Sixteen individuals and two teams will be inducted into the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
The doors will open at 10 a.m., a brunch buffet will be served beginning at 10:30 a.m. and the ceremony will begin at noon.
Mr. Maine Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year Nik Caner-Medley from Deering High in Portland, who went on to become a two-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference third team selection at the University of Maryland, headlines the group along with current Medomak Valley High of Waldoboro boys basketball coach Nick DePatsy.
DePatsy has compiled a record of 431-234 at four Maine high schools in 34 seasons.
Caner-Medley, who averaged 36.5 points per game his senior year (2001-2002) at Deering, was a two-time Bangor Daily News All-Maine Schoolboy first team selection and eventually went on to play 15 years of professional basketball in Europe.
DePatsy, a 1982 graduate of Medomak Valley, is the winningest coach in his alma mater’s history and also coached at Madison, Lincoln Academy of Newcastle and Georges Valley of Thomaston.
The other individual inductees are David Ames, Bobby Campbell, Gregg Cooper, Robert Davies, Carrie Goodhue Richie, Nina Houghton Brown, Lynne Hasson McGouldrick, Kristi Royer Ouellette, Matt Arsenault, John Black, Tom Chard, Carroll Conley, Bruce Cooper and Deb Smith. The teams being inducted are the 1966 Cony High Rams boys team from Augusta and the 1990 Colby College Mules men’s team from Waterville.
Arsenault, Black, Chard, Conley, Cooper and Smith will be inducted under the Legends of the Game category.
Ames has been a member of International Association of Approved Basketball Officials Board 111 since 1967 and has served in several capacities, including board president. He was given the Jim DiFrederico Award for outstanding service to basketball in Maine and has officiated more than 3,000 games at a variety of levels.
Campbell was a two-time All-BDN selection during his career at Calais High and was an all-conference player at Bangor’s Husson University, where played 95 career
games and finished with 1,054 points, 319 rebounds, 384 assists and 176 steals.
Cooper was a two-time BDN All State selection at Cony, leading the Rams to a 42-2 record and two regional championships in 1981 and 1982. He went on to become a two-time All Northeast 10-Conference pick at Bryant College in Rhode Island, where he is eighth on the career points list with 1,651 and fifth in field goals made with 663.
Davies was a two-time BDN All State choice at Old Orchard Beach and was chosen Mr. Maine Basketball in 1994. He played collegiately at Westbrook College and the University of Maine at Fork Kent and professionally in England. He is the Thornton Academy of Saco’s all-time wins leader as the boys basketball coach (258-130). He has two regional titles and the 2009 State Class A Championship.
Goodhue Richie was a second team All-BDN selection at Messalonskee High School in Oakland before donning University of Maine colors and helping lead the Black Bears to an 82-28 record. She was chosen the Rookie of the Year in what is now the America East Conference and finished with 946 points in 110 games for UMaine.
Houghton Brown is among Cape Elizabeth High School’s top five scorers and rebounders and was a second team All-BDN pick. She then produced an exemplary career at Bentley University, scoring 1,423 points in 114 games and guiding the Falcons to the NCAA Division III Final Four in 1989. She was inducted into the Bentley Hall of Fame in 1995.
McGouldrick Hasson is a two-time All-BDN selection from her days at South Portland High, and she continued her career at UMaine, where she appeared in 97 games for the Black Bears. She returned to South Portland as an assistant coach for 11 years, followed by 11 years as head coach, and her Red Riots won a regional title in 2020.
Royer Ouellette is the all-time leading scorer (1,335 points) and rebounder (747) in Lewiston High School history and was a first team All-BDN pick. She continued her career at Bowdoin College, where she racked up 1,449 points and led Bowdoin to three NCAA appearances. She was named All-New England Division III and an All-NESCAC selection three times each.
Arsenault scored a school-record 1,296 points at Old Town High School and led Old Town to the 1991 Class A state championship. He was a two-time All-BDN first team selection and was named the state’s Mr. Basketball in 1993. Arsenault continued his career for two seasons at St. Joseph’s College in Standish before a knee injury ended his career.
Black had polio as a child and lost mobility in his left arm and leg but didn’t let that deter him from being involved in the game he loved. He was a certified member of Central Maine
IAABO Board #20 for more than 30 years and was an important contributor to the greater
Waterville area basketball community, officiating at every level.
Chard was a sportswriter at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday
Telegram/Evening Express for more than 43 years and covered hundreds of high school basketball games along with a myriad of other sports. Before becoming a sportswriter, Chard was a three-sport athlete (football, basketball and baseball) at Deering High.
Conley coached high school basketball and baseball during a career that spanned seven decades at Brownville Junction, Penquis Valley of Milo and Bangor Christian. From his first season at Brownville Junction in 1958 until his last at Bangor Christian in 2001, he compiled a basketball coaching record of 265-93, including the 1967 State Class M Championship with Brownville Junction.
Cooper, a native of Rumford, played on the 1974 Rumford High State Class A Championship team and eventually went on to coach the Lawrence High School girls basketball team from Fairfield, where he won four straight Class A championships behind phenom guard Cindy Blodgett. Lawrence went 84-4 between 1991-94. Over the course of his 10 seasons at the helm, Cooper’s Lawrence teams won more than 72% of their games.
Smith has been involved in basketball since 1968. A 1972 graduate of Penquis Valley High School, Smith went on to play at UMaine from 1972-1975. She is the coordinator of the Maine Senior Women’s Basketball program, which won the Gold medal in the 2009 National Senior Women’s Games in Palo Alto, California. She founded “Not Too Late” basketball camp for women over the age of 50.
The 1966 Cony High Rams, coached by Dick Hunt, finished off a perfect 22-0 season by beating Old Town, Bangor and John Bapst of Bangor in the Class L Eastern Maine tourney and then earning the school’s first ever state title by defeating Western Maine champion Lewiston High School, 76-58.
Coach Dick Whitmore’s 1990 Colby College Mules, boasting five current members of the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame, went 26-1 and claimed the school’s first ever ECAC championship. NESCAC schools did not compete in the NCAA tournament at that time.