Bob Davis (Saugus) and Paul Hartford (Lynn) received the Fred Ebbett Award this past Saturday at the Four Points by the Sheraton Hotel. The award is given every year to a man or woman who serves the youth of Massachusetts by making significant contributions to amateur and youth baseball in the community.
Hartford, a lifelong baseball fan, has been coaching Little League for 51 years. Hartford said he always loved the game and, growing up, saw himself managing the Red Sox.
When Hartford was eight years old and went to sign up to play, the league told Hartford’s father he needed to coach in order for his son to play – since there weren’t enough coaches.
“Since then, I said I never wanted a kid to not be able to play because they didn’t have enough coaches. At age 10, while I was still playing, I started coaching,” Hartford said.
Hartford coaches kids between the ages of nine and 12, though he has in the past coached kids up to 18. A few things Hartford tries to instill in kids are patience and hard work.
When asked what the award means to him, Hartford said it was “overwhelming.”
“It’s not something you go and try and win,” Hartford said. “To have someone take the time and recognize me – and nominate me – for something I’ve done was completely surprising and overwhelming.”
Like Hartford, Davis agrees.
“I don’t seek that,” Davis said. “It means a lot to me to be recognized for what I have been doing for the last 18 years.”
Davis, on the other hand, is the person behind the success of World Series Park which opened in 2004. Davis spearheaded the project to build a new baseball field in Saugus, and to this day, continues to work on the field and look for ways to improve it.
“Over the years, we’ve added a clubhouse, batting cage, dugouts, a pavilion, bleachers, and lights,” Davis said.
Last year, the field hosted 52 games at night thanks to the new lights. The thinking behind a new field came through Davis’ son who told Davis he thinks Saugus needs a new baseball field.
Davis helped form a non-profit organization committee called the “World Series Park Committee” to raise funds for the field.
World Series Park isn’t just used for Saugus High’s baseball team, as Davis recently started to diversify the field for other events.
“We hosted the Special Olympics in honor of a guy who helped me out with the project who had ties with the Special Olympics,” Davis said. “We also did a Target Cancer event where they raise money for rare and lesser known cancers.”
Davis admitted he’s not a massive baseball fan, but is using the field he helped build to raise money for great causes. In addition to the Special Olympics and Target Cancer, Davis also did a fundraiser for multiple sclerosis. World Series Park also hosted a Veterans Appreciation Day.
Both Hartford and Davis are worthy recipients of the Fred Ebbett Award, helping the youth in more ways than one.
