Former Lawrence High School and University of Maine star Cindy Blodgett leads a class of 22 players, coaches and contributors who will join the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame in August.
Sixteen inductees, five Legends of the Game and the undefeated 1960 Lewiston state championship boys basketball team that comprise the hall’s fifth class were announced Tuesday.
Blodgett remains an icon. The Clinton native led Lawrence High of Fairfield to an 84-4 record and four consecutive Class A state championships from 1991 through 1994 and became the state’s all-time high school scoring leader with 2,596 points — a mark that stands 24 years later.
She was named the state’s Miss Basketball in 1994 and was a three-time Gatorade Player of the Year. Blodgett went on to earn All-America status while leading UMaine to four consecutive NCAA appearances. The 5-foot-9 guard poured in 3,005 career points (which still ranks 13th all-time in Division I) and averaged 25.5 points over 118 collegiate games while breaking 20 school records and inspiring thousands of young basketball players around the state.
Blodgett was the sixth pick in the first round of the 1998 WNBA draft by Cleveland and played for the Rockers and the Sacramento Monarchs. Blodgett also played professionally elsewhere before joining the coaching ranks with stops at Division I programs in the Northeast, including four years as head coach at the UMaine.
She is the associate head women’s basketball coach at Boston University.
Blodgett is joined in the induction class by a fellow Lawrence player and longtime coach Brenda Beckwith, ex-Colby College star Paul Belanger, longtime former Mt. Blue of Farmington coach Jim Bessey, former Jonesport-Beals and UMaine star Sandi Carver, former Medomak Valley of Waldoboro and Brown University player Dean Erickson, ex-Milo High School and Ricker College standout Peter Hamlin, and veteran Camden Hills of Rockport coach Jeff Hart.
Also, former Freeport High School and Duke University player Barbara Krause, longtime northern Maine high school coach Bill McAvoy, former Maine basketball commissioner and Husson University president and basketball coach Delmont “Del” Merrill, one-time University of Southern Maine athletic standout and Kennebunk High School coach Bill Obermeyer, former Bucksport High School and Husson University center Keith Ogden, legendary Bangor High School athletic standout Leroy Patterson, longtime Portland High School coach Joe Russo, and Morse High School of Bath and University of Maine star Rick Woods.
Entering the hall as Legends of the Game are former University of New England coach and athletic director Jim Beaudry, longtime high school coach and administrator and Eastern Maine tournament director Bill Fletcher, veteran Caribou High School athletic administrator Dwight Hunter, former Sumner of East Sullivan standout Elwood “Bimbo” Pinkham, former Cleveland Cavaliers president Thaxter Trafton and former Brunswick High and UMaine player and longtime high school administrator Arthur Warren.
The induction banquet is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 19, at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
Please read the accompanying story for biographical information on all of the honorees.
