On Monday, at the age of 85, Karn died of
natural causes at Sharon Hospital in Sharon, Conn., just over the Dutchess
County border.
Karn, who owned Arlington Sporting Goods in Poughkeepsie for many years, was
the driving force behind creation of Little Leagues for youth athletes in the
area and helped start the Dutchess County Sports Hall of Fame.
“He gave, gave and gave, and he would never want anything in return for
giving. It’s the biggest life lesson I learned from him,’’ said Mark Karn, the
youngest of Karn’s five sons.
“He fought until the end.’’
Born in 1923, Karn, who earned the nickname “Moose” due to his birth weight,
began his lifelong love affair with baseball as a batboy for the Stanford
Athletic Club's local baseball team, and soon made a mark on the diamond all
his own while playing catcher for Pine Plains in high school.
Soon, “Moose” was playing in that same Twilight League he once worked for.
“He was a real athlete,” said Wappingers Falls’ Joe Poillucci, author of
"Baseball in Dutchess County: When It Was A Game." “He loved sports for years
and years and years.”
Karn served in the Navy as a machinist's mate on the USS Pomfret during World
War II, and came under fire while in Tokyo Bay in February of 1945 before his
attackers were shot down.
After the war, Karn soon became just as large a figure in the community as he
was on the baseball field, joining the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office.
When Fred Scoralick began his 21-year tenure as Dutchess County sheriff in
1978, Karn was there to help him out.
“I was the new kid on the block and he was one of the old timers at the time,”
Scoralick said, “but he was always willing to help out and guide me along the
way.”
Still, Karn was never far from his true passion. In 1950, Karn helped organize
the burgeoning Little League program throughout the county. He formed nine
leagues around the county in his first season, including programs in Red Oaks
Mill, Beacon, and the towns of Wappinger and Poughkeepsie.
Later, Karn owned Arlington Sporting Goods, which became both a local place
for high school sports teams and athletes to buy equipment and also a top
sponsor for Little League teams of all sports and age groups across the
mid-Hudson Valley.
He went on to become a founding member of the Dutchess County Sports Hall of
Fame, where he remained as a trustee emeritus following his tenure as
director.
In 1984, “Moose” was elected into the Dutchess County Baseball Hall of Fame.
Until recently, Karn would meet other members of the hall for monthly dinners.
Fellow Hall of Fame member Louis Poillucci said he last saw Karn a year ago,
and “Moose” still had the look of an athlete.
“In his older years, he was in good shape,” Poillucci said. “He was strong. He
was big. Big boy. Big ‘Moose.’ ”
In addition to his effort to benefit local sports programs, Karn, who also
worked for the Town of Poughkeepsie Republican Party, helped organize a World
War II memorial in the Town of Stanford in the late 1990s.
Funeral arrangements, under the direction of the Parmele Funeral Home, were
pending.
Sailor, Rest Your Oar