AUBURN – Jim Taylor was taken aback when he learned that he’d be one of the latest inductees into the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame.

Taylor, a long-time baseball umpire, is not accustomed to accolades.

“We’re trying not to be recognized,” Taylor said. “If you’re doing a good game and they don’t know who you are, that’s good.”

Taylor won’t be able to remain anonymous when he and four others are recognized Sunday, April 27, at the annual Induction Banquet at Lost Valley. Robert Jordan, Steve Pelletier and Dennis Sweetser and the late Peter Goodrich will join Taylor in the Class of 2008.

“It’s nice to be appreciated,” Taylor said. “All I did was call balls and strikes.”

Taylor was one of the state’s top umpires, serving 26 years from Little League to the NCAA. He was the president of the Central Maine Board of Baseball Officials and chaired the Maine Baseball Umpires Association. He also coached football at Lewiston High School and Bates College. He is currently the equipment manager at Bates.

“It’s a great honor,” said Taylor, a standout athlete at Lewiston in football and baseball. “A lot of people on this wall are people I know and have a lot of respect for. I’m humbled.”

Goodrich, a 1989 graduate of Bates, was an outstanding track athlete, earning All-American honors five times. He won more awards than any other Bates track athlete and won the Frederick Tootel Award three times and claimed six NESCAC championships. He was killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when the airplane he was a passenger on was flown into the World Trade Center in New York City.

Sweetser already has some familiarity with the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame. As a long-time Little League coach, he’s seen a handful of former players already inducted. He introduced Billy Reynolds at a previous induction ceremony.

“I’ve never been on this side of it before,” said Sweetser, who will have Reynolds introduce him at the banquet. “The (Mark and Mike) Coutts boys and Billy, I’m very proud of all the boys that have been inducted.”

Sweetser, a graduate of EL and Bates, is entering his 42nd year as a coach in the Auburn Suburban Little League. He led 20 ASLL All-Star teams to regional and national competitions and won nine State Senior Little League Championships, five New England titles and six Eastern Regional crowns.

“As a Little League coach, I never expected anything like this,” Sweetser said. “You just do it for the fun of it. You get to meet a lot of great kids. Not all of them are superstars, but there were a lot of fun kids to be around.”

Pelletier started throwing the javelin in his final year at Edward Little and became one of the state’s best throwers in college and beyond. For more than 20 years, he competed at the college and AAU levels and won 11 championships. He was also a successful coach, including stints at EL and Bates.

“There’s absolutely better throwers in the state of Maine,” said Pelletier, who now lives in Kennebunkport. “I wasn’t the best, but if I could be considered one of the top throwers, that would be an achievement, and maybe I did accomplish that.”

Jordan played baseball and basketball for EL before graduating in 1950. He played on the Bates Manufacturing baseball team that went to the National Playoffs in Battle Creek, Mich., in 1954. He also won the Twin City Golf Open in 1966 and 1972.

“It’s great for my ego,” Jordan said. “It brings back a lot of memories. I went down the list of all the members. Even though I was involved in three sports, I either played with, against or for 25 percent of the members that are in there. It’s humbling, but I’m proud. I’m proud for my family because they can brag about it a little bit.”

The President’s Award recipients were also announced Friday. Championship-winning teams from Lewiston, Edward Little and St. Dom’s will be recognized, including the Lewiston state championship tennis teams and boys’ cross country team, the EL boys’ alpine ski team and the St. Dom’s championship baseball, golf and boys’ soccer teams.

The individual President’s Award include eight college athletes and 11 local high school students. The college athletes include Allison Bleakney (Stonehill), Nate Cleveland (Tufts), Meg Coffin (Bates), Sarah Crispin (Tufts), Noah Gauthier (Bates), Nick Lawler (Bowdoin), Katie Morin (University of New England) and Rick Weisskopf (Bates).

The local high school athletes feature Edward Little’s John Alexander, Brian Despres, Tom Esponnette and Kyle Philbrook; Lewiston’s George Foster, Matt Letourneau, Mohammed Noor, Jon Roy and Mike Sarrazin and St. Dom’s’ Will Emerson and Jeff Lewandowski.