Bob Warner was ahead of his time.
Growing up in Saco, there was a collection of weights totaling some 2,000 pounds in the cellar of his house.
At the urging of his father, Bob, who was a physical therapist, Warner began training with weights even before he reached his teens.
“He had built machines and he had learned about applying weight training for athletics at a time when no one did,” Warner explained.
“I was very rigorous and it improved my vertical leap probably 16 inches over a five-year period, so I ended up having great jumping ability.”
By the time he reached the University of Maine in 1972, Warner not only stood 6-foot-6 but was stronger than most of his basketball teammates and opponents.
Warner had a stellar four-year career under coach Skip Chappelle and is the all-time leading rebounder (1,304) and No. 2 scorer (1,758) in Black Bear history.
“I had the physical gifts through weight training and I had kind of the mental piece, which was the desire and tenacity,” Warner said.
Sunday afternoon, Warner will be honored by UMaine when he has his No. 52 jersey retired during a ceremony prior to the Bears’ 2 p.m. America East game against Maryland Baltimore County.
He becomes only the fourth UMaine player to be so recognized, joining Chappelle (No. 34), Rufus Harris (No. 20) and Keith Mahaney (No. 24) in the select group.
“I’m just grateful and really honored and privileged that it’s being retired, particularly when there’s only three (other) jerseys,” said the 57-year-old Warner, who now lives and works in Massachusetts.
“I remember what’s typical of most people who play sports and that’s the competitiveness and the lessons learned on the court and the camaraderie,” said Warner, who is a director of operations for Non-Public Educational Services Inc., an education company that provides after-school education for youngsters across the country.
While it has been 35 years since Warner dominated the paint for UMaine at Memorial Gymnasium, affectionately called “The Pit,” the memories are etched in his mind.
“The Pit, during the years I was up there, was sold out for every home game,” he recalled. “The venue was an awful exciting place to play and we were lucky that it was so popular on campus at the time we were there.”
Warner, who played for the late Jeddy Newman at Thornton Academy, flourished with the Black Bears. He twice earned All-Yankee Conference first-team recognition.
As a freshman in 1973, he and teammate Peter Gavett, who was then a senior, each averaged a double-double. It is the last time two UMaine men’s players made the all-league first team.
Warner was an All-YanCon pick again in 1975, when he earned All-New England honors and was the No. 2 rebounder in the country. He was a three-time District I All-American.
He praised Chappelle for his efforts in his success and that of the UMaine program.
“I think he and his staff kind of engineered the revival of basketball in the ’70s and ’80s up there, Warner said.
Warner was an eighth-round draft choice (129th overall) by the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks in 1976, but quickly left basketball behind.
However, he still holds spots in the NCAA men’s basketball statistical record book.
Among players whose careers began during or after 1973, Warner ranks fourth all time in NCAA Division I with an average of 13.6 rebounds per game. That is better than NBA great Shaquille O’Neal (13.5) during his days at Louisiana State.
Warner also ranks 23rd in Division I (1973 and later) with 1,304 career rebounds. He still holds UMaine marks for rebounds in a game (28) and season (352).
He will be thinking of his parents, Bob Sr. and Vera, both of whom passed away last year, when he attends Sunday’s ceremony with his wife Hanna Dyer and daughter Isabel.
“If you believe in things like I do, they’re going to be there in spirit,” Warner said.
Warner’s younger sister Mari is a UMaine graduate who coached the SUNY Albany women’s team to 289 victories through 2001-02. She is now the girls basketball coach at Falmouth High School.