Hoops tournament stirs up memories

I discovered basketball in the sixth grade, probably by radio at my grandmother’s house. Stearns High School in Millinocket brought in a lot of new fans to the sport in the winter of 1963, losing to Morse High School in the state finals before beating the Shipbuilders for the New England championship.

By the time I was in high school, February vacation found me glued to the TV from first thing Monday morning until 11 p.m. Saturday night, by which time I would have watched the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals for Classes S, M and L in the Eastern Maine Tournament – boys’ games only, of course, in the days before Title IX.

In 1966 I talked my dad into going to the tournament finals for Class L, featuring Orono and Ellsworth high schools. We made the trip on a weeknight, after dark no less, to the Bangor Auditorium in the big city.

We rooted for the victorious Ellsworth Eagles, for my part because they weren’t an opponent for my school, Piscataquis Community High School in Guilford.

Watching the game from high above the court was pretty exciting, and we came home so jazzed about high school basketball that my dad bought a new TV the next weekend.

When the LL tournament started that year, I couldn’t tell you if I was still a Stearns fan, but if so, I quickly dumped the Minutemen when the 8-12 John Bapst Crusaders ended Stearns’ 81-game win streak in the first round. Ron Soucie, Ed Thorne, Chuck Bolduc and the dipsy-doodle foul shot, they were quite a bunch.

In the late 1960s, I followed Orono, with Casey, Radke, two Gavetts and three Proutys – as long as they weren’t playing Guilford – and championship teams from Old Town, Cony and Caribou, with Mike Thurston’s amazing half-court shot.

I’ve attended more than a few college games in my time – I saw a young Julius Erving come with UMass to the University of Maine some years ago – and we took our boys to a Celtics game once upon a time.

But there’s nothing like high school basketball.

Saturday afternoon found my husband and me at Orono High School, watching our nephew play for the PCHS Jayvees in a game that came down to one point. A little too exciting.

At half time of the varsity game, Orono senior Seth Dwyer – and his parents – were honored to recognize his having scored his 1,000th career point on Jan. 28 at Penquis Valley High School in Milo.

PCHS fans joined Orono fans in giving Seth and his family a standing ovation.

It’s not too late to take in a high school game before the prelims and the tournament start. Classes A and B have boys games and girls games this week. Bangor and Brewer play tonight – the boys in Brewer and the girls in Bangor. And the Hampden Academy girls host Nokomis tonight as well.

When school vacation gets here, the B, C and D tournaments will come to the Bangor Auditorium once more.

For the tournament schedules, information and photos, check out the annual supplement in the Feb. 14 Bangor Daily News.