Honors worthy for Barstow

It has been a memorable 2006 for Katahdin High School girls basketball coach Dick Barstow.

He was deservedly inducted into both the New England Sports Hall of Fame and the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.

The Dexter native is starting his 46th year of coaching during which he has seen girls basketball evolve dramatically.

When he started, only three guards were allowed to bring the ball as far as midcourt in a girls basketball game. They passed to three forwards, who were the only ones allowed to score.

“You could only dribble the ball twice. If you dribbled a third time, it was traveling,” said the 72-year-old Barstow, who coached at the former Sherman High School in the 1960s.

He said there was a “lot of scoring” because of all the extra room in three-on-three play.

The game eventually became the current five-on-five full-court system in the early 1970s.

“I like it [this way] a lot better. The girls do, too. Every once in a while during the season, when there’s a lull and things are dragging, I’ll have them play three-on-three just to show them how we used to do it. They don’t like it,” said Barstow, who played baseball and football at Syracuse University.

Pro football Hall-of-Famer Jim Brown was one of his teammates.

“He was an exceptional athlete. In addition to football, he was an All-American in lacrosse; he played basketball his sophomore year and was the second-leading scorer and he placed third in the nationals in the decathlon,” said Barstow who described Brown as “very reserved, very quiet.”

Barstow has coached girls basketball at Central Aroostook of Mars Hill, Presque Isle and Waterville as well as Sherman, which eventually became Katahdin of Stacyville. He has also coached softball, field hockey, cross country and soccer.

He has four state basketball titles: two at Presque Isle and two at Central Aroostook.

The retired teacher intends to keep coaching “as long as it’s fun.

“I like the game and the kids. I taught a lot of kids and this keeps me in contact with them,” said Barstow, who pointed out that he is coaching granddaughters of his former players.

He admits the practices are “much more fun than the games” and the only negative aspect of his job is the long bus rides.

“They’re getting tiresome. I wish I had a nickel for every mile I’ve spent on a bus,” he joked.

He said there is “quite a difference” between players from the 60s and the ones of today.

“They have so much more to do today. They have cars and computers and all those kinds of things to take up their time,”

said Barstow. “Back then, there was really nothing else.”

He said today’s players are “just as coachable” and work just as hard but they are also “a lot more sensitive” so he has had to adapt his coaching style.

“There’s no [coach] Bobby Knight kind-of-stuff these days,” said Barstow, referring to Texas Tech’s demanding disciplinarian.

He said he was “very, very fortunate and very honored” to be inducted into the two Halls-of-Fame this year and that he was “surprised” to be selected.

For those of us who know him, it came as no surprise.

He has always been a classy coach who got the most out of his players. He makes it a fun for his players while also teaching them how to compete and improve.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231, 1-800-310-8600 or by email at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.