Hartley Greenleaf, December 14, 1953-October 31, 1998

Friends Mark 10-Year Anniversary of Beloved Football Coach

Ten years ago on October 31, 1998, the Medford Pop Warner football program lost one of its beloved coaches when Hartley Greenleaf passed away suddenly at the age of 44.

During the years he coached at various levels of the program, he was loved and respected by the players, parents and his fellow coaches. Hartley loved the game of football and believed every player should have a chance to experience the game.

Every night his van would pull up to Carr Park in North Medford for practice and out came his son Kenny along with any other youngster that needed a ride to the field. He would spend the late afternoon criss-crossing the city to make certain every player in need of transportation would receive it.

Each Sunday you would find him at the field helping teach young boys not only the finer points of playing the game of football but how to work together with respect for others.
The Saturday night he died was a shock to everyone that knew him. The next morning the five Pop Warner games went on as scheduled because everyone involved agreed that Hartley would have wanted it that way. He would have blushed when hundreds of players, cheerleaders and parents from both Medford and Cambridge, who was the opponent that day, all came together midfield and joined his family in one of the most inspirational moments of silence ever seen.

His players, who were just young boys of 11 and 12 years old at the time of his death and have since grown into young men, still speak of him often and remember their “Coach Hartley” with a great deal of fondness.

A decade has now incredibly passed and all those who knew Hartley pause to remember him today.

– Kathy Andre