March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

The NEWS Sports crew recalls some memorable moments

Yes, yes. It’s the Top Ten time of year.

You know how it works. December is quickly giving way to January. One year is ending and another is beginning. And for reasons not fully explained, every news outfit in the country has to review the stories that grabbed us by the throats during the year that’s about to become history.

The NEWS sports crew is looking back on 1994 a little differently on this, the last day of this year.

Every one of our writers witnessed an event or an individual achievement that made a lasting impression on them. It is safe to say that others were impressed by the things that impressed the members of the sports staff. Therefore, it is safe to consider the events or achievements as significant.

Following are the memorable moments of 1994 by the NEWS sports staff:

Like father …

The date: Saturday, March 5. The site: Augusta Civic Center. The event: the state Class D schoolgirl basketball championship.

The significance: the passing of the torch, not just to a new generation, but to a new gender.

On that day, Jonesport-Beals senior guard Sandi Carver played her final high school basketball game, leading the Jonesport-Beals girls to their first state title, beating Richmond 47-33.

This is a story of which dreams are made, particularly dreams of dads.

When Sandi Carver won that title, it had been nearly 22 years since the passage of Title IX, the federal education amendment mandating equal opportunity for females in athletics.

Prior to 1972, it is safe to say most dads dreamed of their sons following in their footsteps. If a dad won a state basketball championship, he would most likely dream that, someday, his son would do the same.

But not in 1994. It was not “like father, like son.” It became “like father, like daughter.”

In 1973, Dwight Carver, Sandi’s dad and her team’s assistant coach, played his final basketball game for Jonesport-Beals, winning the school’s fourth straight state championship.

That it should be his daughter rather than his son who followed in his footsteps demonstrates the progress female athletes have made.

“I told her the last time her old man was in a Jonesport-Beals uniform, he went out with a gold ball,” Dwight Carver said after the game. “I wanted that for her, too.” – Joni Averill

Hell on wheels

Just one, huh? Pick one day out of the past 365 when I was extremely glad to have this job.

Here’s just some of the images that went through my head in rewinding through 1994:

The looks on the faces of both the Lawrence High boys and girls basketball teams after pulling off a rare Class A state title sweep at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland. Ecstasy doesn’t cover it. What’s a stronger word for ecstasy?…

Portland Sea Dog’s catcher Charles Johnson belting a home run into the early May night at Hadlock Field….

Mark Plummer sharing a quick hug with his dad, Stan, after strolling to a 10-shot victory in the Maine Amateur on his home course, the Augusta Country Club…

A young golf pro named Jason Widener’s high-arcing chip-in on No. 18 at Bangor Muni to put the Greater Bangor Open in his pocket…

Delaware football coach Tubby Raymond rubbing his face in frustration after unheralded UMaine knocked the spit out of his Blue Hens in Orono…

Black Bear hockey goalie Blair Allison making a career-high 34 saves to preserve a tie with Boston University…

Joey Gamache falling like a tree after being caught with a perfect left hook by WBA lightweight champion Gussie Nazarov in Portland…

Just one moment, huh?

OK. The one that keeps coming back is from last May. At the request of the players, I sat in a wheelchair to fill out the sides in a quadriplegic rugby practice at the Bangor YMCA. Pushing the wheels in that chair, propelling myself up and down the court with these gutsy, gritty men who refuse to let horrible adversity crush their will to participate in sports and in life, is an image I can’t get out of my head. I hope I never do. – Mike Dowd

Dueling golfers

My most memorable moment was the duel I covered between a giant in the Maine women’s golfing community and a young upstart from Gardiner.

The giant? Martha White, whose total number of Women’s Maine State Golf Association titles, 13, matched the age of her opponent, Abby Spector.

White held a 4-stroke lead over Spector going into the final day of the tournament. Spector managed to stay with White over the first few holes, but White’s calm and steady play allowed her to pull away from the streaky Spector, despite the pressure of having Spector and her other closest competitor – Martha’s sister, Pennie Cummings – playing in her group.

Even without its rookie vs. veteran significance, this matchup was special. How often do you see a 13-year-old giving adults two, three, or four times her age all they can handle in their own tournament?

That Spector was able to shake off a quintuple bogey and two straight bogeys on her last three holes and come back to win the junior title with a par and birdie on the first two holes of a playoff was even more extraordinary.

Sure made me glad I was there. – Andrew Neff

Longer duck season

In backtracking through 1994’s outdoors-related stories, my thoughts stumbled over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to offer waterfowl hunters a four-duck daily limit or a 10-day extension on the duck season, nationwide. In recent years, the daily limit on ducks was three and the season was 30 days long.

According to the USFWS, the decision was based on outstanding waterfowl production last spring – the best in 10 years.

In many states, including Maine, duck hunters favored extending the hunting season. At the same time, however, many conservation-minded hunters wondered whether one year of increased waterfowl production justified changes in hunting regulations that would result in a bigger harvest. It appeared counterproductive, to say the least.

Call it political poaching, which means the bait wasn’t cracked corn scattered on gunning grounds. Reportedly, the way it happened was President Clinton’s Crime Bill was being shot down and he needed a few votes to make it fly.

