BANGOR, Maine — Portage Lake’s Liz Coffin, Presque Isle’s Steve Condon and Fort Fairfield’s Keith Mahaney are among former players being inducted into the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend, while former Central Aroostook and Presque Isle girls’ coach Richard “Dick” Barstow and Presque Isle native Eugene Hunter are also set for induction in the coach category.
The event will be held Sunday at the Cross Insurance Center, with a lunch beginning at noon and the ceremony at 1:30 p.m.
Liz Coffin
Liz Coffin, who starred for the Ashland Hornets in the 1980s and went on to have a brilliant career at the University of Maine, is being inducted into the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame.
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Her career culminated playing professional basketball in Spain and the Canary Islands. In between, Coffin garnered a slew of accolades for her skills, including high school All-State and college All-American.
In addition to playing at the Town Hall, Coffin honed her skills in all kinds of weather at the outdoor basketball hoop at the general store her dad operated in northern Maine.
Her diligence paid off. At Ashland High School, Coffin poured in 1,857 points and snared more than 1,000 rebounds. The 1984 graduate was twice named All-Tourney and was twice named to the Bangor Daily News All-State squad. Ashland has since retired her No. 44 jersey.
Her favorite game in high school was her sophomore season during a play-in contest with Narraguagus. Coffin drained more than 40 points and grabbed more than 25 rebounds to lead the Hornets past the Knights and clinch a quarterfinal appearance at the Bangor Auditorium.
At the University of Maine, Coffin continued to dominate, earning Seaboard Conference Rookie of the Year honors in 1985 and First Team All-Conference honors in 1986, 1987 and 1988, including Player of the Year her senior season. She also earned All-New England accolades three times and All-American honors twice. She was the first player in New England to score 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career and she ended her Black Bear career with 2,132 points (ranks fourth all-time) and 1,326 boards (first all-time).
The Black Bears also retired her No. 44 uniform. Her favorite game in a Black Bear uniform was a come-from-behind win over Boston University in the raucous Pit. Coffin remembers rallying from a 20-point halftime deficit to defeat the Terriers, 64-63.
In 2009, Coffin was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame. She says her mentors are her high school coach, Becky Morse; her college coach Peter Gavett; and her parents, Terry and Carleen.
“Basketball taught me the power of hard work to gain success and deal with adversity,” Coffin says. “My successful basketball journey was made possible by the support of family, teachers, coaches and teammates. The influence of these people empowers my life today.”
Steve Condon
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Steve Condon
Condon is arguably the greatest player ever to come out of the County. At 6 feet, 4 inches, he could play inside and outside. A gifted ball handler, Steve outsized most guards he played against. He was an outstanding jump shooter, and his quickness allowed him to play tenacious defense.
Condon played basketball and baseball at Presque Isle High School and was a two-time All-Maine selection in basketball. He was named the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 1971. In addition, he was named a high school All-American his senior season.
Following graduation for high school, Steve spent two years at Leicester Junior College in Massachusetts, where he started both seasons and led his team in scoring. Recruited by UMaine coach Skip Chappelle, Steve enrolled at the state university where started for two years and captained the 1975 Black Bears. He was a double-figure scorer for the Black Bears both years and was named first team All-State.
Condon set the school record for single-game field-goal percentage by making 18 of 20 shots (90 percent) during an upset of nationally ranked Virginia Commonwealth. He was a two-time All-Yankee Conference selection, earning first-team honors as a senior.
Condon was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame Aug. 8 along with his oldest daughter, Kim Condon-Lane.
He and wife Becky live in Presque Isle and have three children — Kim, Katy and Miranda.
Keith Mahaney
(Contributed photo)
Keith Mahaney
Mahaney graduated from Fort Fairfield High School in 1951. He was an honor roll student throughout his school years and a multi-sport athlete who excelled in basketball, baseball, and set three school and county records in track his senior year (pole vault and hurdles).
He led his team to two Aroostook League basketball titles and garnered numerous individual awards. He was also chosen first team All-Aroostook two years and won the Most Valuable Player award at FFHS from 1949 to 1951.
After high school, Mahaney was on the starting five as a freshman at the University of Maine and was chosen “the outstanding player on coach Bob Holloway’s squad. He went out for indoor track after the basketball season ended and in just one meet, won the pole vault and placed second in the 45-yard high hurdles to earn his numerals.”
As a sophomore, he was on the starting five in basketball all season and established his first University of Maine foul shooting record. Mahaney placed fifth in the nation with a foul shooting percentage of 81.4 (83 of 102).
