Fitzy’s system can be hard on state standouts

Over the past 30 years, Jack Dawson has learned a few things about handing out awards to well-deserving youths.

Here’s one thing he figured out long ago: “As soon as you pick [an all-star team], you make 11 kids happy and 111 unhappy,” Dawson says. “And that makes 222 parents unhappy. And those odds aren’t good.”

Dawson, in case you don’t know, is the guy Bangor football fans have been talking about all week. Maybe they haven’t actually spoken his name. Maybe they don’t know his name. But they’ve been talking about him. Believe it.

For the past 30 years, Dawson has been the chairman of the committee that gives out the Fitzpatrick Trophy. … the trophy that goes, theoretically, to the best senior football player in the state. … and the trophy that won’t go to Bangor’s standout running back, Buddy Nickerson this year.

If you’re not from Bangor, and you’re not a high school football fan, a quick explanation may be in order: The reason Bangor fans have been up in arms all week is because their star, Nickerson, was not on the list of 10 semifinalists for the prestigious honor.

Why is that such a surprise? Try this resume: He gained 1,507 yards (the most of any Class A back in the state) on 270 carries and scored 19 touchdowns.

When he got to the state championship game, all Nickerson did was lug the ball 43 times and gain 225 yards to help give the Rams their first state title since 1981. Nickerson is arguably the best player on arguably the best team in the state. ‘Nuff said.

Or is it?

The eight-member committee that culls the field of stars to 10 semifinalists has a tough job.

Among the dilemmas: It’s hard to compare a running back who rushes for 2,000 yards, with a dominant lineman, with a linebacker who may have, as Dawson points out, “prevented 2,000 yards.”

In addition, Fitzy candidates aren’t judged merely as football players. They’re also scrutinized based on their academic, extra-curricular and community achievements.

All of that creates an unruly pile of information that committee members have to struggle with.

Is volunteering 20 hours a week at a soup kitchen worth an extra 500 rushing yards? Is a 4.0 GPA worth an extra 40 tackles? You be the judge.

Nickerson’s not alone among the state’s senior stars who won’t be taking home the Fitzy. Feel bad for Buddy if you want.

But you ought to know this, too: There are two unidentified football stars out there who would have liked to have had the opportunity Nickerson did when the committee picked up his nomination packet, pored over the content, and made its judgment.

“There are two very, very outstanding candidates whose material came in late,” Dawson says.

Their coaches missed the nomination deadline.

Another factor that worked against Nickerson is the fact that by the time he made the transition from a workhorse regular-season running back into an honest-to-goodness playoff hero, the Fitzy semfinalists had been selected.

“You have to remember that the last two games didn’t count [as far as the committee was concerned],” Dawson says. “So all the wonderful things he did, especially in the state game, wouldn’t count.”

Even with a later deadline, it wouldn’t have been quite late enough. The Bangor tailback did, in fact, save his best for last.

When Nickerson found out he wasn’t a Fitzy semifinalist, he did exactly what you’d want your Fitzy semifinalists to do.

He smiled at the news, and told his coach that everything was OK.

“He said, ‘Coach, I don’t even care. I got the [trophy] I wanted,'” Mark Hackett recalls.

John Holyoke is a NEWS sportswriter. His e-mail address is jholyoke@bangordailynews.net