LYNN — People will talk about Keith Bransfield’s extraordinary efforts on behalf of the Lynn Classical athletic program.
And they’d be right to do so. For far longer than most, Bransfield — who died earlier this week at age 65 — was a fixture at Lynn Classical football games. Make that the Bransfields, because his wife, Maryann (Doyle), was always there right beside him.
“They were there for everybody’s kids, not just their own,” said Matt Durgin, who coached their son, Jim, when he played for the Rams’ football team. “Keith was just as solid a guy as you’d ever want to meet.”
If you wanted to find Bransfield at a game, all you had to do was look for the man carrying a box of something. It could have been shirts or hats, or it could have been hot dogs and pizza. From the time he got to Manning Field to long past the end of the game, the Bransfields were always still there, packing up and filling their car with what was left over.
But you can also talk about the Keith Bransfield who always maintained a jovial disposition that made it pretty evident that if being chief financial officer for Centerboard was his vocation, then being the backbone of the Classical football team was his avocation.
And, said former Classical principal Gene Constantino, “he never asked for anything. He never wanted recognition. When they saw the need, they just went out and did it.”
Bransfield’s son, Jim, was a two-way lineman for the Rams under coach Matt Durgin, who went onto play for Framingham State. Keith Bransfield became involved with the Classical Boosters Club because his son played. But he was still involved while Jim was in college, and still involved when Jim came back to Classical to coach.
“There wasn’t much involvement in the Classical boosters in those days,” said Constantino. “The Bransfields kept it going. If it wasn’t for them, there wouldn’t have been a program.”
Durgin said that without people such as Keith, it would be extremely tough to run any kind of a football program.
“We would not have had a successful program without him,” Durgin said. “From a coach’s point of view, you could trust him and let him do the things that needed to be done.
“And I’m sure that somewhere along the line, they took some kids into their house when those kids were going through tough times,” Durgin said.
Classical athletic director Bill Devin said that Bransfields “worked for the love of the school, and the love of the kids.
“I remember our kids had just won a game in Wakefield, and as they were getting on the bus, there were the Bransfields, with coolers, giving out Gatorade to the kids. Those kids stick with me.
“Keith was like a sports historian in Lynn,” said Devin, noting that Bransfield was part of an athletic family that included, on one side, his brothers Kirk, Kevin and Kenneth (Kirk played hockey for Yale); as well as his brother-in-law Paul Doyle. “I learned an awful lot about sports in Lynn talking to Keith.
“He gave back more than he ever asked,” Devin said. “There are times when it’s hard to get help, but the Bransfields continued to do what they were doing. Without them, we would have never been able to have the banquets we have.”
Former athletic director Dick Ruth said that whenever his colleagues from other schools expressed dismay at the way some of their boosters clubs ran their organizations, he would feel great by comparison.
“They’d bemoan their boosters clubs,” he said, “and I’d just smile and say ‘we have Keith Bransfield here. We don’t have to worry about such things.’
“It’s amazing, the money he and Maryann raised over the years to give back to kids and the school,” Ruth said. “He was a phenomenal blessing to the program. He was only 65. Way, way, way, way to young”
Behind every successful sports program there are families such as the Bransfields, but sometimes they go above and beyond. There were Ann and George Riddell for Swampscott, Billy and Pat Dutch for English and Keith and Maryann Bransfield for Classical. They were, and still are in the case of Pat Dutch and Maryann Bransfield, the fabric that knits all the elements of youth sports together.
