Hoops has historical hallmark

The knowledge and perception of history is one of the great demarcations separating the generations, even in the sports world.

Take Cindy Blodgett. You can be fairly young and still remember the impact the record-setting guard had on Maine schoolgirl basketball and on University of Maine women’s basketball during the 1990s.

But a 17-year old girl mulling her college basketball options today probably is too young to remember specifics of Blodgett’s playing career.

If you find yourself in that boat, or are just someone interested in all things basketball, take the time to look up Blodgett’s playing career. It’s a bit of Maine history potential recruits and sports fans alike in these parts should know about as Blodgett embarks on her new career as University of Maine women’s basketball coach.

I had such a brush with Maine basketball history the other day while perusing a 1973 Eastern Maine Class A tournament program. After looking over the eight teams in the field, two things stuck out that made me reflect on how times have changed – beyond the fact the program cost just 50 cents back then.

The first was that just two of the eight schools, eventual undefeated state champion Cony of Augusta and eighth-seeded Bangor, are still in Class A.

The enrollment cutoffs were slightly different back then – Mount Desert Island was an “A” school with just 633 students. But quite different, too, was the state’s population distribution – Fort Kent had 850 students in 1973, compared to 350 as of April 1, 2006.

Fort Kent, Houlton and Stearns of Millinocket, all Class A tourney teams in 1973, are now Class C programs, while MDI, Caribou and Rockland now compete in Class B.

And Eastern Maine in a Class A sense is now basically anywhere north of Portland, a harsh demographic reality borne out by the move of the Class A tournament from Bangor to Augusta two years ago.

The other thing that stuck out was the staying power of the 1973 Class A tournament coaches, names that have stood the test of time, at least among the basketball cognoscente.

The legendary George Wentworth of Stearns had retired two years earlier, giving way to Paul Nadeau in 1972 and David Smith in 1973, but Bob Brown of Rockland, Bernard “Bunny” Parady of MDI, Terry Spurling of Houlton, “Sam” Jordan of Fort Kent, Gerry Duffy of Caribou, Dick Hunt of Cony and Bob Cimbollek of Bangor represented a who’s who of Maine high school coaches of the day, not to mention hundreds of wins and even more basketball memories.

All had longevity on the sidelines. Five remained at their 1973 locales for a decade or more, while Cimbollek stayed at Bangor for eight years and Brown at Rockland for six years before both went on to win state titles at other stops.

The pressures inherent in coaching high school basketball these days cast doubt on whether such staying power will be represented in 2041, when another generation of sportswriter researches the old days by skimming through the 2007 Eastern A program.

Names like Reed, McGee, Hanson and Bartlett will foster memories of championships past, but it’s quite likely a glimpse at that 2007 program won’t yield the same emotions the ’73 booklet did.

Understanding the differences between 1973 and 2007 is just one more reason history isn’t just for students of nation-building, but high school basketball fans of all ages, too.

Ernie Clark can be reached at 1-800-310-8600, 990-8045 or eclark@bangordailynews.net