By Jean DePlacido
correspondent
—
Walter "Wally" Pszenny wore many hats for Salem Little League. No matter the role he was needed for at a particular time, he did it well.
Pszenny, who was 41 years old, died suddenly last Sunday morning. His death shocked and saddened all who knew him. It especially hit hard in Salem Little League circles, where he was known and loved by all.
His second home was at Forest River Park, where he could be found most any night helping the Salem Little League in any way he could. He was a member of the league's Board of Directors, managed the White Sox in the Salem American Majors, and also was a familiar face calling balls and strikes behind the plate at minor league games. He also served as vice president for Salem LL's National League.
But the place where Pszenny could be found if he wasn't busy with one of his many other duties was running the concession stand at O'Grady Field — often with his sons Brian and Adam helping out.
Fans at the Ray Gallant Memorial Tournament games held in Salem at the end of each summer may remember visiting Pszenny at the concession stand to buy refreshments. The announcement that hot pizza had just arrived was followed by a crowd of youngsters making their way to the stand behind home plate.
"He lived down there during those two weeks the Gallant was going on," said Salem Little League President Pat Chasse. "We just about break even during the whole year at the concession stand, but when the Gallant is going on we make around $2,000. Wally didn't just help out; he oversaw the whole operation and got all the stock. He had to make a lot of trips to BJ's.
"Wally was a great guy; if I made a phone call about something, he made sure it was done. I only had to ask once, and it was taken care of. We could all count on him to come through whatever needed doing."
Last year, Pszenny helped out in Salem's fall ball, but this season he was all set to run the program along with Sean O'Keefe.
"He was looking forward to it," Chasse said. "Wally was a very active member. Replacing Wally (on the Board of Directors) is going to be tough because there just aren't many guys out there like him.
"It will be heartbreaking to go to the funeral. He was so young — and this was so unexpected. His wife, Cheryl, is the head of the PTO at the Witchcraft School, and they have a great family. Both Cheryl and Wally were dedicated to making their community a better place."
O'Keefe, who has been involved in Salem Little League for more than 25 years, is the director of the Gallant Tournament, and Pszenny was on the board of directors. Running a tournament that involves eight communities in a double-elimination format requires lots of planning and committed volunteers.
"It's so tough to lose a guy like Wally," said O'Keefe, who manages the Salem LL Giants. "All the kids loved him; he was fun to be around. He loved people, and he loved baseball. I don't know anybody who didn't like him.
"He was at the field almost all the time during the Gallant Tournament, and he would pick up some of the older kids to help him out in the concession stand. They were 14 or 15 years old and too young to drive, so he'd go get them.
"Every year after the Gallant tourney, Wally has a luau. In fact, it was coming up this Saturday, and he was always asking people if they were coming. He just loved having it, and if you met Wally once, you were his friend. That's the kind of guy he was ... and why losing him is so difficult for us all.
"In my 25 years," O'Keefe said, "Wally is the fifth guy who died while on the (Salem Little League) board, and I knew them all (including Ray Gallant and Steve O'Grady)."
Diamondbacks manager Peter Gaudreault said Pszenny always put the kids first. He was not interested in the wins and losses, but whether or not the kids were having fun.
"He was the nicest guy in Salem Little League; one of the best guys we had," Gaudreault said. "We hung out together a little, and I can honestly say the kids were the most important thing to him; they responded to him. He cared about whether they were learning something and enjoying their time playing. It's a real tragedy."
Steve Ouellette manages the minor league Grasshoppers, and Pszenny drafted his 10-year-old son, Kyle, this year. Their close relationship became even friendlier after that.
"We live about 300 yards from the Pszennys," Ouellette said. "Wally used to pick Kyle up for practices when my wife and I were working. He did a lot of umpiring in the minors. My 8-year-old son, Kory, goes to school with his daughter Katelyn, and Kyle is in the same class with his son Adam. This hits close to home for all of us.
"He was a fixture down at the field and a very good person. It was hard telling my boys about it; he was so genuine. My sons rode their scooters down the street to his houses to check on their friends yesterday and see how they were doing. We're all going to miss him."
• • •
Services will be held today from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Conway-Cahill Brodeur Funeral Home on Lynn Street in Peabody, with a funeral service there at 11:30 a.m. Friday. Friends of Wally's — and there are many, many of them — are invited to attend.
