ORONO, Maine — The M Club has supported University of Maine athletics since its inception in 1932. The organization is composed exclusively of former UMaine letterwinners and other alumni who have been awarded the Honorary M.
“We’re kind of the team behind the team,” said M Club President Guy Whitten of Bangor, a 1963 UMaine graduate who competed on the Black Bears track and field team.
The M Club board of directors, including several members emeriti, consists of alumni spanning graduating classes from 1957 to 2004.
Among its many endeavors, the nonprofit group sponsors the UMaine Scholar Athlete Banquet and administers the annual Dean Smith Awards presented annually to UMaine’s top female and male student-athletes. It also runs Senior Night and gives M plaques to graduating seniors, helps fund team banquets and special events for student-athletes, and honors Black Bear alumni athletes celebrating 25th and 50th anniversaries with the Silver and Gold Breakfast.
“They’re a great group. Kind of the mission there is to keep our former student-athletes involved with the university,” said UMaine athletics director Karlton Creech.
This year, the M Club has undertaken the responsibility of administering the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame. It is now charged with soliciting nominations, selecting winners and honoring them at an annual awards banquet.
The UMaine athletics department had administered the hall of fame since it was created in 1986. However, Creech last fall met with the M Club board of directors to find out whether the organization would be willing to take on the hall of fame process.
According to Whitten, the impetus for the change came after no hall of fame class was selected in 2015 because of challenges encountered in conducting the selection process and organizing an event.
“It’s a natural fit, in my opinion,” Whitten said, pointing to the tremendous historical perspective of UMaine athletics provided by its diverse membership.
“We wanted to make sure that [the hall of fame] got the attention and the focus that it deserved, and the M Club really felt like that’s something that they could do and do well for us,” Creech said.
“The steady hand and the stability of the M Club and the board [of directors] and the great composition of that board allows us to feel really comfortable and excited about what they can do to help us make that event better,” he added.
Creech has entrusted senior associate athletic director Jack Cosgrove, UMaine’s former longtime football coach, to serve as the department liaison to the organization.
The M Club committee has recommended the final candidates for induction in the Class of 2016 and will announce them upon approval from Creech and UMaine President Susan J. Hunter. The first UMaine Sports Hall of Fame dinner sponsored by the M Club will be held Sept. 30 at the Black Bear Inn in Orono, where a new class will join the 181 previous inductees.
It was scheduled not to coincide with other events as had occurred in the past, such as Homecoming weekend football and hockey games.
“We think it’s an event that’s taken a back seat for way too long,” said Whitten who, along with his wife, Tracey, owns the Black Bear Inn. “We want to try to restore it back to what it used to be, or even better.”
Former UMaine student-athletes are eligible for nomination to the hall of fame five years after their final intercollegiate competition. Coaches and administrators are eligible two years after their retirement or upon their departure from the university.
Last summer, the M Club changed the way it raises money to fund its many projects. It had previously charged annual dues to “M” and Honorary “M” recipients, but is now asking members to make tax-deductible contributions to the M Club Fund through the University of Maine Foundation.
And rather than leaning solely on the 1,300 people who had paid dues in recent years, the M Club is trying to expand its base of support by contacting the estimated 5,000 UMaine letterwinners living around the world.
“Kevin Frazier at the foundation has really helped us change our mode of giving,” Whitten said. “Instead of having dues, which was $35 a year, we now ask for contributions and most people send in contributions of $150, $100 or $50.”
Whitten estimated that the M Club generates about $20,000 each year — and strives to spend it.
The M Club recently has made two sizeable gifts to athletics. The first, which cost $16,000, is a new, 80-pound washing machine for the equipment room. The organization also has purchased a $6,500 ice machine for the training room.
“Things happen every year, and we may need some help in a specific area that we didn’t anticipate,” Creech said, “and having them there and part of the team and the ability to help when needed is an incredible benefit for us.”
Whitten said the M Club also bought new high jump and pole vault jumping pits for use by the track and field teams.
“That’s why we raise money is to spend it,” Whitten said. “That’s a plus for UMaine athletics.”
For more information, visit umaine.edu/mclub.