Arthur Lincoln Quirk, Jr.
Date of Death: November 22, 2014
Arthur Lincoln Quirk, Jr. died on November 22, 2014.
He entered Dartmouth from South Kingston (Rhode Island) High School and majored in history. Art was a member of Phi Gamma Delta, the Newman Club, and Sphinx.
Art was widely-known as a superb baseball pitcher, playing for Dartmouth and during the summers in the Cape Cod League. Following graduation from Dartmouth and marriage to Kathleen (Kitty), Art entered professional baseball and pitched for several minor league teams including the Rochester Red Wings. He was then elevated to the major leagues and pitched for the Baltimore Orioles in 1962 and Washington Senators in 1963. He was inducted into the Dartmouth athletic hall of fame (the Wearers of the Green) in 1984 and the Cape Cod League Hall of Fame in 2009.
Following retirement from professional baseball, Art pursued a long business career selling and marketing computer technology, culminating as chief executive of TravTech, a subsidiary of Travelers Insurance.
Inspired by Kerri, his deaf and autistic daughter (now a recognized artist), Art was deeply dedicated to making a difference for people with special needs. He was a founding board member of Horizons, a non-profit Connecticut organization broadly focused on the needs of persons with disabilities and their families and served as board chairman of Horizons for thirty years.
Plans are underway to construct The Artie Quirk Performing Arts and Athletic Center in recognition of his service to Horizons.
Art served the Class of 1959 in a number of capacities and received special recognition from the college for his distinguished service as Class Treasurer from 2009-2014. During his tenure, the percentage of classmates paying class dues rose to 75%, a college record and a testament to his diligence and the esteem in which he was held.
He leaves Kitty, their three children, Kent ’82, Kerri, and Christopher ’91, his brother Bill ’62 and sisters Mary Connelly and Judy Hurley, five grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. Art Quirk – Wild Pitch or Passed Ball About 57 years ago the Dartmouth baseball team was selected for post-season NCAA play and, with eight ’59s on the roster, met the University of Connecticut in a best-of- three series. Alas, Dartmouth was unable to score a single run in either of the first two games. UConn struggled to score against Art Quirk in the first game and then, facing a cadre of Dartmouth pitchers, scored 10 runs in the second game. The first game was scoreless after eight and one-half innings. Art Quirk had allowed only one hit and the UConn pitcher had allowed only three. In the bottom of the ninth the first UConn batter tripled. Art then struck out two and had two strikes on the next batter. His next pitch broke extremely sharply. The UConn batter swung and missed, but the ball got past the catcher and the runner on third scored to win the game for UConn, 1-0. The official scorer ruled it a wild pitch and not a passed ball, but that did not end the discussion for Art and the catcher, Woody Woodworth ’60. Whenever they got together, the discussion about the sharply breaking pitch continued. “Wild pitch,” Woody would say; “Passed ball,” Art would reply. In early November last year Woody visited Art. Each knew that it was almost certainly the last time the two of them would be together in this life. As Woody was leaving, he said, without stopping or even turning around, “Passed ball.” Art’s reaction, as reported by his son, Kent, was “I think he’s just feeling sorry for me.” Many of us who knew Art Quirk did not have or make the opportunity to say to him our version of passed ball. Whatever one’s version was or might have been, it would have included a full measure of sorrow for Art. But despite Art’s typically terse understatement, it also would have included, as surely as did Woody’s passed ball, an equal measure of sorrow for our own loss of a person so thoroughly respected, admired and loved.