Bordick leading off Maine Hall class Barstow, Reed, Higgins, Webb also inductees

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Their collective careers, as athletes, coaches, officials and administrators, have spanned parts of six decades.

Their accomplishments range from regional and state championships to national titles, major league records, World Series appearances and All-Star recognition.

They are the members of the Maine Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2006.

The organization announced Friday that Richard Barstow, James “Chico” Hernandez, Roger Reed, Mike Bordick, Brian Higgins, Peter Webb and Irving Kagan will be inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame Sunday, June 3, at the awards dinner at the Bangor Banquet and Conference Center.

Barstow, 71, has enjoyed one of the most successful and lasting coaching careers in the history of Maine high school sports. The Massachusetts native, who graduated from Dexter High School in 1952, has been teaching and coaching since 1960.

Barstow, who has been the girls basketball coach at Katahdin High School in Stacyville since 1998, is believed to be the winningest basketball coach in Maine high school history. His hoop teams have amassed 642 victories and he once enjoyed an 84-game winning streak.

Barstow’s teams have won seven Eastern Maine championships and four state titles at Katahdin, Central Aroostook of Mars Hill and Presque Isle.

Before starting his coaching career, Barstow played football and baseball at Syracuse University in the late 1950s.

Reed, a native of Carmel, continues to be one of the most successful basketball coaches in the state’s history. His career as a teacher and coach began in 1965.

During a career which has spanned a combined 32 years at Bangor Christian School and Bangor High School, Reed’s teams have piled up more than 470 victories and a .720 winning percentage.

Reed is a 1958 graduate of Carmel High School where he was a basketball and baseball standout. He owns degrees from the University of Maine-Farmington and the University of Southern Maine.

Reed began his career as a head coach in 1972 at Bangor Christian. He spent 12 of the next 14 seasons with the Patriots, spending two years at Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo., where he led his team to a National Christian College Athletic Association Division II national championship in 1981.

In 1986, Reed made the move to Bangor High, where he is now in his 20th season. He has directed the Rams to seven Eastern Maine Class A titles and six state championships, accomplishments unmatched by any other Class A coach.

Webb, 66, has been one of the most influential men in Maine sports for more than 40 years. He is perhaps best known in his role as the state’s basketball commissioner, a position he has held for 16 years.

The Houlton native has been a certified basketball official for 42 years and has officiated almost 2,100 varsity high school, college and professional games. Webb served as the president of the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials and has conducted more than 400 clinics throughout the United States and Canada.

Webb, a standout basketball and baseball player at Houlton High, went on to play at Ricker College in Houlton. He began his basketball coaching career as an assistant to Bill Fletcher at Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln.

Webb umpired baseball for 44 years. The Stetson resident was a longtime school principal.

Bordick, 40, achieved more baseball success than any other player to come out of eastern Maine. The Michigan-born shortstop moved to Maine and attended Hampden Academy, before embarking on solid three-year career at the University of Maine.

Bordick batted .364 as a junior before signing a pro contract with the Oakland Athletics in 1986. He worked his way through the minor leagues, landing a spot on the major league roster in 1990, when Oakland made it to the World Series.

Bordick stayed with the A’s through 1996 before joining the Baltimore Orioles. He had the distinction of replacing future Hall of Farmer Cal Ripken Jr. at shortstop.

In 2002, Bordick set major league records for a shortstop by playing 110 consecutive games without committing an error and handling 543 straight errorless chances.

Bordick, who was chosen to the American League All-Star Team in 2000, retired in 2003 after playing his final season with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Higgins has been among the region’s most successful high school soccer coaches. The Hampden Academy graduate has guided the Ellsworth High boys program since 1974.

Under his tutelage, the Eagles have racked up 14 Eastern Maine titles in Classes A and B and four Class B state championships. Higgins has coached Ellsworth to more than 400 victories.

Higgins played football at Hampden before enlisting in the Navy. Upon his return, he became a physical education teacher at Ellsworth, where more than 500 players have gone through his program.

Higgins has never had a losing season in 32 years.

Hernandez, a 1979 graduate of the University of Maine-Presque Isle, developed himself into a world-class wrestler. The Washburn resident was a champion at 163 pounds in AAU national competitions and international Sombo championships from 1987-2000.

The seven-time All-American won seven AAU Sombo titles. Hernandez also won three AAU national Greco-Roman wrestling crowns and was six times recognized as an All-American.

Hernandez placed five in the World Olympic Freestyle Championships in 1995 and was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps World Team in 1999 and 2000.

Hernandez, 51, most recently won a silver medal in the Vets division of the British Sombo Wrestling Championships back in March.

Kagan, who died recently in Bangor, will be inducted posthumously. He was an enthusiastic promoter of Alpine skiing, serving as vice president of the U.S. Ski and Snowbird Association and as the U.S. representative to the International Ski Federation.

Kagan was a founding trustee of Carrabassett Valley Academy in Kingfield and was instrumental in the development of the sport of freestyle skiing. He was honored by the USSA with the Julius Blegen Award, the highest level of recognition for contributions to the organization.

Kagan grew up in Bangor and graduated from Bangor High in 1945. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning a degree in 1948. Kagan was a driving force in Maine’s healthcare industry and left a legacy of community dedication.