Beloved McLean Little League Coach Dies

Dick Rosenbaum, former president of McLean Little League, sent us the sad news that Robert "Bob" Hampton, a long-time volunteer at McLean Little League, died Tuesday. Hampton was 91.

Rosenbaum wrote, McLean Little League field #1 is named in honor of Hampton, a volunteer coach, manager and historian for the league for nearly 50 years. 

Hampton was holding hands with his wife, Ruth, and surrounded by family when he passed away.

Hampton loved baseball. He coached and managed for many years at  McLean Little League and always had time to spend time with individual  children to teach them out to be a better baseball player.

Following each season, the baseball managers select players to  receive the Bob Hampton Most Improved Player award. The award is  presented to the baseball players whose spirit and determination in  playing the game and the most improvement over the season.

Hampton could often be seen at the McLean fields wearing his beloved Boston Red Sox cap.

He was also very active in the McLean community. Besides his   baseball commitment, he was probably best known for planting trees. The   trees were planted throughout the community at local schools, including   McLean High School and the McLean Little League fields. 

Hampton will be remembered for his contribution to the children of  McLean, his devotion to his family and to McLean Little League.  

Hampton was raised near Galax, Va., near the North Carolina border. His mother, who taught in a one-room  schoolhouse, would take the 4-year-old Hampton with her and let him sit  in the classroom. As a result, he was a fourth-grader at age 6, according to a profile of him that appeared in the Connection newspaper in 2009.

He  graduated from Galax High School in 1935, spent a year with his  grandparents, and then worked with his uncle for another year. Hampton  then attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute from 1937 to 1941, the Connection story said.

During World War II, Hampton served in the Navy, including time on a destroyer in the Atlantic protecting convoys that were a lifeline to England. Protecting convoys in the Atlantic was some of the most dangerous duty in World War II, the story said.

During the war he met Ruth Rosenbeck in 1943, near the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and they were married, the Connection reported.

They lived in McLean for more than 40 years.

A viewing will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, July  30, at the Murphy Funeral Home, 1102 West Broad St., Falls Church. A  memorial service will be held 12:30 p.m. Sunday, July 31, at the Old Stone  Schoolhouse in Hillsboro, W.Va. The burial service at Hillsboro  cemetery is for family only.