‘An exceptionally good guy’
Longtime Highlands, local youth sports fixture Fred Witts remembered
LOWELL >> As a Little League coach, Fred Witts taught his young players the fundamentals of baseball.
Throwing. Catching. Fielding. Running the bases. But what set Witts apart was his enthusiasm.
When one of his Highland Little League teams won a game, Witts showed his players something else: Unbridled enthusiasm for the game.
“He loved it. He’d win a game and after the last out he’d run out of to the mound and hug the pitcher,” his son, Dennis, recalled.
It’s one of his latest memories of his father, a longtime Lowell resident and fixture in the Highlands section of the city who passed away at age 86 on Feb. 22 after a period of declining health.
It’s been decades, but Dennis Witts can still see his father dashing onto the field to start the celebration.
“It was his competitive side,” Dennis Witts said. “He wanted his players to know he was as excited as he was. But then it was like a ritual. (His players) knew he was going to do it. It was the enthusiasm of it. He was like one of the kids.”
Frederick Witts Jr., known as Fred or Freddie, was raised in Billerica and graduated from Chelmsford High (after attending Lowell High his first three years), but he was a Lowell guy through and through after settling in the city upon his marriage to Patricia (Tetro), who passed away in 2020 after 65 years of marriage.
Together they raised five sons in the Highlands. All went on to have successful careers.
Witts was proud of his family. And his city.
Two of his closest friends were Kendall Wallace, the former chairman of Lowell Publishing Co., and Walter “Buddy” Flynn.
“He was an exceptionally good guy and loved sports and his boys. His boys were his life,” Flynn said.
Between the Highland Little League and the Lowell Major League (for players aged 16-18) — Witts, naturally, managed the Highland team — he coached baseball for nearly 20 years. Dennis Witts wonders how many kids in the Highlands were impacted his father.
But Fred Witts’ influence in the city extended far beyond the baseball fields. Like many Little Leagues across the country, “tag days” were established in which the players would stand on street corners or in front of businesses to raise money for the leagues.
Few found it an enjoyable experience. Someone suggested a different form of fundraiser and the Lowell Highland Players were born. The group, which Witts was an early member, would stage musical shows. Witts, even if he admittedly sang off key from time to time, was a willing participant.
When his children got to be high school age, parents looked around and felt Lowell High’s athletic support was lagging compared to other Merrimack Valley schools. The Friends of Lowell High School was created and Witts would soon serve as one of the group’s first presidents.
His roots in Lowell deepened with each passing year. He was a member of the Knickerbocker Club in South Lowell. In his later years, he and Patricia would winter in Juno Beach, Fla. They were surrounded by Lowellians.
Witts would give back at every chance to his community.
“He was what I would consider one of the good guy Lowellians,” Dennis Witts said. “He was a very congenial guy. He was a very inclusive guy.”
He worked for Airco Industrial Gases in Acton for 30 years, rising to shop steward, and was a member of the New England Teamsters and Trucking Industry.
He didn’t stop working after his retirement from Airo. He worked for the Lowell Water Department and the city of Lowell.
He then started a second career as a real estate agent in Lowell, winning several sales awards.
A social member at Mount Pleasant Golf Club in Lowell, Witts loved playing the sport. For years he was a valued member of the Lowell Sun Golf League with his playing partner Ray Foye. On one memorable Monday afternoon, he teed off on the 13th hole at Hickory Hill Golf Course in Methuen and produced the shot of his lifetime.
The par 3 hole features an elevated tee so Witts was able to see his ball take one bounce and drop in for a hole-in-one. Witts started screaming, displaying some of Little League coaching enthusiasm. His voice cut through the summer afternoon air. Golfers several holes over heard the screaming.
Flynn was in a group one hole back and heard the commotion.
“He went insane. He wanted the whole world to know he had a hole-in-one,” Flynn said, “and I can’t blame him.”
Witts was proud of his ace and for years would regale anyone who would listen about his shot.
“Oh my God. Are you kidding me?” Dennis Witts said. “He loved that golf league.”
Witts is survived by his sons Dennis (Atkinson, N.H.), Bruce (Naples, Fla.), Randy (North Chelmsford) and Jeffrey (Newburyport). His other son, Dr. Gary Witts, died.
Family and friends gathered March 3 to honor their father. It was a tough day, but the good memories far outweighed the difficult times.
“He had the tenacity to keep going on no matter what was going on,” Dennis Witts said.