By Justin Pelletier,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Four new faces will grace the walls of the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame room at Gipper’s Sports Grill.

Harry Angelides, Bob Boucher, Paul Gastonguay and Dick Giroux were announced Friday as this year’s class. They will officially be enshrined at the Hall of Fame’s annual induction banquet on Sunday, April 30, at Lost Valley.

The four new members bring the number of athletes inducted into the hall since the inaugural class in 1984 to 98.

“This is a tribute to the varied and extensive athletic record of people in the community,” said Ralph Tuttle, a member of the Hall of Fame committee. “When we started out, we didn’t know we were going to go 23 years like we are now. We thought we’d run out of first-class material, but we haven’t.”

The newest class of athletes includes four men, all of whom represent different sports and different eras. Angelides, the eldest of the four newest members, is being honored for his accomplishments on the baseball field. After World War II, Angelides played baseball at the University of Maine, where he was a unanimous All-Star selection. In 1947, he signed a professional contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, and played minor league baseball with their affiliate in Wilmington, Del., as an infielder. He batted .312 and .317 in his two professional season, but was forced to retire after sustaining a spinal cord injury in a game against the Dodgers.

“You still wonder whether you deserve it, honestly,” said Angelides. “I was asked a number of years ago to submit information, but I figured not having played in this part of the state, having played at Orono and then professionally, no one would remember me.”

He also went on to be the president of the Maine State Golf Association.

Boucher, who recently retired as coach of the St. Dom’s hockey team, is being honored for his career in hockey, both as a player and a coach. Boucher played four years for Lewiston High School and was a scholarship player at Merrimack College. Boucher later stood behind the bench for the Saints for 25 years, earning five state titles and three Coach of the Year awards. He also coached the school’s varsity soccer program for 16 years, and won three more state championships. Boucher is still the school’s athletic director and a member of its faculty.

Gastonguay is being honored for his accomplishments in the tennis world, which continue to mount.

As a high school player, Gastonguay led the Lewiston boys’ tennis team to two state titles and was the last player from Lewiston to win the state individual title in 1985. He then played four years for Bates College, becoming the winningest player in school history with a record of 149-41 over four years. He also qualified four times for the NCAA tournament and was an All-American.

Gastonguay turned pro, was named the director of Ivan Lendl’s tennis club in Connecticut, and then returned to Bates to replace his former coach, George Wigton, as the head of the tennis program, where he has been for 10 years.

“Every time I come into this room, I always look at all the etched pictures and photos of the inductees,” said Gastonguay, “and I know a lot of them and others I read about, and it’s an honor to be included with all of them. It’s kind of humbling because I really haven’t finished my career yet.”

Dick Giroux played basketball for Lewiston in the mid 1960s, leading the Blue Devils to two consecutive state title appearances in 1965 and 1966. He was named MVP of the tournament two years in a row, and continued his career at Husson College. There, Giroux scored more than 1,000 points, was named the team MVP twice and won All-New England designation twice.

“When I got a call, I was not aware that there was a Hall of Fame in Lewiston-Auburn,” said Giroux, who lives in Bangor. “This is a fabulous concept. First thing that came to mind was Wow.’ I was overwhelmed, I was honored, I was embarrassed. All of those emotions happen within seconds.”

All of the inductees, along with six high school coaches, six college athletes and four high school athletes – all of whom won Chamber President’s Awards – will be presented at the annual banquet. College winners include Keelin Godsey and Will Boe-Wiegaard of Bates College, and Amy Asselin, Joe Dumais, Sarah Brooker and Megan Myles of Auburn. High school winners include Colby Brooks and Nate Chantrill of Edward Little, Laura Martel of Lewiston and Brady Blackman of St. Dom’s. Coaches who guided their teams to state titles in the last calendar year include Ron Chicoine (Lewiston tennis), Tara Eretzian (EL alpine skiing), Dick Mynahan (Lisbon football), Allan Turgeon and Bob Blackman (St. Dom’s baseball) and Justin Wing (Lewiston cheering).

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