University of Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame
W.W. "Rusty" Yarnall 1926 - Baseball, Football
Only a handful of collegiate coaches in the country have accomplished what this retired coach has done. And the awards and accolades presented to this 1971 UVM Hall of Fame inductee can attest to that.
"Rusty" Yarnall, a three-sport star at Vermont in the mid-20's served as the baseball coach and athletic director at Lowell (Mass.) Institute of Technology until the late 1960s. Shortly after Yarnall stepped from his dual-duties at Lowell, honors for the popular athletic leader began to pour in. He was admitted to the Helms Foundation College Baseball Hall of Fame, the American Association of College Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, only three years after its inception.
Yarnall played football, basketball and baseball at Vermont and following graduation he inked a professional baseball contract with the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League. After a brief tour of the minor leagues he was called up by the Phillies in 1926 and pitched in one game in the big leagues.
He accepted a coaching position at Lowell Tech in 1928, and remained there until he retired from active coaching in 1967. During the 39 years at Lowell, Yarnall compiled close to 200 wins.
While at Vermont, "Rusty" was a member of Phi Delta Theta and was very active in the ROTC program.
When asked about his fondest athletic memory at Vermont, surprisingly, it wasn't about baseball. It was the fact that he was a halfback on the 1922 Vermont football team - the only Vermont team to beat Dartmouth (6-0). But, he's quick to add that baseball was - and still is his first love.
