It was a sleepless night, probably the longest night of the year.
There was simply too much anticipation for the next morning.
Visions of sugar plums were dancing in your head as you waited impatiently to go downstairs and open Christmas presents.
And, for most, there is that one special present that you will always remember.
Some local college coaches were asked to recall the present that they consider their favorite…..
Tim Whitehead, University of Maine hockey coach: “My daughter, Natalie, made me a Christmas ornament two years ago to hang on our Christmas tree.”
Keith Bosley, Husson University women’s soccer coach: “When I was eight years old I got a Flexible Flyer [sled]. It was a total surprise. I never expected to get one. I grew up outside of Philadelphia and it did snow periodically and all the other kids in the neighborhood had Flexible Flyers. It had red steel runners and a wooden deck. It had a rope through it. You would lie down on top of it and steer it [with your hands]. I was able to use it right away. My parents put some plastic on the runners to protect them but it wore off.”
Cindy Blodgett, University of Maine women’s basketball coach: “That’s an easy one. I got a green Boston Celtics jacket. I think I was five or six years old. It was really very tiny. I still have it in my closet at my family home in Clinton. My dad [Thayer] had one and I was always so envious. After I unwrapped it, I ran down the hallway, put it on and looked in the mirror and admired it.”
Steve Trimper, University of Maine baseball coach: “I got this Louisville Slugger wooden bat, Model M110, when I was a freshman in high school. I thought that was the greatest thing in the world. The problem was my dad bought it for me and he was a football coach. I was the only baseball guy in the family. And it was a 35-inch bat. I had to choke up on it until I busted it my sophomore year. Even though everybody else was using aluminum bats, I was using that. It was a Major League-quality bat. That turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to me because it was a heavy bat. When I went back to using aluminum bats, I had more pop and power in my swing and I got a baseball scholarship out of it to Elon College (N.C.).”
Dan Lichterman, University of Maine women’s hockey coach: “I’d probably say an Atari game I got when I was eight years old. It was a surprise. That’s all I did [for a while].”
Lucas Levesque, University of Maine-Fort Kent women’s soccer and basketball coach: “I was always a big sports memorabilia guy. Any time I got a box of sports cards, it was always the highlight of my Christmas. If I got a couple of boxes of cards, it was 36 packs of excitement for me.”
Warren Caruso, Husson University men’s basketball coach: “My father [Dick] gave me a Bangor High School letter jacket for Christmas my sophomore year. I had lettered in cross country.”
Ted Woodward, University of Maine men’s basketball coach: “I can remember getting a ping-pong table. I spent hours and hours working on my hand-eye coordination in the basement. I must have been in sixth or seventh grade. I loved that table. It was among many memorable Christmases.”
Scott Atherley, University of Maine women’s soccer coach: “I was age five and I got a Montreal Canadiens hockey uniform. I was an avid hockey fan. I lived and breathed the Montreal Canadiens. I wanted that in the worst way. I woke up and under the tree was the full kit: sweater, pants and socks. I wore it to bed and never took it off. When I had to take it off, I laid it on the floor and stared at it until I fell asleep.”
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