Coach John Shaw (lower left) is pictured here with the 1976 State Champion Rumford Panthers basketball team. Rumford went on to win the 1976 New England Championship, and Shaw was also named State Coach of the Year. (Photo courtesy of the Rumford Historical Society)
BANGOR — The newest members of the Maine Basketball HOF Class of 2022 will be honored this Sunday at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
Fourteen inductees, seven legends, and one team comprise the star-studded class. Those being honored include an executive director of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, a person who’s coached in 11 NCAA Tournaments, a U.S.A. Today State of Maine Player of the Year, a collegiate player who notched more than 1,800 points and 1,000 rebounds, and a coach with five state titles at one school — three with girls’ teams and two with boys’ squads.
Among those being honored as one of the “Legends of the Game” is former Rumford High coach John Philip Shaw.
Shaw’s Rumford High School teams of the mid-late 70s are considered some of the best to ever play in Maine. His teams never had a losing season and his regular-season record was 127-37.
The Panthers were seeded No. 1 in Western Maine Class A five straight seasons (1973-77), were Western Maine champions four consecutive years (1973, ’74, ’76 and ’77), and were state champs in 1974, ’76 and ’77.
That period of dominance included winning 48 consecutive games from 1975-78.
Rumford won the 1976 New England Championship, and likely would have done the same in 1977, but they stopped holding the New England’s.
Shaw was also State Coach of the Year in 1976.
Including Shaw’s time as assistant coach at Camden-Rockport/Camden Hills Regional High School from 1997-2003, he was a part of 8 regional, 6 state and 1 New England championships.
Other non-coaching jobs in sports and education covered a total of 42 years in education.
This included the following:
* Teacher at Falmouth, Belfast, Pittsfield, Sheffield, Rumford, Camden;
* Athletic Director and Assistant Principal in Rumford – 3 years;
* Principal of Camden-Rockport High School for 9 years;
* Basketball Referee – 7 Years – Called 4 state championship games;
* Director of Maine Hoops Basketball Camp.
Inductees to be honored are:
* Mark Karter’s 450 career coaching victories include a 65-game win streak. His Mountain Valley boys’ team captured a state championship in 1991. At Westbrook High School, Karter led the Blazers to Western Maine championships in ’94 and ’96. The 1978 graduate of Waterville High School played for Maine Basketball Hall of Fame coach Tom Maines. The multi-time conference coach of the year now guides the Gorham High School boys’ team.
* Kim Condon Lane, a New England Basketball Hall of Fame and Presque Isle Athletic Hall of Fame inductee, was an Honorable Mention All-American at Colby College, where she scored 1,094 points. In 2001, the captain led the Mules to the ECAC Championship. At PIHS, the 1,000-point scorer was All-State, Miss Basketball, U.S.A. Today State of Maine Player of the Year, and Maine Gatorade Player of the Year. Condon led PI to a state title and set a Class A record for most points in a state final, with 41. She joins her father, Steve in the MBHoF.
* Lauree Gott, a two-time captain at the University of Maine, notched 1,387 points and 781 rebounds and was a 1987 Seaboard Conference First Team All-Conference selection. At Old Town High School, Gott was All-State First Team. As a coach, she led the 1988-89 Husson College women’s team to a 26-2 record, and WMAC and NAIA District V championships. Gott coached the Brewer High School girls’ squad and assisted at Northeastern University. She assists MBHoF member Kissy Walker at Husson.
* Steve LeVasseur compiled 333 victories and won five state championships coaching at Schenck High School — three with girls’ teams and two with boys’ squads. The girls earned a 72-15 record over four seasons and won Class C state titles in 1987, 1988, and 1989. The boys won the Class C state championship in 1994 and the Class D state championship in 2010. LeVasseur also had an outstanding playing career. He was an All-State player at Schenck and scored 1,000 points at Husson College.
