RUMFORD — As the younger sibling in a sports-centered household with a gigantic, like-minded extended family, Cam Kaubris sought older opponents the day he outgrew his crib.

In some cases, as Kaubris’ father proudly points out, startlingly older.

“We knew he was pretty competitive when down at camp he used to take his Aunt Mimi out in the back field and beat her at badminton,” Matt Kaubris said. “She must have been 90 years old.”

“Aw, c’mon, Dad. She was maybe in her late 80s,” Cam corrected. “I was 5, probably. The great thing about it was everybody in my family, no matter how old they were, they always helped me when I wanted to play.”

Here in the Androscoggin River Valley, throwback slice of Americana that it is, there was no shortage of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins or schoolmates for a growing boy to target.

Whether he was swinging a racket or baseball bat, wielding a Nerf football or basketball or simply armed with a wadded-up sphere of newspapers and duct tape, Kaubris looked for a game and always found it.

Some of Kaubris’ victims have passed on. Others smartened up and evolved into spectators. But the games go on with higher stakes than ever.

Kaubris, an all-conference senior quarterback and defensive back, plays perhaps the final football game of his life Saturday. He’ll lead Mountain Valley High School into Saturday’s Class B football championship against Leavitt at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

“Four years has been a long time, but it seems like it hasn’t really taken any time at all. It’s just gone by so fast,” he said. “That’s the one thing that’s hit me. A lot of things have happened. The years have flown.”

As a sophomore, Kaubris started on both sides of the ball when Mountain Valley won its third Class B championship in five years. It was merely the latest acclaim for a family that could start its own sports hall of fame.

Charting the champions

Cam’s grandfather, Stanley “Tye” Kaubris, quarterbacked a state championship football team at the old Stephens High School in Rumford.

Chet Bulger — cousin to Cam’s mother, the former Pam McInnis — was an offensive lineman for an NFL championship team with the Chicago Cardinals.

“It didn’t all come from my dad,” Cam said. “She keeps reminding me.”

Pam was an equestrienne, sprinter and cheerleader in her youth. But yes, Matt’s side of the gene pool is a burden on trophy cases statewide.

Rumford High School won three Class A basketball titles during Matt’s four years. In his junior season of 1975-76, Matt and older brother Jack starred on a legendary team that captured the New England championship.

Matt later coached Mountain Valley, led by local legend Andy Bedard, to a Class B hoop crown in 1994.

Most recently, Cam’s sister Alexa — older by five years — starred on the hardwood for the powerful programs at Dirigo High School and Bowdoin College.

“We definitely have a sports-oriented family,” said Pam. “I’ve been chief bottle washer, taxi driver, medic, trainer. But I am definitely from Rumford stock. My family is extremely competitive.”

Cam’s award-winning childhood started modestly enough. He was 3 when Matt set up a collapsible rim at the family’s home and began teaching his son the finer points of his first athletic love.

‘We had a little Nerf ball. I’d lob it up to Cameron and he’d slam it home. Three or four years old, he’d catch it and alley-oop it,” Matt said. “We live in a log home with a cathedral ceiling in our family room. There’s still a little hoop bungee-corded there to one of the beams. It’s part of the furniture.”

Cam’s earliest athletic conquests — the ones at the expense of those unsuspecting, elderly relatives — unfolded at the Kaubris family cottage by Roxbury Pond.

Turns out he wasn’t the first in his family to display a knack for challenging older folks on those bucolic grounds.

“Coach (Jim) Aylward has a camp across from ours,” said Cam. “He tells me the stories about my dad and Uncle Jack having it out on the Kaubris camp front lawn. All the Aylwards would come over and watch.”

“They’re still competitive, those two,” Pam noted.

Guts and glory

Matt was one of eight siblings growing up in a modest, single-story apartment. Not surprisingly, those tight quarters instilled an appreciation for being outside.

Tye, a police officer, owned a small parcel of land on the outskirts of town. On weekends, Matt and Jack would start a phone chain, recruiting a cadre of kids to the scene.

The result was an impromptu football “game” that hints at the community’s gritty spirit.

“He was probably 40 years old, but he could still punt the ball, and we’d just play murder the guy with the ball,” Matt said. “Whoever would catch the ball had 19 guys waiting to tackle him. Whenever anybody heard Mr. Kaubris was taking the kids up to play ball, the whole neighborhood would clear out.”

Cam and Matt each won the job of starting quarterback as a sophomore.

Matt, a converted receiver, ascended to the role when three other players were injured. He kept his original uniform — No. 88 — for the rest of his career.

Cam juggled soccer and flag football before joining the Area Youth Football program in fourth grade — later than most kids. He lined up at tight end until the team’s quarterback broke his arm.

“He was out for the rest of the season,” Cam said. “They asked, ‘Who on this team can throw?’ They had throwing tryouts and I threw the farthest, so I was put at quarterback.”

His number: 88.

While Cam was learning how to engineer an offense, Alexa sharpened her all-around basketball talents under the tutelage of Dirigo’s Gavin Kane.

Summer and AAU basketball put countless miles on the family car. Cam noted with minimal exaggeration that he probably has sat inside every gymnasium in the state.

“Cameron was his sister’s biggest fan. We kind of lived at gyms,” said Pam. “And how the brothers entertained themselves was they went outside and threw the football.”

Well, at least in their calmer moments.

One of Alexa’s high school teammates was Holly Knight. She’s the older sister of current Notre Dame basketball player Tom Knight, all 6-foot-9 of him.

“Tom Knight and I used to wrestle over in the corner when our sisters were practicing. Needless to say, Tom Knight won most of the time. Suplexed me or something,” Cam said. “I’ve always played up. Any sport, I’ve always played at the older level.”

Community pride

Today, the much older set — once, prospective badminton opponents — settle for admiring Cam from the grandstands.

Some accost him in public when they get the chance, though.

On the eve of last Saturday’s regional final against Wells, a couple in their 80s walked up to Cam and his parents at a local diner.

“She said, ‘Cameron, I want you to go out there and give those guys hell tomorrow!’ Then her husband came up and said, ‘Yes, you show those guys how we play ball up here.’ It was typical Mountain Valley,” Pam said. “That really struck me. That’s just the way this town has been.”

“Everyone around here loves sports. If you play sports, you’re well-known and everybody wants to talk to you. They come up like you’re their first cousin,” Cam added. “That’s what we’re known for. People embrace that, which is really nice.”

Fans of all ages won’t have to travel far to follow the next chapter of his career.

Cam has applied to five Division III schools in Maine. Much to his sister’s chagrin, Bates is the frontrunner, although Bowdoin, Colby, Saint Joseph’s and the University of Maine at Farmington are on the short list.

Basketball is likely to take precedence over football for the 18-year-old, who plans to pursue a career in teaching and coaching.

Big surprise, huh?

“Even the women in my family are rabid about sports,” Pam said. “They say, ‘Represent your town, represent your family, represent your area and show them how we do things.’ Sports are definitely a culture here.”

Nowhere is that culture stronger than the mighty branches of Cam Kaubris’ family tree.

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