A Maine Central Institute coaching legend and the 1998 Winslow High varsity team are among the first inductees into the Maine Field Hockey Hall of Fame.

Malaka “Tookie” Russell, who coached field hockey at MCI of Pittsfield for 30 years, and the record-setting Black Raiders will join five other officials and coaches in the Hall of Fame. Each inductee was nominated by a current member of the Maine Field Hockey Association.

The rest of the inaugural class includes officials Patricia Gallagher Carlista and Bonnie Yeaton, coach Diann Perkins, and posthumous inductees Faith Littlefield and Flossie Smith.

Russell began coaching at MCI in the late 1950s and was named the Maine Coach of the Year in 1984. She is a 1986 MCI Hall of Fame inductee and received the 2003 National Girls and Women in Sport Lifetime Achievement Award. Russell also coached softball for 26 years and basketball for 22 at MCI.

The 1998 Winslow High field hockey team was the first field hockey team ever to go unscored upon and untied, according to National Federation of State High School Association records. The Raiders went 18-0 en route to Class B state championship. Winslow was coached by Brenda Beckwith and captained by Jessica Smiley, Kristy Bronsberg and Kristy Ferran, who was named Miss Maine Field Hockey that year.

Carlista was an official for 25 years in southern Maine who officiated high school and college championships. Yeaton was a central Maine-based official from 1963 to 1983. She was also a three-sport high school coach at Jay and Mt. Blue of Farmington.

Perkins originated the field hockey program at Old Town High, and moved on to Sacopee Valley in Hiram, where she coached basketball, field hockey, cross country, track and gymnastics. Perkins also officiated from the late 1950s until 2001.

Littlefield led Bonny Eagle of Standish to a 350-102-39, seven state championships and seven Western Maine championships during a coaching span from 1966-2001. Smith served as an official from 1964-1997 in Maine and New England. She coached field hockey and lacrosse at Bonny Eagle, served on the National Federation’s Field Hockey Rules Committee and was president of the Maine Field Hockey Association.