We, meaning the Maine basketball community, wanted answers Thursday after news broke of legendary coach Ordman Alley’s removal from one hall of fame and rescinded invitation from another.

That measure of satisfaction arrived within 48 hours. And as is so often customary in controversies that unfold away from the bright lights and bleachers, all it did was leave us with more questions.

Obvious, and hard questions, including some that sensitivity makes it difficult to ask. Based on the ramifications such dismantling of a man’s reputation has for all of us, however, we are compelled to ask them.

Two days after uncovering the details of Alley’s ouster from both the Maine Sports Hall of Fame and the inaugural Maine Basketball Hall of Fame class, our media partners at the Bangor Daily News reported Saturday that two sexual abuse allegations prompted the dismissal.

The halls of fame distanced themselves from Alley, 72, after two women directed accusations of sexual abuse against the former coach to each organization’s board of directors. The alleged abuse took place in the late 1960s to early 1970s at an elementary/middle school in Jonesport, near the beginning of Alley’s wildly successful 39-year run as boys’ basketball coach at Jonesport-Beals High School.

It’s no mystery why this story is an enormous deal, particularly in the sports realm. We’re barely three years separated from the sordid tale of Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky’s grotesque abuse of authority and what was exposed as a long-standing record of sexual abuse against boys.

That scandal transcended sports and became front-page news for months, ultimately destroying the legacy of Sandusky’s longtime boss/friend/enabler, Joe Paterno. One allegation begat two which begat a file folder overflowing with them. The allegations emboldened both Sandusky’s past victims and others who had suffered their own permanent emotional damage at the hands of once-trusted coaches and mentors. It exposed a shameful side of the sports culture, hopefully awakening parents to signs of this despicable behavior involving their own children.

We learned from the Penn State horror. It made us more vigilant and less likely to have blind faith in someone solely based on their venerated ability to teach a simple game. That’s a good thing.

You can’t blame anyone for their swift, punitive reaction in this situation.

The Maine Basketball Hall of Fame, in particular, faced an ethical dilemma and public relations nightmare in putting together what was, from all indications, a marvelous celebration of the state’s hardwood history at its inaugural ball. Having Alley present if there were even a whiff of this story in the public would have been the largest elephant in the room at the Cross Insurance Center site since any Shrine Circus at the late, great Bangor Auditorium.

Those officials heard the concerns of the two ladies — they’re both reportedly now 58 — and felt compelled at the very least to table Alley’s induction until such time as details would either condemn or exonerate the coach.

Maine Sports Hall of Fame board members heard enough that Alley’s 2003 induction to its ring of honor was voted down. That hall had a prerequisite, albeit a vastly different case, when it removed 1970s basketball standout Dana Wilson after a child pornography conviction in 2013.

That case was heard and adjudicated through conventional legal channels. There is no record of Alley being charged with a crime, relative to this matter to any like it in the past five decades.

So we have a man’s reputation destroyed forever over two allegations — we don’t really even know if they’re independent ones — that are older than I am. Because we know how the wheels of justice spin in the court of public opinion. Thanks in part to the Sandusky and Wilson cases and others of that ilk, with assists to social media and the 24/7 news cycle, we have moved to a guilty-until-proven-innocent mentality.

We’ve placed the burden of proof upon the accused. Was Alley given a chance to refute the women’s claims? BDN made repeated attempts, understandably with no response. We can only presume that the halls extended that same courtesy before withdrawing into executive session.

Certainly we understand why the number of years that have elapsed isn’t cause for dismissing such claims as bunk. There are a thousand reasons why a victim of sexual abuse might suppress the feelings and keep it all to herself or himself, not the least of which are fear, shame and trauma. One of the alleged victims in this case told the News that her family convinced her not to go public in those days due to the possibility of community backlash. Alley already had won a fistful of games and championships and was a beloved public figure, after all.

Yeah, but.

I’m still a fan of due process; of thorough investigations and statutes of limitations. Otherwise, I ask you this: Who among us is immune to somebody from our past lodging a complaint against us and tearing apart our world, no legal channels necessary?

Do you consider yourself universally loved? Have you ever had an enemy? Unless you’re a recluse or a narcissist, I suspect your answers are no and yes, respectively.

Not taking anyone’s side here. Ordie Alley and I live on different sides of the state. Other than having stood in a huddle of reporters after an early 1990s Class D final or two, I’ve never met the man.

Perhaps with this week’s stunning revelations, others will step forward with tales that make us queasy or angry. Or maybe not. Perhaps the hundreds of men he shepherded on the court will speak up and demand that Alley’s voice be heard. Or maybe not.

All I know is that it took fewer than three full days for a mythical figure to be publicly repudiated, and that the precision of details involved contained far too many yeah, buts for my comfort level.

Kalle Oakes is a staff writer. Email him at koakes@sunjournal.com. Friend him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @Oaksie72.

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