ORONO — Thurlow Cooper and Chris Keating will be added to the University of Maine football’s Ring of Honor this fall, head coach Jack Cosgrove announced in a press release Monday.
Cooper, who died in 2008, will be inducted posthumously, while Keating will be inducted during a ceremony at Maine’s homecoming game in Orono against Rhode Island on Oct. 15.
“It is a great privilege to announce the induction of Thurlow Cooper and Chris Keating to our Ring of Honor,” Cosgrove said in the release. “This honor is the highest recognition a UMaine football student-athlete can receive and these are two of the finest players to ever wear the blue and white.”
Both Cooper, a receiver, and Keating, a linebacker, are members of the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame.
Cooper, who played at Maine from 1954-56, was a two-time All-Yankee Conference end who was selected in the 16th round of the 1956 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns. He would go on to play for the New York Titans of the American Football League. He played in 41 games and made 36 catches for 491 yards and eight touchdowns.
Keating, UMaine class of 1979, led the Black Bears in tackles for three straight seasons. He was an All-New England selection and an All-East linebacker before signing with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.
He played six seasons and 74 games with the Bills and 10 games with the Washington Redskins.
Cooper and Huard will join former UMaine football standout John Huard and former coach and athletic director Harold Westerman as members of the Ring of Honor, which was established in 2005 to recognize and honor the most outstanding members of the football program.
Cusano to coach at Wheaton
Former University of Maine assistant track coach Dave Cusano has been named the head men’s and women’s track and field coach at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass..
Cusano spent seven years as an assistant track and field coach at UMaine. During that span, he coached 30 America East champions, 11 NCAA Regional qualifiers, two New England champions and two ECAC champions.
“It is a pleasure to welcome Dave to Wheaton and begin a new era for our men’s and women’s track and field programs,” said Wheaton interim director of athletics John Sutyak. “We are elated that he will be bringing his many talents to Norton and look forward to working wit him in continuing our longstanding success on the regional and national levels of Division III track and field.”
Cusano earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in exercise physiology from UMaine in 2004 and 2008, respectively. He was a four-year student-athlete in both track and field and football for the Black Bears, earning nine all-conference selections in track and field while helping the football team to a pair of Atlantic 10 conference championships (2001-02).