Cotuit Kettleer All-Time Great Passes Away at Age 73

Remembering Howie Bearse: One of Barnstable's Very Best

July 27, 2005

By Sean Walsh, Web Editor

COTUIT, MA -- In a most fitting and heartfelt gesture, former Cotuit Kettleer Red Morin sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame as friends and family laid to rest one of the Cotuit Kettleers' all-time greatest players.

    The song served as an epitaph for Cotuit's Howie Bearse (1932-2005) who passed away at Cape Cod Hospital last week after a short illness.

     A Cotuit native, Bearse played centerfield for the Cotuit Kettleers at the team's inception in 1947 until 1952 and was deemed "one of Cotuit's shining stars," said Cotuit Kettleers General Manager Emeritus Arnold Mycock. "I can still see him playing today."

     Bearse was Cotuit's leadoff man in those early years and was also deemed one of the best all-time lefthanders in Cotuit, if not Cape League, history. He signed a professional contract to play in the minor leagues for the Milwaukee Braves and played for one season in Class C ball.

     Bearse is also deemed one of the town of Barnstable's greatest all-time athletes and is enshrined in the the Barnstable High School Athletic Hall of Fame. He starred at halfback for the Red Raiders varsity from 1946 through 1950 and graduated from BHS in 1951. He served as the team's sole captain in 1950 and played for W. Leo Shields. He was also the recipient of the 1950 Jean Hinkle Memorial Athletic Award, at the time deemed the highest honor bestowed upon a Red Raider football player.

    Bearse is enshrined in the Barnstable High School Athletic Hall of Fame. He was also a United States Army veteran of the Korean War.

    A moment of silence will be held in Bearse's memory prior to game two of the 2005 CCBL Western Division Playoffs between the Bourne Braves and Cotuit Kettleers, Wednesday, Aug. 10. The game begins at 3:00 p.m.