By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

With a brand new point guard running the show, Dick Whitmore admits he was a little concerned.

“For a couple days,” says the veteran Colby men’s basketball coach.

Whitmore’s worry was quickly relieved by the play of a young Matt Gaudet. The former Mountain Valley High School star stepped into his new pressure-packed roll effortlessly and never looked back.

“More than anything else, we had a good team coming back, when we didn’t have a point guard, his ability to come into that situation was just remarkable,” said Whitmore.

Gaudet’s penchant for handling any situation paid huge dividends at Colby and has continued during his adult life. Gaudet was paralyzed in a diving accident in the Caribbean in 2001.

The former Falcon and Mr. Basketball winner in 1991 will be honored Saturday at Colby when his uniform number is retired. Though the ceremony honors his career as a White Mule, his example and impact there has had a much greater lifespan.

“He’s a profile in courage everyday,” said Whitmore. “We’re just delighted. We’ve been wanting to do this for two or three years now. I think this will be a wonderful experience and a wonderful thing for our current players to be part of.”

The ceremony follows a pair of alumni games today. An older player alumni game is scheduled for 6 p.m., followed by a game featuring recent alumni playing the current varsity team at 7:15 p.m. Gaudet is expected to be honored around 8 p.m.

Gaudet was on his way to Maine on Friday and could not be reached for comment.

“Matt was one of the few guys we’ve had who started right away in his first year,” said Whitmore, in his 35th year at Colby. “He played point guard for us, but he could have played the other guard spot as well because he was a great shooter.”

Gaudet ranks ninth in career scoring at Colby with 1,487 points. He led the Mules all four seasons in assists from 1992 to 1995 as Colby went 85-16 and earned two NCAA Tournament appearances. Colby also won two ECAC titles during Gaudet’s career.

Gaudet was an honorable mention All-American in Division III and was a first team selection in both New England and NESCAC in 1995. He was also the Maine Player of the Year and was NESCAC All-Conference in his final three seasons.

Whitmore estimates that Gaudet was the tournament MVP five different times, including in San Antonio where he helped beat the host team. It was a moment where Gaudet went from being a very good player to what Whitmore calls “one with star quality.”

“In the final game against Trinity of San Antonio, he absolutely took over the game,” said Whitmore. “He had 26 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.”

Whitmore had his eye on Gaudet early on and knew he could be a special addition.

“We had had him in basketball camps when he was younger,” said Whitmore. “Then having a chance to watch him at Mountain Valley, it was exciting to see what kind of potential he had. I just thought he was one of those rare players that you see that have the ability to take over a game.”

Gaudet currently lives in Minnesota and works as a mortgage broker. It will be his first trip back to Colby since his accident, but he has attended golf tournaments in various location benefiting the Matt Gaudet Foundation.