It has been my habit through the years to attend high school basketball tournament games involving my former players who are now coaches.

Such was the case the other night when I made my way to the Bangor Auditorium to watch the Foxcroft Academy boys take on Mount View of Thorndike in a Class B quarterfinal matchup.

The Ponies are coached by David Carey, who played his high school basketball under my tutelage at Penquis Valley High School in Milo in the late 1970s.

Upon entering the Bangor Auditorium that Friday evening, I was greeted by Thomas “Skip” Chappelle, former UMaine sharpshooter and coach, who was seated in the near bleachers on the visiting side with his good friend K.C. Jones of Boston Celtics fame. Skip introduced me to the Celtics legend, and I had no sooner taken my seat again when a flood of K.C. Jones and Skip Chappelle memories washed over me.

Jones’ Celtics used to barnstorm the state of Maine during the preseason. What a great thrill it was for young boys to race to the old barn on Dutton Street in Bangor and watch their heroes play hoops right in their own backyard.

Even before moving into the coaching ranks, K.C. Jones had quite a playing career.

In 1955, Jones scored a game-high 24 points in the NCAA title game for the victorious University of San Francisco team versus LaSalle. In 1956, he was named an All-American. K.C. was selected in the second round of the 1956 NBA draft, but he didn’t join the storied Men In Green until 1958 because he served two years in the military.

It was in 1962 that he met his soon-to-be friend from Old Town, Maine, at Celtics training camp.

Skip Chappelle had just finished a solid career at the University of Maine when he made his way to the Celtics tryout.

I have many fond memories of Skip’s hoop exploits for Maine in the old Downeast Classic, played annually at the Bangor Auditorium against a variety of in-state and out-of-state college teams. Few people, however, know how close he came to continuing his playing career at the professional level.

Skip made his own Celtics exhibition debut in 1962 at Babson (Mass.) College in what used to be called preseason green-white games. His starting backcourt mate was non other than Bob Cousy. Skip was thrilled that his parents were able to make the trip by bus from Old Town to see him play.

Another time, following a successful performance versus the New York Knicks, Skip was told by head coach Red Auerbach after the contest: “You can play in the NBA.”

Sadly, the C’s last roster spot that year went to a kid from Ohio named Havlicek. Skip was the last cut. Coach Auerbach said that cutting the crafty guard from Maine was one of the hardest decisions he ever had to make.

The following year, Chappelle returned to training camp and tossed in 29 points in a green-white game in Rhode Island. Problem was, by then, Skip had already made a commitment to Fort Fairfield High School to teach and coach boys hoops there, a place he stayed for seven years before returning to the Orono campus of UMaine as a coach.

As I sat in my chair watching the Class B quarterfinal action, I couldn’t help but think about the thousands of spectators who came through the turnstiles that night in Bangor who didn’t know K.C. Jones or even Skip, for that matter, from the Man in the Moon. Even the young man who took me to the Foxcroft game was dumbfounded when I posed the obvious question of their identity. In fact, he didn’t recognize either of the two men who were sitting behind us.

“You’re in the presence of legends, Paul,” I stated matter-of-factly.

“Where?” he asked.

I then gave him a brief, oral history of what the two men had accomplished in their illustrious careers.

I did strike pay dirt when I reached the McHale, Parish, and Bird years of K.C. Jones’ coaching career in Boston.

As far as Skip and K.C. were concerned, they were probably just as content to watch basketball and enjoy each other’s company.

NEWS columnist Ron Brown, a retired high school basketball coach, can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net