Maine Basketball Hall of Fame announces latest class of inductees
Ten coaches with each more than 300 career wins at the high school or college level will be among the 17 individuals who will be inducted into the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on Aug. 20.
There will also be six individuals who will be inducted as Legends of the Game and two teams inducted: the undefeated 1975 state Class B champion Foxcroft Academy boys’ team (22-0) and the 1989 Little East Conference champion University of Southern Maine men’s squad, which went 24-7.
One of the inductees is former Presque Isle and Limestone High School girls’ basketball coach Jeff Hudson, who retired last year after compiling a 436-124 record in 28 seasons, including five at Limestone and 23 at Presque Isle.
His Presque Isle teams won four regional championships and three state titles (2006, 2012, 2013).
“This is very humbling,” said Hudson, 57. “I was really lucky to coach fantastic kids and fantastic players and work with other great coaches.”
“It feels kind of odd because I had a lot of mentors I paid attention to,” the Presque Isle native added. “Some are in the Hall of Fame and others aren’t. When you coach a basketball team, it’s a team effort. And (assistant coach) Ralph Michaud was a huge part of our success at Presque Isle.”
Hudson said he will always remember the state championship teams, “but we also had a lot of other good teams. We had a great stretch from 2009 to 2020. We won 64 games in a row and that was a pretty big deal. And we had a long winning streak at home. I don’t know how many we won.”
Ellsworth native Mike McDevitt, who is coach of the women’s team at St. Joseph’s College in Standish. He compiled a record of 602-210 as an NCAA Division III coach and had 1,381 points and 674 rebounds as a player at St. Joseph’s.
The other coaches being inducted include:
Husson University men’s coach Warren Caruso, who at 525-249 is the winningest coach in North Atlantic Conference history; Larry Gardner, who won 425 games in stints as the boys’ and girls’ coach at Fort Fairfield High School and has a state title with each; Central High of Corinth girls’ coach Jamie Russell, who won 422 games while coaching boys’ and girls’ teams between Central, Penobscot Valley High School of Howland and Piscataquis Community High in Guilford; Scott Graffam, who won 413 games at Scarborough, Medomak Valley and Oxford Hills after playing for Colby College; Randy Harris, who posted 411 wins at Lee Academy, his alma mater, and won the 2011 state C title; Madison High School girls’ coach Al Veneziano, who tallied 405 wins and four regional titles; Mike Murphy, who racked up 339 wins with the girls’ teams at Westbrook and Deering High School after playing at Merrimack College and USM; and Todd Hanson, who won 309 games and a state Class A title as head coach of the Brunswick High boys’ team. Hanson also played in 85 games at the University of Maine.
The other inductees will be Waterville High 1,000-point scorer and University of New Hampshire player Margie Arnold; USM three-time Little East Player of the Year and All-American Joanna Brown; South Portland High star and two-time state champion Paul Burnell, who went on to play at Bentley and USM; Cheverus standout Jon Stovall, who played at the University of Pennsylvania and Boston College; Morse High’s Brud Stover, who scored 1,144 points at Bowdoin College; Christina Strong of Georges Valley, who played four years at UMaine and won the Dean Smith Award; and York’s Angie Suffridge, who went on to have a stellar career at Central Connecticut State, where she ranked in the top-10 in all-time assists.
The Legends of the Game inductees are Byron Bean, who coached the Livermore Falls girls to a 179-25 record and the 1976 state B title; Jack Cashman, a long-time referee who played a major role in the growth of youth basketball in Old Town and created summer leagues for high school and college players; Schenck High School Hall of Famer and 1,250-point scorer at Southern Connecticut State Bill Fiske; USM Hall of Fame player and Westbrook College Hall of Fame coach Jim Graffam; Skip Hanson, a great player at Aroostook State Teachers College who coached the 1975 Foxcroft boys’ team to the state championship; and Bruce MacKinnon, who led Morse to the state Class A crown in 1962 and played at UMaine before coaching at Sanford High.