So “Slick Willie” drew a bead on several senators from major waterfowl-hunting states located in the Central and Mississippi flyways. When he offered them the aforementioned options in return for their support of the Crime Bill, the senators concurred. They realized that the options would bag votes from the flocks of waterfowlers in their constituencies. The pressure of those “big guns” then was applied to the USFWS.

Think about it. All the years of management work woven into restoring North America’s waterfowl resource could be unraveled by a stroke of the political pen. That’s a disheartening and disgusting memory. – Tom Hennessey

Blodgett’s big night

It may be a cliche to say Cindy Blodgett is my top memory of this past sporting year. But face it. High school basketball in 1994 was Cindy Blodgett.

One night stands out from the rest.

The date: Jan. 26.

The site: Lawrence High’s Folsom Gym in Fairfield.

The opponent: The Cony Rams.

The story: Cony was leading by 15 points with 5:54 left in the game. The Rams seemed certain to hand Blodgett and Co. their first home loss in more than three years.

Then Cindy stepped up.

She scored 20 fourth-quarter points on 8-for-8 shooting, including 18 of her team’s final 21 to lead Lawrence to an incredible 63-59 victory. She finished with 44 points, including a 33-foot buzzer beater at the end of the third quarter. She did it all in front of a region-wide television audience, a Sports Illustrated photographer and a jam-packed Folsom Gym.

Blodgett and the Bulldogs springboarded from that game to a fourth straight Class A state championship. And two books have since been published about this basketball wunderkind from Clinton.

But the biggest reason that game stands out for me is this: Until that night, I had always believed Westbrook’s Lisa Blais was the greatest schoolgirl basketball player in this state’s history.

On that night, Cindy Blodgett made me a believer. – John Nash

Close, but no cigar

1994 may be best remembered as “The Year to Forget.”

The unfolding of the University of Maine’s NCAA eligibility and certification problems was interesting and challenging to cover, but it is difficult to consider the whole mess “memorable” in an enjoyable way.

That’s why I selected my favorite sports moment of ’94 for its excitement and fan appeal rather than for its journalistic significance.

On March 9 I witnessed the North Atlantic Conference men’s basketball championship between Drexel University and Maine in Philadelphia.

It represented an opportunity for coach Rudy Keeling’s Black Bears to make school history. A victory would have meant a berth in the NCAA Tournament, increased exposure for the program, and a huge boost in credibility.

What made the contest more intriguing was the setting: More than 2,300 fans jammed into Drexel’s tiny gym. The atmosphere was reminiscent of a cross-town high school rivalry.

The game was televised live on ESPN, which intensified the crowd’s cheers and its behavior. The gym was stuffy and hot and the mood hostile toward the Bears, who held their own in spite of the Dragons’ home-court advantage.

It was a seesaw affair during which Drexel led by 10 in the first half, only to have Maine wipe out the lead before halftime.

However, the Dragons’ big-game experience began to show late in the second half. Drexel made the big shots and the defensive stops. Maine did not.

It was tied at 78-78 with 1:16 remaining when Maine’s Deonte Hursey missed his trademark, 12-foot jumper from the baseline. The Dragons reponded with two Jim Rullo free throws that gave them the lead for good.

The Bears had ample chances to stay close, but an errant ally-oop pass gave the ball back to Drexel, which got one Cornelius Overby foul shot with 48 seconds to play.

Then, 17 seconds later, Overby made a steal that helped ice it. He followed with two free throws that gave Drexel a five-point lead. Maine could not counter.

Keeling’s crew had come excruciatingly close to a moment of glory, but the Bears had to watch Drexel’s wild celebration on the court. It was thrilling, agonizing and intense all at once…. unforgettable. – Pete Warner

Lest we forget

In many ways, you could say “Thank God 1994 is history. 1995 has to be a better year.”

Any game I covered would pale in comparison to the loss of three people who were special to me: Bill Warner, Bob Lahey and Ralph W. “Bud” Leavitt Jr.

Instead of dwelling on their deaths, I want to focus on their lives and consider myself fortunate I knew them for a healthy portion of the 25 years I have lived in Maine.

Every time I see a Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy or Humphrey Bogart movie, I think of Bill. He knew ’em all. Same with ex-major league greats. I used to pick his brain about old movies or ballplayers who starred in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

Bill was like a second father to me when I was breaking into the business. He didn’t have to be. He was much more than a boss.

I’ll also remember him as a loving, supportive grandfather. I coached his grandson William’s soccer team and he was almost always available to help out during practices or games.

I’ll always remember the chats Bob Lahey and I had at the Eastern Maine basketball tournaments. A classy and sincere man, Bob always asked about you and your family. It wasn’t just idle chatter. As an athletic director at Old Town High, he always wanted what was best for the student-athletes. The tournament in February will not be the same without him.

Bud Leavitt called to wish me happy birthday during my 40th birthday party last April. He called from California.

People knew Bud as a robust, charismatic, larger-than-life figure of Maine and its outdoors. That he certainly was. But his prominence as a national figure perhaps overshadowed his love and devotion to his wife and family and his thoughtfulness to his friends.

We should celebrate life the way these three men did. That’s what they would want us to do. – Larry Mahoney


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