Maine Hall to enshrine seven Sunday night

Rain or shine, it will be a shining moment for seven Eastern Maine sports luminaries Sunday night as they are enshrined in the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.

Richard Barstow, Mike Bordick, James “Chico” Hernandez, Brian Higgins, Irving Kagan, Roger Reed, and Peter Webb make up the class of 2006 as the Hall’s membership swells to 233.

The festivities start at the Bangor Banquet and Conference Center with a 5 p.m. social hour followed by a 6 p.m. dinner with the formal induction ceremonies scheduled for 7 p.m.

This is the 31st annual induction for the Hall, which was established in 1972 and was headquartered on Fore Street in Portland until it was forced to leave the building it occupied when it was sold five years ago. Since then, all the Hall memorabilia and artist renderings of all Hall of Fame members have been kept in storage until a new permanent site can be found.

“Even when we had a place, it really wasn’t well-organized and that’s something we are really trying to work on,” said Maine Sports Hall of Fame president and executive director Bob Pickett. “We have all kinds of great memorabilia stored away and it’s too bad because rather than have it on display and make some money through admission fees, we end up paying by the month to have it stored.”

The selection process is a yearly one and lasts for about 10 full months. First, people must obtain nomination forms from Hall officials such as Pickett and treasurer Marvin Bolduc. They then complete them fully with as much published or official supporting paperwork to authenticate a nominee’s qualifications, and all of the Hall’s directors – 15 to 25 each year – evaluate the nominations until they are cut off at the end of November. The directors then make their final selections in December.

“We probably have 50 or 60 nominations pending for the Hall of Fame,” said Pickett, a Cony High of Augusta, Maine Central Institute, and University of Maine graduate who coached with former Syracuse University and New England Patriots football coach Dick McPherson. “It’s a very long and difficult process.”

Pickett would like to make it less difficult by adding a sub-committee, with its members responsible for paring the total field of nominees down to 12-15 before sending those on to the directors.

“When you think of the number of years and the total number, that’s quite an elite group with a little less than six or seven being selected per year on the average,” Pickett said. “We have some good candidates who are going to be sitting around just because of the sheer volume of quality people we have to evaluate each year.”

The accomplishments of this year’s class range from regional and state championships to national titles, major league baseball records, World Series appearances, and All-Star recognition.

The 71-year-old Barstow, who graduated from Dexter High School in 1952, has been teaching and coaching since 1960. He’s believed to be the winningest basketball coach in Maine high school history with 647 victories, 84 of which were consecutive. His teams have won seven Eastern Maine and four state titles at Katahdin of Stacyville, Central Aroostook of Mars Hill, and Presque Isle.

Bordick played ball for Hampden Academy and three seasons for UMaine before signing with Oakland in 1986 and embarking on a 14-year major league career, which included an All-Star game appearance and record-breaking runs of 110 consecutive games without an error and 543 straight errorless chances.

Hernandez, a 1979 University of Maine-Presque Isle graduate, is the first Sombo wrestler to be enshrined. The seven-time Sombo All-American won seven AAU Sombo titles as well as six All-American honors and three AAU national crowns in Greco-Roman wrestling.

Higgins, who Pickett believes is only the second soccer coach enshrined, has guided the Ellsworth boys team since 1974, racking up 14 Eastern Maine crowns in two classes and four Class B state titles. He has eclipsed the 400-win mark as a coach and has never had a losing season in 33 years.

Kagan, a Bangor High graduate who died last year, served as vice-president of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association as well as the U.S. representative to the International Ski Federation. He was a founding trustee of Carrabassett Valley Academy and integral in the development of freestyle skiing.

Reed, a Carmel native, has coached 33 years at Bangor Christian and Bangor High School, piling up almost 500 victories with a .720 winning percentage. He just finished his 20th season at Bangor High, where he has led the Rams to seven Eastern Maine and six state championships.

Houlton’s Webb has been a certified basketball official for 42 years who has worked almost 2,100 varsity high school, college, and professional games. He has been Maine’s basketball commissioner for the last 16 years, a baseball umpire for 44 years, and has conducted more than 400 officiating clinics.

The MSHF also has a four-member scholarship committee which evaluates graduating high school seniors for $1,000 scholarship awards. Five female and five male students will receive the scholarships, which are scheduled to be presented around 7:15 or 7:30 p.m.