One Nation Maine fans flock to Fenway for parade, shared warmth of long-awaited victory

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Two days after their beloved Red Sox swept their way to a long-awaited World Series championship, thousands of fans from Maine to California and points in between converged on Fenway Park in Boston.

They basked in the warmth of the green monster and paid tribute to a team cherished by generations.

Whether traveling by plane, train or automobile, Friday’s revelers, nearly all decked out in Red Sox regalia, formed long lines outside souvenir stores and encircled the entrance to the players’ parking area to catch a glimpse of their heroes.

They counted the minutes to today’s “Rolling Rally” motorcade through downtown that is expected to draw millions.

They also came to commune with the ghosts of Red Sox greats who passed through the arches of the old brick ball yard.

Though the fans (and the greats) waited 86 years for a world title, all said the longing was worth it.

“I’ve been waiting 50 years for this and, believe me, I’m ready for it,” said 85-year-old Sox legend Johnny Pesky, a beam of early-morning sun highlighting his youthful features as he chatted with fans on Yawkey Way.

“It’s very exciting for us and it’s very wonderful to be on the ball club, but it’s the fans who really took to this team and the fans who really deserve it,” Pesky said.

Waterville residents Jerry Hawes and his wife, Billy Jo Hawes, had driven down Thursday night and ended up sleeping in their van in a Logan Airport parking lot.

Accompanied by Billy Jo’s sister Sari Chamberlain, 18, who flew in from her husband’s Army post in California, all three watched in stunned silence as Pesky autographed their articles.

“I’m in complete shock,” said Jerry Hawes. “This is so unreal. I wasn’t expecting to see Johnny Pesky. That’s who the Pesky Pole is named for. I can’t believe it.”

Billy Jo was wearing her husband’s “Yankee Hater” T-shirt that had hung on their wall until it unexpectedly fell to the floor the night of the first New York Yankees playoff game.

Jerry Hawes was afraid he would jinx the team if he hung it back up. After the Sox lost three straight games to their hated rivals, he tacked it back to its rightful place of honor.

“They never lost again,” Hawes said.

Also waiting in line were childhood friends from Harpswell, Russ Cutler, 33, now living in Boston, and Micah Davis, 33, of San Francisco.

Davis managed to find a ticket on the Internet and was in the right field seats at St. Louis the night the Sox clinched the Series.

“Fifty feet away from where Johnny Damon’s [game-winning] home run landed. I had to come for the parade,” Davis said.

Cutler was at Fenway the night the Yankees went ahead in their playoff by three games to none.

“A Yankee fan turned to me and gave me four tickets to Game 7 at the stadium, saying, ‘Here’s a memento from the Series,’ thinking they were useless,” Cutler said. “It was a very cocky move by an arrogant Yankee fan. Four of us were in that guy’s box seats when the Red Sox won.”

Nicole Hansbury, 22, a senior at the University of Maine at Machias, drove 61/2 hours to get to Fenway. She said the trip was spur-of-the-moment and that she had to borrow money from classmates to pay for the gas and tolls.

“I’m celebrating and I’ll be celebrating right through tomorrow,” she said. “Everybody at school is wild over the Red Sox. Even the Yankee fans, there’s a few, joined in. They had to root for somebody.”

Hannah Clayton flew in from Fort Worth, Texas, to share the excitement with her lifelong friend Regina Gaudette of Lakeville, Mass.

They have been fans since the Impossible Dream of 1967 and felt compelled to visit Fenway and watch the parade.

They also came on behalf of their 94-year-old aunt, who is a devoted Red Sox fan.

“She is one of the most serious fans you ever will find,” said Gaudette. “She never misses a televised game, and if things get tough she prays to St. Anthony.”

Gaudette said that every season her aunt fashions a “shrine” with a ceramic model of Fenway and three porcelain nuns playing baseball.

“We got her a pair of red socks to wear when she shovels snow,” Gaudette said, proudly displaying a bag of souvenirs. “And you ought to see her chop wood, too.”

Peter Keenan, 60, and his daughter Stefanie, 21, of Oakland, Calif., didn’t plan on a World Series trip to Fenway. It just worked out that way. Keenan grew up and played baseball in Massachusetts before moving to the West Coast as a young man.

This was his first trip back and it just so happened that Stefanie Keenan was a die-hard Sox fan. Stefanie, who described herself as the “biggest Red Sox fan in Oakland,” sits behind the Boston dugout at A’s games to cheer for her team.

“Since the World Series was going on every day from Portland to Bar Harbor, our trip was organized on where we were going to get a big-screen TV,” Peter said. “We chose our hotels in Maine by how big their ‘Go Sox’ sign was. When we saw Pete & Larry’s in Ellsworth, that’s where we stopped.”

Holden native Carl Russell, 20, an aerospace engineering student at Boston University, waited more than an hour to buy items from the Twins Enterprise Souvenir Shop on Yawkey Way.

Russell watched the playoff and series games at the BU student union and joined the crowds in Kenmore Square after the victories.

“They warned us not to go but we went anyway,” he said. “This was a fantastic run. It took me by surprise. I could not believe it.”

Neither could another BU student, Jeff Shattuck, 22, of Waterville. Shattuck described himself as a “huge Red Sox fan” and pronounced himself “lucky” to live in the neighborhood and be able to walk past Fenway Park all season.

Ameigh Verderosa, 24, the reigning Miss Orlando (Fla.) 2004 and a medical student at BU, also lives in the neighborhood, able to take in the sights and sounds of Fenway.

“For the past two weeks I’ve literally lived here,” said Verderosa. “Johnny Damon signed my baseball, and Derek Lowe waved to us with the World Series trophy during our tour of Fenway. I’ve purchased everything that says Red Sox and have been saving up newspapers for weeks.”

As have Old Town roommates Michelle Libby and Cathy Billings. They grabbed all the Boston and New York papers from the past few days, but it was the Bangor Daily News that they sent to friends all over the country for souvenirs.

Libby and Billings took in 10 games at Fenway this season, including the playoff game in which David Ortiz hit a game-winning home run to top the Anaheim Angels.

“We’re just soaking in the atmosphere and getting our last sausage sandwich for the season,” said Libby. “We’ve already walked the route of the parade. And we’ll probably get here at 5:30 tomorrow morning to get a good spot.”

Billings thinks it was the day in August when they let their lawn grow long enough to mow “Go Sox” in it that the team turned the season around.

“They were 101/2 games out and they went 45-15 since then. We had the champagne and were ready to pop the cork. But we waited to the last out,” she said. “We learned our lesson in 1986.”

“I’m celebrating and I’ll be celebrating right through tomorrow. Everybody at school is wild over the Red Sox. Even the Yankee fans, there’s a few, joined in. They had to root for somebody.”

Nicole Hansbury, senior, University of Maine at Machias

“Since the World Series was going on every day from Portland to Bar Harbor, our trip was organized on where we were going to get a big-screen TV. We chose our hotels in Maine by how big their ‘Go Sox’ sign was.”

Peter Keenan, vacationer from Oakland, Calif.

Gaudette said that every season her aunt fashions a “shrine” with a ceramic model of Fenway and three porcelain nuns playing baseball