Caribou native Jamie Duffy recently discovered that a basketball bond can be a strong one when he met Secretary of Defense William Cohen in Kuwait and asked him to play a brief game of one-on-one.

Duffy, who played basketball for Caribou High School before graduating in 1973, is stationed in Kuwait and is better known to his military peers as Lt. Col. Jim Duffy, commander of the Army 54th Signal Battalion at Camp Doha.

A fellow Mainer, Cohen, was visiting the troops in Kuwait during the holiday season. Duffy had a basketball encounter with Cohen in the early 1970s when Cohen, then a congressman, was in Caribou and staying with friends, Donald and Patricia Collins, parents of current Sen. Susan Collins.

Duffy played a game of one-on-one with Cohen, who is a former Bangor High standout and All-Maine selection. Duffy, with youth on his side, beat Cohen.

“Bill used to be up in Caribou a lot and he’d usually stay at the Collins’ house,” recalled Duffy’s father, retired standout high school chouse,” recalled Duffy’s father, retired standout high school coach Gerry Duffy.

“Jamie met Bill and asked him if he wanted to play a game and he did,” Duffy said.

Duffy explained that his son was eager to learn whether Cohen would recall that game, so he held up a basketball when Cohen was visiting the troops in Kuwait.

“There was a big crowd and Jamie needed a way to attract Bill’s attention. It worked,” Duffy said.

Cohen did remember the game, according a press release from the 54th Signal Battalion.

Cohen still showed off his basketball skills, Jim Duffy said in the release, but declined another rematch. Instead, Cohen presented Duffy with an autographed basketball as a memento of his visit.

Jim Duffy, 44, was a starting guard on Caribou’s High 1973 team. He graduated from the University of Maine-Presque Isle in 1977, earned his teacher’s certificate and taught for two years.

He then joined the military and has served for 18 years. He and his wife, Vickie, have two children, Becky, 23, and Heather, 21.