ORONO – It’s been a while since Steve Shaw sat on the bench at a basketball game.

The former boys basketball coach at Easton and Central Aroostook High School found himself back on the sidelines Monday night, but instead of high schoolers, it was former collegiate stars and NBA players he was calling signals to.

“I had a lot of fun,” said Shaw. “It was really something being around these guys who were 6-9, 6-10 … We only had seven players and honestly, if I’d known we were that thin, I would’ve suited up myself. My jumper’s still pretty good.”

Some of the players Shaw coached were former Oregon State University and Seattle Supersonics player John Greig and former University of Washington/San Antonio Spurs player Phil Zevenbergen.

Shaw, who has been Easton’s athletic director the last eight years, got the opportunity to serve as co-coach with old friend Bill Alexson, the former team chaplain for the Boston Celtics, for the SportsPower USA team which played the University of Maine men in an exhibition game at Alfond Arena.

“Billy has been a friend for a long time. Back when I was at Central Aroostook and we had a fantastic team there, he drove up one day from Boston when he was chaplain of the Celtics and I had him come in and bless my team before we went out on the court,” said Shaw, who coached five seasons at CAHS and 16 at Easton. “Then the next week, he showed up at the Augusta Civic Center for us. So when he calls, I owe him.

“I played with Venture for Victory Overseas Crusade back in 1975, so I’m familiar with the type of thing they do and he asked me to help out.”

SportsPower USA is similar to Athletes in Action in that it uses sports, particularly basketball, to spread the message of fellowship and Christianity. Axelson is SportsPower’s executive director.

“It’s an outreach program. Bill likes to bring a message through basketball. He’s the pastor of about 20 teams in the NBA,” Shaw explained. “Bill’s been running SportsPower about 10 years now. He goes all around the world. Being around him this week was great for me and it’s good for all the guys who play for him. It was an uplifting weekend. I can’t really explain it.”

Shaw was able to manage the time to coach the team and run some practices on Sunday and Monday afternoons through the support of school superintendent Frank Keenan.

“I’m busy obviously with getting my teams ready at Easton, so I can’t travel with [SportsPower],” said Shaw. “This was kind of a one-shot deal for me, but if he comes back into Maine, I’ll certainly help him again.”