Bob Baird, Pillar Of Stratford Sports Community, Dies At 75

STRATFORD, CT — Bob Baird, a pillar of the Stratford sports community, died Saturday at the age of 75.

Baird was the longtime general manager of the Stratford Brakettes, athletic director at Stratford High School, and a retired teacher and former sportswriter. Baird was also elected to the Stratford Zoning Board of Appeals in November 2021.

“With great sadness we share the news that today we lost a very important member of the Brakettes organization - General Manager Bob Baird,” reads a post on the Stratford Brakettes’ website. “Our thoughts are with Bob's wife Joy, sons Rob, Peter and Patrick, daughters Lucy Baird-Stoddard, Bridget and Samantha, and his grandchildren. RIP Bob. You will be missed by all who knew you.”

Baird beat leukemia twice, but was suffering from interstitial lung disease, and had come home from the hospital a couple of weeks ago and died early Saturday afternoon, his son Rob told the Connecticut Post.

Baird, a Stratford High School graduate, was a sports editor for the Stratford News and then a sports writer for the Bridgeport Post, where he won numerous awards for his coverage of the Raybestos Brakettes. He worked for the Post until 1988, when he “went back to school to reinvent himself as a high school teacher, according to his obituary.

“During his time at the Post, Bob was well-known throughout Connecticut and beyond as an engaging and conversational writer, but his colorful antics were hardly confined to the pages,” the obituary reads. “Bob’s penchant for timely and off-the-cuff humor was legendary, and he could lighten the mood of any room he entered… if he wanted to.”

After teaching social studies and civics for several years at Stratford High School, he left to become the Assistant Athletic Director (and Director of Media Relations) at his other alma mater, University of Bridgeport, according to the obituary.

“He soon became the Athletic Director at UB, a role he cherished greatly due to his family’s deep Bridgeport roots,” the obituary reads. “He stayed at UB until 1999, when he was offered the chance to return to his beloved Stratford High School for his dream job as the Athletic Director.

“Bob was the Athletic Director at Stratford until January 2018, and treasured the time he spent walking the halls, pacing the gym, visiting practice fields, and making sure to watch each one of his teams compete in every season, all while chatting it up with students and teachers, players and coaches. He was old-school and by-the-books, honest and true, and fiercely devoted to his work and peers. There was simply nobody else like Bob Baird, and he was an unapologetic and wise-cracking entertainer throughout his daily work.”

Calling hours will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Dennis & D'Arcy - Abriola & Kelemen Funeral Home, 2611 Main St. in Stratford, on Thursday, Jan. 5.

Read the full obituary at Dennis & D'Arcy - Abriola & Kelemen Funeral Home here.

For the full story at the Connecticut Post, visit here.