* Rick McAvoy graduated in 1967 from Sherman High School, where he led the squad to an undefeated season and a state championship over Strong High School. McAvoy averaged more than 20 points and 15 rebounds a game as a senior. He was named All-Tourney and Honorable Mention All-State in ’67. At Fort Kent State College (now the University of Maine at Fort Kent), the 1,000-point scorer was a four-time All-Conference and All-Maine selection.
* Neile Joler Nelson earned Maine NCAA Woman of the Year honors at St. Joseph’s College and was a Scholar-Athlete All-American. She’s in the Monks Hall of Fame for soccer and basketball. Her career hoop totals: 814 points, 313 assists, and 143 steals. She also was inducted with the 1991-92 basketball team, which posted a 23-8 record and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament. At Fort Kent High School, Nelson was All-Tourney and a 1991 McDonald’s Senior All-Star. She’s the varsity girls’ assistant at Gorham High School, which won state titles in 2016 and 2017.
* Crystal Pazdziorko Proulx was a first-year player on the 1975-76 University of Maine women’s basketball team, which was reinstated after Title IX. Proulx paced the Black Bears in scoring (198 points) and rebounding (180). In 1976-77, she again was the leading scorer, with 255 points. Pazdziorko, who captained the 1979 squad, is still the No. 10 all-time UMaine rebounder, with 709. She led Gardiner High School to the first-ever girls’ Class A state championship, scoring 102 points in four games.
* Jim Ray represented Cape Elizabeth High School as a player and coach for more than 30 years. As a coach for 28 seasons, his Capers won 367 games, including five regional championships, and a gold ball in 2015. He was an All-State player at Cape and a standout at the University of Southern Maine, where he was a captain his senior year, scored 1,141 points, dished out 624 assists, and was a conference all-star. The 1984 graduate was inducted into the USM Husky Hall of Fame in 1995.
* Adrienne Shibles, the winningest coach in Bowdoin College women’s basketball history, recently completed her first season at Dartmouth College. Shibles guided the Polar Bears to a 281-65 record, two NESCAC championships, 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, and back-to-back NCAA Division III title game appearances. She has 400+ college coaching wins and was the 2019 WBCA Division III Coach of the Year. Shibles scored 1,000+ points at Bates College and played on Mount View’s 1987 Eastern Maine Class B runner-up team.
* Sharon Siebert scored 1,882 points and grabbed 1,031 rebounds at Husson and was a four-time all-conference player and three-time All–American Honorable Mention. When inducted into Husson’s Sports Hall of Fame, she was the Eagles’ all-time leader in points (1,882), scoring average (17.1), field goals made (698), free throws made (484), and rebounds (1,031). Her numerous honors include Conference Rookie of the Year and NAIA All-District selection. Siebert was an All-State and All-Tourney player at Deer Isle-Stonington, and led the Mariners to the 1987 state title.
* Ken Stone was a high-scoring machine for Deering High School and a First Team All-State selection in 1959. He played at Colby College for legendary coach Lee Williams. When Stone graduated in 1964, he was the Mules’ career scoring leader with 1,500 points in 74 games (20.3 point per game). He’s still ninth on the scoring leaderboard and his No. 15 has been retired. Stone played in the New England Basketball Hall of Fame game in 1964 and was invited to try out for the Olympic men’s basketball team. He’s in the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.
* Jeff Sturgeon was a captain and an All-America East selection in 1984 at the University of Maine. During his career in Orono, he averaged 9 points and 4 assists a contest. At Old Town High School, Sturgeon was a First Team All-State selection in 1980. The lanky, crafty left-hander averaged nearly 22 points and 10 rebounds per contest and, as a senior, led Old Town to the state title game with South Portland. Sturgeon finished his career at Old Town with 1,058 points. He joins his father, Don and his uncle, Dick in the MBHoF.
