The ranks of the Brewer High School Athletic Hall of Fame will grow by seven members, including a father and son duo, when inductions are held this fall.
Selected to the school’s third Hall of Fame class were Amy Banks (Class of 1980), Heather Clark (2003), Dana Corey (1969), Shirley “Slip” Corey (1939), Don Harnum (1958), Jessica Hodsdon (2009) and longtime coach and contributor Charlie Heddericg, who will be inducted posthumously.
“Slip” Corey and Dana Corey are father and son.
The induction ceremony and banquet will be held Oct. 13 at the Brewer High School cafeteria, and banquet RSVP forms are available at the school’s main office, at the superintendent’s office or at www.gobrewerwitches.com under “Athletic Hall of Fame.”
The new inductees also will be recognized at halftime of Brewer’s homecoming football game against Messalonskee on Oct. 14.
Banks starred for four years in field hockey, basketball and softball at Brewer. She became the first 1,000-point scorer in Witches’ girls basketball history and twice earned Bangor Daily News All-Maine recognition. She batted .620 for the 1977 Eastern Maine Class A runner-up softball team. She also went on to play basketball at the University of New Hampshire and at Tufts University, where she earned academic All-America honors in 1984.
Clark excelled in cross-country, track and in the classroom during her four years at Brewer where she was a two-time Class A indoor state champion in the mile as well as salutatorian for the Class of 2003. She still holds a Penobscot Valley Conference record in the 1,600-meter run outdoors, and in cross-country, Clark was PVC champion and finished second at the Class A state meet in 2002. Clark earned a full athletic scholarship from Florida State University where she spent her freshman year before transferring to the University of Maine.
Dana Corey is considered by Hall of Fame coach Ken Perrone as “one of the two best overall male athletes” he had ever coached at Brewer. Corey was a quarterback for the Witches’ 1968 state championship football team and earned all-state in football his senior season. Corey earned a scholarship to play football and baseball at the University of Maine, but it was on the baseball diamond where Corey excelled under legendary Black Bears coach Jack Butterfield. Corey was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the second round (40th overall) of the 1972 professional baseball draft. After Corey’s pro baseball career ended, he returned to Brewer where he works for the Brewer School Department and is an assistant varsity football coach and head varsity baseball coach at the school.
Shirley “Slip” Corey was an outstanding athlete, student and leader at Brewer High School and was a “founding father” of several youth athletic organizations within the city that have served thousands of kids since their inception. The most notable is the Brewer Little League and youth basketball through the Police Athletic League where he served as mentor, coach and organizer. At Brewer High School, Corey played football, basketball and baseball and was class president his sophomore, junior and senior years as well as being student council president as a senior. The Pendleton Street athletic complex was named in honor of Corey, George Corey, Robert DeBeck and Louis Morelli in June 1991. With the construction of the Brewer Community School in 2011, the “Corey, DeBeck and Morelli field” was moved to the city’s Maple Street complex. Shirley “Slip” Corey was inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.
Harnum was a basketball and football star under BHS Athletic Hall of Fame coach Larry Mahaney. He played offensive and defensive end on the Witches’ 1957 state championship football team and was a three-year starting forward in basketball who helped Brewer earn Eastern Maine runner-up honors in 1958. Harnum went on to play both sports at the University of Maine where he helped the football team to an 8-0-1 record in 1961 and started as a senior in basketball and averaged more than 14 points per game. Harnum then pursued a career in collegiate coaching and athletic administration, notably at the University of Delaware and Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania.
Heddericg was a teacher, coach and community contributor in Brewer for his entire adult life. He taught civics and history at Brewer High School from 1944 to 1971, and when he began teaching, he also coached football, basketball and baseball. Heddericg was best known as Brewer’s baseball coach for 27 years, and the school’s baseball facility is now named in his honor. He also served for many years as a “bird-dog” scout for the Boston Red Sox. “Chatterbox Charlie,” who died in 1990 at age 84, was inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.
Hodsdon is arguably the most versatile, talented and decorated swimmer in Brewer swimming and diving history. She also competed in spring track and field as a junior and senior, but it was in the pool where she excelled for the Witches. Hodsdon was a two-time PVC Swimmer of the Year, a four-time member of the Maine State All-Star Team, the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association Top 16 list, and a four-year PVC champion. As a sophomore she set a New England record in the 100 breaststroke and was a three-time New England champion. Hodsdon still holds four Brewer High School records and formerly held marks in three other events. She went on to swim for four years at Bentley University where she holds six school records, two New England collegiate records and placed sixth at the NCAA Championships in the 100 breaststroke as a senior.
Nominations for the Brewer High School Athletic Hall of Fame are being accepted year-round for the hall’s Class of 2017 as well as future classes. For the nomination forms, visit www.gobrewerwitches.com. For more information regarding the hall, call athletic administrator David Utterback at 989-8629 or email dutterback@breweredu.org.