It’s funny how we see people differently. Someone funny to you might be boring to someone else.

But most people saw Roman Maxsimic the same way. Talk to someone about Maxsimic and the word “rock” will come up. They say he was a rock. His former teammates on the 1968 state champion Brewer football team said he was a rock. His friend of 20 years used the term.

On Oct. 24, Roman Maxsimic returned to his home in Portland after a jog. He was getting ready to take the family dog for a walk when his heart attacked him.

Roman Maxsimic died in his home at the age of 51.

– . –

David Maxsimic idolized his brother. Younger than Roman, he watched his brother’s exploits in high school where Roman was a star football player and set a Penobscot Valley Conference and school record in the shot put.

“He was a very special man. I looked up to him all my life,” David Maxsimic said.

And then.

“He was a rock. He never changed. He was the same guy when he graduated high school as the day he died.”

– . –

Roman spent the last 15 years of his life working in the Office of Probation and Parole in Portland. Before that he worked at the Maine Youth Center. It was there that Roman became friends with Peter Littlejohn. But it wasn’t the first time Littlejohn had heard of Roman.

Littlejohn, a couple of years younger than Roman, saw him play fullback for Brewer in 1968 in a game in South Portland. It was the Class A state championship game.

“I saw the game. That’s the first time I heard of Roman Maxsimic,” Littlejohn said.

Littlejohn also remembers Brewer’s star running back of the 1970 team, Ralph Payne.

“Ralph was the stud, but it was always good to have someone like Roman blocking for you,” Littlejohn said.

Years after the game, Littlejohn met Roman on the job at the Maine Youth Center.

“I got to know him because his oldest daughter and my kids are about the same age and we did a lot of family things together,” Littlejohn said.

And then.

“He was a rock of a person,” Littlejohn added.

– . –

Ralph Payne was a sophomore on the Brewer football team in 1968. He was the only sophomore who played a lot. Payne was a senior on the myth-inspiring 1970 team and a team leader. He says he learned it all from Roman.

“Roman was like a big brother to me. I was only a sophomore when he was a senior and a captain. He was definitely a leader,” Payne said.

And then.

“A rock. I learned to be a captain from the way he treated younger players.”

– . –

Ken Perrone coached Brewer football back then before trading one set of Witches for another when he left to coach in Salem, Mass. He now lives in Danvers, and is the baseball coach at Salem State.

“Roman Maxsimic was the type of man every coach would like to have. Not only as a player but as a son,” Perrone said. “He was a great blocker. We scored a lot on play-action passes. He was such a force running the ball in the middle that when we faked the ball to him, it opened things up for us.”

And then.

“He was a good student. He set a good example off the field, as well. He was a great leader. He was a rock.”

– . –

There were things that not everyone knew about him. Like one of Roman’s many talents.

Yeah, he was a good family man, everyone says. He loved his family. He married his high school sweetheart, the former Katherine Briggs. They were married for 29 years. Everyone knew that.

But what everyone didn’t know was that Roman could turn a burger with the best of them.

“I remember the cookouts,” Littlejohn said. “He was great on a Weber grill.”

Brother David remembers, too.

“He was a good cook,” David Maxsimic said. “He loved to cook. He was great on a grill. Great on a stove. He was very creative.”

Littlejohn talked about trips to the Maxsimics’ camp on First Roach Pond near Kokadjo.

There was hiking, fishing, and a Weber grill.

“He had very strong beliefs. He had a real common-sense way about him. You knew where you stood. He could spot a lie a mile away,” Littlejohn remembers.

– . –

Slowly the calls were made. Former teammates called each other. Friends called friends. They met in Portland. Ralph Payne went, and somewhere around 15-20 of Roman’s teammates were there among the 300-400 people at the funeral Mass.

“I was glad to honor him. He was a very good man,” the soft-spoken Payne said.

Perrone was there, but his age is starting to become painful. The students and players he taught are beginning to die.

“They are all like my sons. It’s hard to have one of your kids go before you. I should go before them,” Perrone said.

– . –

“When I was down on myself, he believed in me,” Payne said. “To have Roman, the leader of that class, to believe in me made me believe I could play a little.”

– . –

We are what people believe we are. Whether we like it or not, we are their perception. Roman Maxsimic passed perhaps that truest test.

He was friend, father, husband, teammate, chef, Little League softball coach, rock, and he died far too soon.

He was Roman Maxsimic.

Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net.