BANGOR, Maine — Thousands of coaching victories, thousands upon thousands of points and perhaps even more memories are represented among members of the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame’s second annual induction class announced Wednesday.
Roger Reed, for one, is appreciative not only of being included in the hall’s Class of 2015 but the opportunities his participation in the sport as a player and coach have provided him over a lifetime.
“I’ve thought a thousand times about what getting involved in basketball has meant to me and what it’s done for everyone who’s been involved in basketball over the years,” said Reed, the former longtime boys varsity coach at Bangor High School who guided the Rams to eight Class A state championships over 27 years. “It’s taken us all to places we never would have went, brought us in contact with some of the greatest people we never would have met, and it’s provided great joy and high and low moments throughout our lives and throughout the lives of kids.
“It’s an unbelievable activity. That’s all I can say about it,” he said.
Reed and the rest of this year’s 29-member class will be inducted during a banquet scheduled for noon Sunday, Aug. 23, at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
The announcement of the new inductees was made during press conferences in Portland and at the Bangor site of the hall’s display area on the second-floor concourse of the Cross Insurance Center.
The second class is larger than last year’s inaugural group of 22, in part because of the many older generations of candidates who are being considered during the formative years of the hall of fame.
“It wasn’t by design going in, but that’s the way it worked out,” said Tony Hamlin of Milo, who chairs the hall’s selection committee. “The voting was close, and the ages of some of the inductees were such that we pushed the envelope a little bit to make sure we take care of as many of these people while everyone’s still alive.
“This is a big class, and we’ll probably get back to 20 or 22 next year, but with circumstances the way they fell, we were comfortable with this,” he said.
Also being honored by the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame are the New England semifinalist 1954 Ellsworth High School boys basketball team and seven Legends of the Game, people who were instrumental in the sport’s early development in the state.
Hall of Fame coaching inductees include Reed, who compiled a 571-201 record at Bangor Christian and Bangor, including a 457-103 mark during his 27 years at Bangor High School that were highlighted by eight Class A state championship seasons.
“I’m honored and humbled by the whole thing, and I think it speaks a lot more about the players I’ve coached over the years than about me,” said Reed, a second-term state legislator and volunteer assistant boys basketball coach under his son Mark Reed at Hermon High School.
“I was very lucky to be amongst a lot of great players,” Roger Reed said.
Other coaches to be inducted are longtime Husson College basketball and golf coach Bruce MacGregor; Art Dyer (Medomak Valley High School, Westbrook High School, Fairfield University); Dwight Littlefield (Valley High School, with six straight Class D state titles and a 101-game winning streak); Gene Hunter (Morse High School, South Portland High School, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, High School); Dick Barstow (Central Aroostook, Presque Isle, Waterville, Katahdin High School) and Dick Meader (Thomas College, University of Maine at Farmington).
Players selected for induction span several generations of Maine high school and college history and include Bob Warner (Thornton Academy of Saco, University of Maine); Gary Towle (Cony High School of Augusta, Providence College, Assumption College); Wayne Champeon (Greenville High School, University of Maine); Dan Drinon (Bangor High School, Ventura Junior College in California, University of San Francisco); Edward “Bo” McFarland (Bowdoin College); Maureen Burchill Cooper (Deering High School, University of Southern Maine) and Ted Shiro (Waterville High School, Colby College).
Other players selected for induction are Peter Kelley (Caribou High School, Harvard College); Denis Clark (Winthrop High School, Springfield College); Nick Scaccia (Sanford High School, Colgate University, professionally in Italy); Emily Ellis (Mount View High School, University of Maine, professionally in Finland and Austria); Marcie Lane Schulenburg (Cony High School, University of New Hampshire); Steve Condon (Presque Isle High School, Leicester Junior College in Massachusetts, University of Maine); Ray Bishop (Morse High School, University of Southern Maine) and Paul Fortin (Lewiston High School, Hardin-Simmons University).
Also selected are Keith Mahaney (University of Maine); Liz Coffin (Ashland High School, University of Maine); John Norris (Bangor High School, Georgetown University, University of Maine); John Edes (Ellsworth High School, Colby College) and Ed Marchetti (Morse High School, Colby College).
“You’ve got some people who were big-time players, their resumes would be pretty impressive today let alone during the 50s and 60s,” said Hamlin.
Jack Coyne and Peter Webb are being inducted based largely on their work in the officiating realm.
Coyne, a standout player at Cheverus High School and the University of Southern Maine, became one of the top high school and college officials in Maine for more than 20 years until an injury cut short his path to a major Division I officiating schedule.
Webb, a Houlton-born former teacher and administrator, has been a basketball official for more than 50 years, and for the last 25 years, he has served as the state’s basketball commissioner. He also is an internationally-regarded clinician, rules interpreter and officer with the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials, for which he served as president in 2002.
Coyne, Drinon, Fortin and Hunter will be inducted posthumously.
The 1954 Ellsworth High School boys basketball team, coached by Charlie Katsiaficas and led by Edes and 2014 Maine Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Jack Scott, advanced to the New England Championship semifinals before being edged by Hillhouse High School of New Haven, Connecticut, 54-53 in front of 13,000 fans at the Boston Garden.
Recognized as Legends of the Game will be Mike DiRenzo, widely considered one of the state’s best officials and a former Maine basketball commissioner; longtime Western Maine tournament director Bob Whytock; former Old Town High School coach and administrator Bernie McKenzie; and David Doiron, a coach at Morse High School for five decades who has been instrumental in Bath’s youth basketball and soccer programs.
Also recognized will be Kim London, a longtime educator in the Sherman Station-Patten area who coached Katahdin High School’s boys JV basketball team for more than 30 years; Marcia Adams, a 1975 Cony graduate who played two seasons with the barnstorming All-American Red Heads; veteran University of Maine and high school sports broadcaster George Hale; and James Connellan, a coach at several Maine schools and architect of the “T” defense once used by numerous Maine basketball teams.
Players become eligible for Hall of Fame induction 20 years after their playing days conclude. Coaches with 20 years of experience are eligible immediately, while those whose careers were less than 20 years must wait 10 years after their last coaching assignment for eligibility.
Update: Corrects that Ellsworth lost in the semifinal round of the 1954 New England basketball tournament.
