One of the state’s longest-serving athletic administrators, Gary Hoyt of Cheverus High School in Portland, has announced his intention to retire from that post at the end of August.
Hoyt has worked at Cheverus for 43 years, the last 37 as director of athletics and activities, according to a press release from the school.
Under his leadership, the Cheverus athletic program has grown to include 29 teams and has captured 102 state championships and 84 Southwestern Maine Activities Association titles in 21 different sports and student activities such as the math and chess teams.
Hoyt has received numerous honors for his work with the Stags, including being named athletic director of the year in 2012 by the Maine Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
He also received a National Federation of State High School Associations Citation in 2009, the Martin E. Ryan CMAA Award of Excellence in 2008, the 2005 National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association State Award of Merit, the 2004 MIAAA Past President’s Special Achievement Award and the Jesuit Secondary Education Association’s Outstanding Ministry Award in 1988.
Hoyt was inducted into the Cheverus Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.
One of Hoyt’s final moves as athletic director was the hiring of longtime University of Southern Maine women’s basketball coach Gary Fifield as Cheverus’ girls varsity basketball coach in June.
Fifield coached at USM for 27 years, compiling a 660-137 record while leading the Huskies to four NCAA Division III Final Four appearances and three trips to the national championship game. Fifield was named NCAA Division III coach of the year in 2005 and is a member of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and the Maine Sports Hall of Fame. He will be inducted into the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame in August.
The search for Hoyt’s replacement will begin immediately, and he will assist with the selection and transition of the new athletic administrator while continuing to work with coaches and student-athletes as a member of the Cheverus athletic department.
