November 23, 2024
MAINE SPORTS HALL OF FAME

Six inductions to Maine Sports Hall set Sunday Versyp, Ernest also to be honored

Six men will be inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame during a ceremony Sunday at the Italian Heritage Center in Portland.

Augusta native Richard Daniels; Melrose, Mass., native Robert Hatch; Arnold Green of Portland; Brad Leach and Dick McCabe of Biddeford, and Morton Soule of Damariscotta will be enshrined.

The festivities begin with a social hour at 5 p.m., followed by dinner and a ceremony at about 7:30.

Also receiving outstanding achievement awards will be University of Maine women’s basketball coach Sharon Versyp, former UMaine basketball player Heather Ernest of Temple, and William (Vuskin) Amergian. Robert McPhee will receive a special achievement award.

Richard Daniels

An all-state running back at South Portland High, Daniels went to Wake Forest (Class of 1958) on a football scholarship and was a starting halfback in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He was a sprint champion in track, breaking the 40-yard record in the Portland Expo.

Robert Hatch

Hatch coached football at Bates College in Lewiston from 1952-72 and served as the athletic director from 1974-90. He also coached baseball, track, and golf. Hatch was a football player at Boston University and was drafted by the New York Giants in 1949. In 1980, Hatch was inducted into the Boston University Hall of Fame. He served on many ECAC and NCAA committees and the NCAA Executive Committee.

Arnold Green

Green was a high school All-American swimmer while at Portland High in 1950 and a college All-American at Yale. He has competed in Masters swimming, finishing in the top 10 in seven events. He placed second in the mile (4:53.79) and 2-mile (10:17.54) for ages 50-54 in the 1982 National Indoor Track Championships and first in the National Outdoor Championships 5K (16:15). He still holds the national age-group record for five miles (27:43), which he set in 1982.

Brad Leach

Leach led the Thornton Academy of Saco football team to state championships in 1954 and 1955. He was All-American in 1955. On the baseball field, Leach was the MVP of the 1955 state tournament, again leading Thornton to state championships both years. Leach pitched for Connecticut from 1956-1960 and competed in the College World Series in 1957.

Dick McCabe

McCabe drove in the NASCAR/Busch Grand National North Series Championships in 1992 and 1993. He was the leading money winner at Oxford Plains Speedway from 1974 through 1993 and New Hampshire International Speedway champion in 1991. He raced in the Oxford Plains Speedway open competition championships from 1982-85. He also raced at the national level at Daytona (1984-88), Dover Downs (1982-88), Sonair Super Speedway, Quebec (1983-86), and New Hampshire (1990-95).

Morton Soule

Soule was a much-decorated football, track, and baseball player at Deering High of Portland and later at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. From 1960-63 he earned nine varsity letters in football, indoor track, and baseball at Deering. He led off a 1962 Deering indoor track relay team that still holds the state record. Soule was the 1967 co-captain of the football team at Bowdoin and all-state in college baseball in 1968.

Achievement awards

Versyp coached the UMaine women’s basketball team to the NCAA tournament this year and the America East championship. She was the 2003 conference coach of the year.

Ernest was a two-time winner of the America East Player of the Year award and a four-time first-team all-conference selection. The former Mt. Blue of Farmington star led the Cougars to two straight Class A state titles.

Amergian, a football official for 50 years and basketball official for 49 years, played football and baseball at Portland High. He has received the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame Recognition Award and the IAABO Ollie Berg Award for his contributions to Maine high school basketball.

McPhee competed in football and wrestling in high school. McPhee was injured in a high school football game, leaving him quadriplegic. He is a sportswriter for the Rumford Falls Times and Lewiston Sun Journal.


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