Friends recall memories of Geagan He coached Bapst to historic upset

Ron Geagan was a storyteller, a motivator, and the possessor of a great Irish wit.

The former Bangor High School and John Bapst High School basketball coach and football assistant left a legacy and those who knew him will never forget him.

Geagan died of cancer on Friday. He was 68.

“He was one of a kind. They threw away the mold [after he was born],” said Bangor High School principal Norris Nickerson, who coached with Geagan at Bangor and was a close friend. “He was one of those guys who was unique in a lot of different ways. He could talk with the most sophisticated people and he would never pass up an opportunity to talk to a bum on the street, either. He related to everyone.”

“I loved every minute I spent with him. He was a great person. I’ll miss him tremendously,” added Nickerson.

Nickerson said Geagan always got the most out of his players.

“He was one of those tough old Irishmen who could bring out the best in people,” said Nickerson. “He was a great motivator. His halftime talks were very creative. I admired him for it.”

As a first-year head coach in 1966, Geagan was the architect of one of the biggest upsets in the history of Maine high school basketball. He led his eighth-seeded John Bapst Crusaders to a 72-64 win over top seed Stearns in the Class LL tournament quarterfinals, snapping the Minutemen’s 81-game Eastern Maine winning streak.

Stearns had beaten John Bapst twice during the season.

“He made you want to play for him. He fired you up,” said Ed Thorne, who played on that Bapst team and also played football for Geagan.

“I had nothing but the utmost respect for him. He touched a lot of kids,” added Thorne. “He was down to earth and treated you like you wanted to be treated.”

Geagan was a Bangor native who played baseball, football, and basketball at John Bapst, graduating in 1955. He attended Husson College three years later and played basketball and baseball there. Upon graduating from Husson in 1962, he returned to John Bapst as a business teacher as well as a football, basketball, and golf coach.

He eventually became the athletic director and head basketball coach at his alma mater before going over to Bangor High School as a business teacher and assistant football coach. He also coached track.

Geagan began a six-year stint as the head basketball coach at Bangor in 1977.

“He was always a classy guy,” said Mike LaChance, who played football for Geagan. “He was very knowledgeable and he always had time for us, even dubs like me. He would work with me on technique and the things I needed to work on. He always had helpful hints. He and Coach Nickerson always prepared us well.”

LaChance also said Geagan stressed the positive.

“He would tell you to try something this way, and if it didn’t work, he’d say try doing it another way. He convinced me I was better than I was,” added LaChance.

LaChance taught with Geagan at Bangor High and said he was equally adept as a teacher.

“He was an excellent teacher who didn’t put up with any foolishness,” said LaChance. “He was firm, fair, and consistent.”

In addition, LaChance said Geagan was a character with “more one-liners and stories” than you could imagine.

Former Bangor High School baseball coach Bob Kelley, who grew up in the same Broadway Park neighborhood as Geagan and taught with him at Bangor, said Geagan was a “real good athlete and a real strong competitor” as a youngster.

“He was a great person and a great friend,” added Kelley, who noted that as a teacher, Geagan “always held his students responsible for their actions. He did a great job in that respect.”

Former Bangor High lineman Carlton Strout called Geagan “one of the best coaches I ever had.”

“He taught me a lot about football and a lot about being a gentleman and a good sport,” said Strout. “He loved to push you as hard as he could on the football field to make you a better player, but when we were in the locker room, it was a whole different story. He and coach Nickerson would tell you what a good job you did.”

Gerry Hodge, the head football coach at Bangor when Geagan and Nickerson were there, said when the Rams won the state Class A title in 1975, Geagan “did the best [line] coaching job I’ve ever seen. We didn’t have that much talent in the line, but they were tough.”

“The kids loved him,” added Hodge. “He was a wonderful guy and a great coach.”