AUBURN – The world of basketball is a small one, but never in his life did Fern Masse think he and former Red Sox star Jimmy Piersall would be in the same class.

Masse, the former Lewiston coach and athletic director, is being inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in Kingston, R.I., on Friday night.

He’s joining a wide-ranging class of inductees that includes former Buckfield High and Maine star Paul Bessey and Bates star Jim Marois, as well as former Celtic Satch Sanders and Piersall, who was an outstanding high school hoops player in Connecticut.

“It’s an honor, obviously,” said Masse, who will be honored as a contributor to the game of basketball. “There are a lot who have been involved in the game of basketball for a number of years, at all levels. It’s interesting to be associated with all of those names coming from here in the sticks of Maine.”

A member of the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame and Husky Hall of Fame at the University of Southern Maine, Masse distinguished himself as a player, coach and athletic director at Lewiston High School for more than three decades. As a coach, he collected 250 wins and led the Blue Devils to two Western Maine titles in 1965 and 1966. He also was an assistant on Jim Murphy’s staff coaching the Bates College women’s basketball team.

But Masse may have had his biggest impact on Maine basketball when he helped found the Hoop Basketball Camp in Casco in 1971. Some of the best players in the state’s history have passed through the camp as players, counselors, or both.

“We put a lot of kids through there over the years,” said Masse, who estimates 30,000 campers have taken their shots at Hoop Camp. “We had a lot of kids that went on to play all levels of college basketball. You think back of the kids that went through, there’s so many of them that you just say to yourself ‘Wow.'”

One of the players Masse can reflect upon is Bessey, who was one of the first counselors at the camp. Bessey is being inducted for distinguished career as a high school and college player in New England.

At Buckfield, he played four years for coach Ray Miclon, leading the Bucks to the Western Maine final against Casco his senior year in 1968. He then walked on at the University of Maine, where he played point guard for four years. He served as co-captain his junior and senior years while playing for Skip Chappelle and average 10 ppg.

“We traveled around a bit and played some good schools,” Bessey said from his home in Orono. “We got off to a good start my senior year and I think at one point we led the nation in defense.”

Bessey coached at Belfast, Stearns and Orono and led Orono to the state championship in 1981. He was a part-time assistant for the Maine women’s team in the 1980s, but hasn’t been involved in the game much in recent years.

“I’ve kind of lost touch with the whole thing,” said Bessey, who is in his 29th year teaching social studies at Orono High School. “This going on has kind of brought me back. I got involved in the game because I enjoyed the game and got pretty passionate about it.”

Marois, who lives in Worcester, Mass., is being inducted as a Division III college player. Like Bessey, he was a point guard, and started all four years and never missed a game at Bates.

“I was very excited (when he heard the news). It’s been a long time,” said Marois, a member of the class of 1977. “It’s nice to be recognized for some of the things you did a long time ago.”

Marois scored 1,198 career points, which ranks 11th all-time at Bates. His senior year, he was a D-III All-America honorable mention.

“(Bates’) schedule was a lot tougher then than it is now,” said Marois, who now runs a collection agency in Worcester. “My first year there, we used to play Maine twice. We played Vermont, Bentley, Northeastern, Hartford. We beat Hartford one year when they were Division II.”

Tying all the honorees together is Dan Doyle, a Bates graduate who founded the New England Basketball Hall of Fame. The first class was inducted in 2002.

Also being inducted this year is former University of Southern Maine star Julie Plant.