Boston players. He was an original coach in the Southie Babe Ruth League and was inducted into the Eastern Massachusetts Babe Ruth Hall of Fame for his commitment to this sport.
Emo lived a long life and lived it well. He didn’t waste energy wasting time. He will be missed for his dedication to this community, his love for sports, and his love for the young athletes he mentored throughout the years. “Emo was truly a great coach,” said Paul Dumas, who played on Emo’s first team in 1957 and is a past president of Southie Babe Ruth. “He was one of the best that I ever known and or witnessed.” “Baseball was the life and passion of Harold “Emo” Barron Jr.”, said George Lally, an International Board Member of Babe Ruth Baseball and a former president of the South Boston Babe Ruth League.
As the current president of the South Boston Babe Ruth League, I will dearly miss this man who gave so much to the youth of South Boston and as well as too other Massachusetts communities. I know that for the rest of my life when I am at the Babe Ruth League Fields, and as I’m looking down at the third base coaches’ box, I will always see Emo standing there waving a player home. And as God recently did, He saw Emo and waved him home.
Rest in peace my good friend.
(Writer’s Note: There will be a ceremony honoring Emo Barron on Saturday, June 15th at the Babe Ruth League Field at Moakley Park starting at 1:00 p.m. Everyone is invited to attend.)
