High school basketball lost a great friend Sept. 28 when longtime teacher and coach Dennis Mason died.

Denny spent a number of years teaching and coaching in the Guilford and the Greenville school systems.

And what an educator Mr. Mason was.

I first met the likeable gentleman in 1976 on the steps of the Ramada Inn on the Odlin Road in Bangor. Dennis was a guest at the hotel, and I was picking up Gene Bartow, who was coaching at UCLA at the time.

Coach Bartow was in town as the featured speaker for our Maine All-American Coaches Clinic – now HOOPS, Inc. – and he and I were to have lunch together, then head to the Bangor Auditorium for his presentation.

Dennis was in the Queen City with a group of his coaching buddies for the clinic. From that chance meeting until the day he died last week, we were close friends.

Coach Mason was a unique individual for he always put others before himself. If Dennis called you friend, then you were likely to receive a telephone call like this one.

“Brown,” he’d say with a deep voice.

“Hi, Dennis,” I’d respond, smiling.

“Sportscenter update, Brown,” he’d be laughing by now.

Then, of course, he’d launch into a litany of high school basketball job openings and who he thought might get them.

Dennis was, in a nutshell, quite a card.

Our paths crossed professionally in 1981 when I became the boys varsity basketball coach at Piscataquis Community High School in Guilford.

Dennis was already on board as the program’s junior varsity coach, and we struck up a coaching relationship that I’ve never had the likes of again.

Dennis was the best assistant coach I have ever had the pleasure to work with in all my 34 years of coaching.

By the time I arrived at the gymnasium, all equipment was out on the floor and ready to go. The basketballs were pumped up, the medicine kit was filled, and the players were quietly going about their stretching routines.

For a head coach, that type of assistant is a valuable commodity.

During the actual games, Dennis was Johnny-on-the-spot with important information to help us win the contests. With Dennis on our side of things, we would only lose three times in a two-year span. I give coach Mason’s expertise and assistance a lot of credit for all those victories.

Those who knew Denny best also knew of the physical maladies that plagued the Greenville native the last few years of his life.

Through the ups and the downs of treating diabetes and the subsequent kidney dialysis treatments he required, Dennis never lost hope or took his frustrations out on others.

Coach Mason was one of a kind. He was a gentleman’s gentleman.

Dennis’ favorite time of the year in Maine was the high school basketball tournament season. The happiest I ever saw him was when he was at the Bangor Auditorium coaching or hanging out with gentlemen such as Carroll Smith, Pete Caruso, or Richie Nadeau – all great coaches in their own right.

Dennis had a soul that gave to whatever degree necessary to ease the suffering of others.

Dennis had a knack for saying a lot by saying a little. He was not a man of many words. He rarely displayed a temper, and his love for his fellow man was palpable.

Dennis would be embarrassed today to see so much print devoted to his life. He and his brother, Carl, were hoop standouts in Greenville. Dennis’ lovely wife Sharon stood by his side until he finally succumbed to the diseases which ravaged his once lithe, athletic body.

But Denny’s memory will last a lifetime, for he touched so many lives. I feel privileged to have known such a man.

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