Carlin Lynch dies at 84

This story will be updated.

WESTPORT — Carlin Lynch, for decades one of the most respected figures in local high school athletics, died at home on Monday. The Westport resident was 84.

A graduate of Coyle High School and former longtime football coach and director of athletics at Dartmouth High School, Lynch grew up in The Village section of Somerset. He played football at Holy Cross and coached football at Somerset High School, Central Catholic Catholic High School in Pueblo, Colorado, and Bishop Stang before settling in long term as football coach, history teacher and then director of athletics at Dartmouth High School.

His 1958 Somerset football team went 8-0 and won the Class D championship.

Skip Karam, of Westport and former longtime boys' basketball coach and director of athletics at Durfee, was an athletic contemporary with Lynch, a fellow AD and ultimately a close friend. Karam and Lynch were part of a group, made up mostly of Dartmouth men, that met weekly for various restaurants. Karam and Lynch lived fairly close together in Westport and would alternate driving. "We met last Tuesday," Karam said. "I never thought anything was wrong."

Tom Beaulieu of Somerset was on Lynch's first Bishop Stang football team, in 1960, and also had Lynch as a history teacher. He said Lynch posted above the chalkboard in his classroom a Knute Rockne saying, imploring his stduents notnto talk badly about people. "He was larger than life in terms of what he instilled in people," Beaulieu said.

Email Greg Sullivan at gsullivan@heraldnews.com. Follow him @GregSullivanHN.