Champeon to be among this year’s Hall of Famers

BANGOR — The countdown is on for the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame second annual induction ceremony set for Aug. 23 at the Cross Insurance Center. Leading up to the August event the hall is offering biographies and other information to showcase the important role each inductee has in Maine’s rich basketball tradition.

One this year’s inductees is Wayne Champeon. Champeon was a 5-foot-7 wiz on the hardwood. The Greenville native led Greenville High School to the state championship in 1954 when he scored 28 points in the Class M championship against Wilton Academy. He was twice named to the Class M All-Tourney team.

Champeon played at the University of Maine on what many consider its greatest team with, among others, Skip Chappelle and Don Sturgeon, Champeon was the sparkplug point guard whose quickness and guile with the ball drove opponents crazy. He was the first athlete from UMaine, and only the second in the conference, to be selected All-Yankee Conference in both basketball and football.

He was twice named to the all–tournament team of the Downeast Classic (1960 and 1961), being honored as its MVP in 1961. Moreover, Maine Campus Magazine twice named Champeon the University of Maine’s “Athlete of the Year”. In 1960 the Bangor Daily News recognized him as the university’s athlete of the year as voted by coaches and faculty. In 1961 he won the Washington Watch Award as the male athlete to have done the most for the university during his career.

Following college, this incredible athletic coached basketball at Edward Little High School and Foxcroft Academy, where he retired in 1994. Champeon still lives in Dover-Foxcroft. He and his late wife Jean raised four children.

In addition to Champeon, other inductees to the MBHoF from eastern and northern Maine include Keith Mahaney, Dan Drinon, Peter Kelley, Steve Condon, Peter Webb and John Norris.

The  Maine Basketball Hall of Fame mission is to preserve and promote the history of basketball in the state, as well as recognize the accomplishments and contributions of individuals and teams. For more information, visit mainebasketballhalloffame.com.