Baseball and law aren’t normally connected, unless big leaguers are in the midst of a labor dispute.

Verne Paradie can see the relationship, though. Had he not excelled at one, he might not be practicing the other.

“Playing for Ed Flaherty had a huge impact on what I am in life,” Paradie said of his baseball coach at the University of Southern Maine. “Just the discipline, the hard work that he instilled had an impact on me. I really needed that. Those are crucial years, 19 to 22 years old. I could have gone one of two ways, and I was probably heading down the wrong one.”

Now a partner in a Lewiston law firm, Paradie once was best known as a slugger, slick fielder and great teammate on a parade of championship teams from Auburn.

For those exploits, and a fair amount of success in football and basketball, as well, Paradie will be inducted Sunday into the Auburn/Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame.

It’s a dual enshrinement. Paradie will enter the hall along with his younger sister, Tammy Paradie Thibeault, a basketball star at Edward Little and three local colleges.

“I think I rode my sister’s coattails a little bit,” Paradie said. “She deserves it more than I do.”

Tucked away in a corner somewhere, likely, are boxes of medals, plaques and game programs that say otherwise.

His love for the game was cultivated at age 5, as a tagalong shagging fly balls for his father, Verne Sr., and the East Auburn Lakers fast-pitch softball team.

“He was 6-foot-6,” Paradie said. “Everywhere I went, even later in life, it was, ‘That guy could hit a softball.’ I was chomping at the bit to play. Back then there was no t-ball. You had to wait until you were 8. Now my kids start at 5.”

Paradie was part of a group of Auburn athletes that put the community in a national spotlight, winning a state championship in Little League, followed by state and regional titles in Junior League.

Dick Norcross was his coach for most of those years.

“Baseball gave me a lot of opportunities,” he said. “We won the Little League championship when I was 12, and I got to go to Newburgh, N.Y. When I was 13, we won New Englands and I got to go to Bethlehem, Pa. I really got to do a lot of traveling that I wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise.”

Led by Paradie, future University of Maine pitching standout Mark Ballard and Coach Bruce Lucas, the success continued in high school. EL won the 1989 Class A state championship. A year later, New Auburn Legion picked up the pennant in its state tournament.

“Thinking back all the way to Little League, we won that three or four out of the four years I was there. Then in Senior League we won it a couple of times. We won the state championship in high school,” Paradie said. “It’s a lot easier to be recognized when you’re on good teams.”

There were individual honors, too. Paradie was SMAA batting champion and Maine’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 1990.

Paradie accepted an offer to play at the University of Maine but decided after one semester that the Division I program wasn’t a good fit.

In a tradition that continues to this day, the homegrown athlete bounced back to the Division III coach who showed so much interest from the beginning.

It ended up being a painful lesson. While sitting out a season after his transfer, Paradie watched Flaherty and USM go to the College World Series.

“That killed me to read the newspaper every day, knowing I could have been a part of that,” Paradie said.

Paradie made up for lost time. He was named to the 1993 NCAA North Regional all-tournament team.

Twice, he won scholar-athlete awards, an accomplishment he credits to his mentor.

“I learned more about life from Coach Flaherty than any other coach,” Paradie said. “He’s the greatest coach I’ve ever had in any sport.”

Paradie also had an exceptional senior season as a tight end and placekicker for EL football, coached by Mike Haley.

His highlight: Kicking game-winning field goals against Westbrook and Deering. He remembers being way off the mark in pregame the first week, so much that Haley thought about having sophomore Chris Reed attempt the kick before Paradie put up a fight.

“He said, ‘Think you can you make it, hun?'” Paradie said, recalling Haley’s pet name for everyone.

The headline in the Lewiston Daily Sun hailed “Paradie’s golden toe,” a label that subjected him to a fair share of ribbing in the EL hallway.

Paradie’s enthusiasm for baseball cost him a few opportunities in other sports.

Haley and Edward Little nominated Paradie for an inaugural senior all-star game that would evolve into what is known today as the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl.

“Football, I loved the game, but I didn’t like practice. The practices were brutal,” Paradie said. “I was playing Legion baseball, and just the idea of football practice for two weeks in the summer, I was like, ‘Forget that.’ Haley was so mad at me. Now I regret it. I was 18, thought I knew everything.”

Basketball playing time also suffered Paradie’s senior year after he missed out on a new coach’s summer program due to Legion commitments.

There are no regrets.

“If it weren’t for sports, I’m not even sure I would have gone to college,” Paradie said. “Playing three sports kept me out of trouble, for the most part. It was good stuff. I had a lot of great memories and a lot of wonderful teammates.”

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