OLD TOWN, Maine — Former Old Town High School standout athletes Ed “Tubby” Taylor (Class of 1952), Gloria Burke Boucher (1953), Kelly Thorne DiGulian (1988) and coaches Rod White and Dave Ploch will be inducted into the Old Town High School Hall of Fame during a ceremony Sept. 25 at the high school gym.
This year’s ceremony also will recognize the 1979 boys swim team that won the school’s first swimming state championship in an era where classifications did not exist in the sport. The team set seven school records and won the state title without the help of an individual champion.
Taylor was a starting guard on Old Town’s 1952 Class A state championship football team and also set Penobscot Valley Conference records in the discus and shot put in 1952 when he also won state titles in those events. He helped the Springfield College football team record an unbeaten season in 1956 and went on to coach and teach at Old Town High School. He recorded 397 wins as a basketball coach, including an Eastern Maine title in 1980.
Boucher played softball and basketball at Old Town and was considered one of the school’s best ever softball players and helped lead the team to an unbeaten season in 1952. She was one of the first girls basketball players at Old Town High when basketball started as an intramural sport.
DiGiulian played field hockey and softball at Old Town and was one of the school’s first girls ice hockey players. She went on to play ice hockey at the University of New Hampshire where she helped the school post a 70-15-3 record in four seasons.
White began coaching at Old Town in 1983 and was named the head cross-country coach in 1983 and the head track coach in 1988. He led the girls indoor track team to a state title in 1990 and the boys team to a state crown four years later. His teams also won 12 Eastern Maine titles.
Ploch, the school’s swimming and diving coach for boys teams for 21 seasons and for girls seven seasons, guided Old Town to 13 straight state championships, a Class B record. He was named the state’s swim coach of the year eight times.
Inductees will be introduced at a pregame reception before the homecoming football game against Foxcroft Academy. A public reception will begin at 4 p.m. in MacKenzie Gymnasium and include the induction ceremony, video tribute and light refreshments. The class of 2015 also will be recognized at halftime where they will receive their Hall of Fame plaques.