Hall of Fame
You had to live it to appreciate it. The ballpark was a low-lying soccer field in Kearny called Harvey Field. Most of the time they changed clothes in somebody else’s car. For days after each spring rain, the ground shifted beneath the infielder’s spikes like a Big Sur mudslide. The ancient wooden bleachers were enough to give an Indian fakir third-degree bed sores and to top it off, a sway-backed horse grazed in right field during each game.
But the bases were still 90 feet apart and the game was still baseball, despite the fact that most of the cream of the local high school talent wound up at other nearby colleges. Even under those circumstances, Burt Ironson was special.
Nicknamed The Hawk because of his spectacular fielding abilities, he was even more outstanding at the plate. Ironson played varsity baseball from 1948-51 and in his senior year hit .350 and led the team in hitting, runs scored, stolen bases, extra base hits and doubles. Against Rutgers-Camden, he stole second, third and home in the same inning.
Ironson, a Superior Court Judge in New Jersey, was graduated from Rutgers-Newark in 1951 and Rutgers Law in ’53. He became a Superior Court Judge on December 31, 1983. Over the years he has held many distinguished posts within the legal profession.
He lives with his wife, Barbara, and his children, Deborah and David, in Springfield, where he tries to chase the calendar as best he can each Sunday in the local Sunday Morning Softball League.