* Julie Treadwell was an all-conference player for the three-time MAIAW champion University of Maine women’s basketball team. The two-time captain is sixth all-time in career assists, with 387, and is tied for most assists in a game with Dor Saar, with 14. At Orono High School, where she was an inaugural inductee in its Athletic Hall of Fame, she scored 944 points and was All-State honorable mention. Treadwell, Maryland’s 2019 Athletic Director of the Year, earned 126 wins as girls’ basketball coach at Maine Central Institute and is in the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
* Lee Williams’ Colby College men’s basketball teams won 252 games from 1946 to 1965, and 10 Maine State Championships, including eight straight. Williams put Colby on par with the best college teams in the East, regardless of school size. He also was executive director of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and a member of the Olympic Men’s Basketball Committee and the NIT Selection Committee. The Maine Sports Hall of Fame inductee died in 1997.
Other Legends of the Game to be honored are:
* Joni Averill had an impactful career as a sports reporter and columnist at the Bangor Daily News. She was a tireless advocate for equitable sports coverage for 16 years, including in her column “The Other Half.” Averill met and interviewed hundreds of girls and young women whose lives were changed as a result of Title IX. By sharing stories of their successes and challenges, Averill educated, connected, and inspired readers.
* Ron Cote was a First Team All-State selection at St. Louis High School in Biddeford. His quickness, ball handling wizardly, and shooting ability gave opponents fits. At St. Thomas More Academy, Cote started in the backcourt with Ernie DiGregorio of Providence fame. In 1969-70, he started on the undefeated freshman basketball team at the University of Maine. Cote has coached for 47 years and has won multiple coach of the year honors. He’s now an assistant at Biddeford High School.
* Dale Duff has been the voice of Eastern Maine basketball for nearly 50 years. The Houlton native began his career in high school at WHOU, where he works today. The Ricker College graduate covered sports at WLBZ-TV, WZON, and The Ticket, and has earned Maine Sportscaster of The Year honors multiple times and won numerous radio and TV awards. Duff is an adjunct instructor at the New England School of Communications. His basketball coverage has benefited countless high school and college players and fans.
* Mark Rosebush, a dentist in Montana, is one of the best players to come out of the greater Millinocket area. At Schenck High School, the All-State player led the Wolverines to the 1971 state championship. He was nearly unguardable due to his strength, quickness, and a deft shooting touch. At Princeton University, Rosebush played freshman basketball.
* Malaka “Tookie” Russell was a pioneer in Maine girls sports. The Pennsylvania native, who attended Bryn Mawr and played professional softball in Miami, moved to Pittsfield and coached two-plus generations of girls in field hockey, basketball and softball at Maine Central Institute. Russell guided the basketball team from 1959 to 1981 (for several years, Legend Harry “Pinky” True was her assistant). The former president of the Maine Women’s State Golf Association is in the MCI Athletic Hall of Fame and Maine Field Hockey Hall of Fame.
* Harry “Pinky” True excelled in basketball and baseball at Gorham High School, where he played on a state champion hoop squad. At Gorham State Teachers College (now the University of Southern Maine), he earned All-New England baseball honors in 1952 and captained the basketball team. True coached basketball for nearly 40 years at Porter High School, Gardiner High School, Fryeburg Academy, Maine Central Institute, and Skowhegan Area High School, positively impacting thousands of young people. The former headmaster at Fryeburg and MCI is in USM’s Husky Hall of Fame and Gorham High School’s Hall of Fame.
* (1975 East Grand High School Girls’ Team
This history-making team coached by Dennis Codrey won the first-ever girls’ Class D state title, 49-41 over Richmond. This was the first state tournament for girls in Maine and it came three years after Title IX was enacted. The Vikings went on to win three more titles — in 1979, 1982 and 1983 — in the next eight years.
Doors open to the public at 10 a.m. There will be memorabilia from Class of 2022 inductees, as well as posters that highlight experiences of female players, coaches, and writers in Maine to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX legislation.
The ceremony starts at noon. Tony Hamlin, executive director of the MBHoF and a 2016 inductee, is the master of ceremonies.
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