Camden Hills’ Hart makes father proud

BANGOR – Lost in the jubilant postgame celebration breaking out on the Bangor Auditorium floor Saturday afternoon after Camden Hills’ victory in the Eastern Maine Class B boys title game was a private moment shared by head coach Jeff Hart and his mother.

After the clock ticked down on Camden’s 60-49 win over Hermon, Hart, who lost his father Tom to cancer June 30 after the condition was initially diagnosed in May, looked at his mother Avis, who was sitting behind the bench a few rows up in the stands.

“I turned around and looked at my mom and it was pretty emotional,” said Hart. “My dad never missed a tournament game and it kind of hit me at the end of the game because it’s been right there since [he died].”

Avis Hart attended the game along with five of Hart’s eight brothers and sisters.

“This was my most emotional tournament,” said Jeff Hart, who has been wearing a World War II Memorial Fund pin all season in memory of his father, who served in the United States Army Air Corps and was stationed in North Africa during WWII.

Hart received the pin after donating to the fund, which has been set up to build a monument in Washington D.C. honoring America’s WWII generation.

Hart never made his father’s death an issue with his team, but he did personally dedicate his efforts on the court and in the classroom this year to his father, who he said possessed “a tireless work ethic.”

“You know … This is a sweet win,” Hart said. “I definitely dedicated my work and effort to making him proud.”

Rarified standing

Woodland girls coach Arnie Clark accomplished a rare feat Saturday.

Not only did his Dragons win the Class D Eastern Maine championship, doing so meant Clark is one of the few coaches in Maine high school basketball history to win regional titles as both a boys and girls coach.

Clark, who led the Calais boys to eight tournament appearances in 14 seasons (1984-1998), won two Eastern Class C crowns with the Blue Devils (1987 and 1991).

“It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long,” said Clark, now in his second season with Woodland.

Clark was unaware of the feat until he was informed late Saturday afternoon while he and his team members awaited the start of the Class C regional finals.

“I’ve never thought about it and I didn’t realize that until now,” he said. “As far as the historical part of it, that’s neat. I don’t know how immense it is though.”

Clark said coaching girls requires a different approach than coaching boys teams.

“It is different coaching boys and girls and I have altered my coaching approach a bit,” he said.

Allow him to explain:”Girls react different than boys do. If you get them on your side, there isn’t anything they won’t do for you. Boys may give you the impression they’re listening to you, but sometimes they’re tuning you right out.

“Also, the girls I’ve coached tend to be a lot more relaxed and attentive before a game where boys are more intense and tend not to listen to too much stuff just before gametime.”

Clark began coaching as a senior in high school, when he took over an intramural eighth grade team. He coached Little League baseball for 20 years.

The 54-year-old Clark said he owes his coaching success to teaching his players the three R’s:

“One is responsibility, another is respect, and the third thing is resourcefulness.”