League dedicates park to beloved coach
By TOM DALTON
News staff

SALEM -- With Little League season about to begin, it seems fitting that Steve O'Grady is on everyone's mind. It has been almost seven months since the 30-year-old O'Grady was killed in a car accident. A city that came out in droves to mourn the beloved manager of the Major League Reds and the executive director of the Boys and Girls Club is now turning out to honor his memory.
This past Saturday, Salem Little League dedicated the Forest River baseball field to O'Grady, a driving force in youth sports, whose invincible Reds won the last four city championships. Next Saturday, the recently formed Stephen M. O'Grady Memorial Scholarship Foundation will hold its first fund-raiser -- a dance at Salem State College. In August, a second fund-raiser is planned, a golf tournament at Salem Municipal Golf Course.
There also is a Stephen M. O'Grady Building Fund, which is accepting donations for the future, but still unplanned, construction of a new Boys and Girls Club, which was one of O'Grady's dreams. Shaw's Supermarket on Highland Avenue started its own drive for the building. fund For the O'Grady family, this outpouring of love from the community is somewhat overwhelming.
"There has been a nonstop flow of people who truly, we feel, miss him almost as much as we do," said Beth O'Grady, Steve's sister. "It feels like his family isn't just us -- it is extended to the entire community of Salem and Beverly." O'Grady also had strong ties in Beverly, where he had been athletic director at St. John the Evangelist School.
The O'Grady Foundation is headed by Beth O'Grady, who is president; Vice President Stephen Marsella of Beverly; Secretary Rosie Cross, the administrative assistant at the Boys and Girls Club; and Treasurer Mitch Michaud.
Advisers include Richard Ives, Phil "Hago" Harrington, and Dave Wentzell, president of Salem Little League. O'Grady's mother, Theresa, also works closely with the foundation.
Next Saturday's fund-raiser is actually the annual Salem Little League Dance. The league has agreed to give all proceeds to the O'Grady Foundation, which will provide scholarships to high school seniors who live in Salem, played or volunteered for at least three years in Salem Little League, and are headed to college or some form of post-secondary education. The dance will be held on April 29, from 8 p.m. to midnight, at the South Campus of Salem State College. Tickets can be obtained from Rosie Cross at (978) 744-5680.
The dance will feature music by Roundabout and some outstanding raffle prizes, including Red Sox tickets, a basketball signed by Salem native and Ohio State All- America Scoonie Penn, an overnight at the King's Grant in Danvers, two tickets to a Ricky Martin concert in June at the Fleet Center, and two All-Star shirts donated by Major League Baseball. The fund-raiser is expected to be a sell-out. More than 200 tickets already have been sold.
In this spring and summer, there will be many reminders of O'Grady, as friends and organizations remember him in their own ways.
He was killed on Sept. 26 while returning from a weekend in New Hampshire. A Chelsea woman was charged with drunken driving and motor vehicle homicide. The case is still pending in court.
"There is not a lot of consolation you can find when something like this happens," said Beth O'Grady, "but we're blessed that there is a constant -- if not daily, at least weekly -- reminder of the fact he was so important to people, and they will never forget him. ... "There is just something about the way he lived and the way he died that will never be forgotten."

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