He led the Yankee Conference in scoring his junior year (23.8) and was the Maine state series scoring leader with (23.3) points per game. He also set two more UMaine records — most free throws made in one season (106) and broke the school scoring record with 39 points set against Bates College in 1954.
Mahaney returned to the university after the Korean War Conflict for the 1956-57 season. His scoring average in state series play was 23.5 points per game and he was the Yankee Conference scoring leader runner- up with 22.7 ppg. He also rewrote the record book, breaking nine individual records and tied his own record of 39 points against the University of Massachusetts in his last basketball game at Amherst.
What is truly remarkable is that Mahaney only played 11 games his junior year before going into the U.S. Army and only played a total of 48 games in his entire varsity career for these achievements! At the time of his graduation in 1957, he held 11 out of 14 records in basketball and earned the following recognitions: All-Maine (two years), All-Yankee Conference (two years), All-New England All-Star (one year) and All-American Honorable Mention (two years).
He was inducted into the University of Maine Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. In 1997, he received the ultimate honor — his Black Bears’ basketball jersey No. 24 was retired in a ceremony at the Alfond Arena. In 2004, Mahaney was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and has the distinction of being the first UMaine graduate to receive that honor as a Div. I men’s basketball player.
Mahaney has now been inducted into eight Hall of Fames and is grateful for his blessings, friends and family. He lives in Bangor with his wife, Karlene. They have two children, Shawn and Mary Keith, six grandchildren, one great-granddaughter and another great grandchild due in October.
Others with Aroostook County ties being inducted are Peter Kelley, who was born in Houlton and played in Caribou; Peter Webb, a Houlton native who still serves as Maine’s basketball commissioner; and Kim London, a longtime educator in the Sherman Station/Patten area who coached the Katahdin JV boys’ team for over 30 years.
Richard Barstow
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Richard Barstow
Barstow is one of the most successful high school coaches in Maine history. His teams won over 500 games during his illustrious 46-year coaching career. Included in those wins are seven Eastern Maine championships and four state titles (two at Central Aroostook of Mars Hill and two at Presque Isle). His teams once won 84 straight games, and following a loss ran off 24 consecutive victories.
He began his career with the Sherman Hornets in 1960 and seven years later Sherman and Patten consolidated into Katahdin High School. He then had coaching stints in Mars Hill, Waterville and Presque Isle before returning to Katahdin and retiring in 2008.
Barstow was named Maine Coach of the Year three times and is a member of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.
A college graduate of Syracuse University, Dick was a teammate of the legendary Jim Brown’s on the freshmen football team. Dick was a well-rounded athlete, excelling in baseball, football and basketball.
Barstow’s even-tempered approach to coaching equipped him with the tools to make a difference in the lives of hundreds of young ladies over his five decades of coaching. He is respected as a true gentleman of the game. He rarely lost his composure and handled both victory and defeat with the same demeanor.
He is also a member of the Maine Sports Hall of Fame and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.
He is a bachelor and alternates his time between Dunedin, Fla., and Beaver Cove, Maine.
Gene Hunter
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Eugene A. Hunter
Hunter ended his illustrious high school basketball coaching career back in 1974 but he never really stopped coaching. At the age of 84, he was still helping middle school students in the Portland area learn the game of basketball.
Hunter passed away in August of 2010 and the state of Maine lost one of its great basketball ambassadors.
Over 400 wins and high school state championships in two states are only a part of Hunter’s story.
Born and raised in Presque Isle, Hunter played both basketball and baseball for the Wildcats and captained the 1940 high school team.
He attended Colby College in Waterville for two years and then entered the United States Army in World War II. After more than four years of military service, Hunter returned to Colby and graduated with a degree in history in 1948. He was a captain for the basketball and baseball teams as well as an All-New England player in both sports.
His coaching career began at Houlton in 1948. There was a coaching stint in Wilton and then it was on to Morse High School in Bath in 1953. Hunter led the Shipbuilders to the Western Maine title in 1955 and then his team took the final step in 1956 — a state championship and a third-place finish in the New England Tournament with wins over Connecticut and New Hampshire. He was named Maine High School Coach of the Year that year.
Hunter then went to Portsmouth, N.H. and led the Clippers to the 1961 Class L state title. He became the only Maine high school coach to win state championships in two different states.
In 1963, he returned to Maine and took over the South Portland program through 1974. Hunter’s Red Riots scored three Western Maine titles and a state championship in the 1971 season. The title game was a 55-53 over his native Presque Isle, a team that included fellow inductee Condon.
After 26 years of coaching and 417 wins, Hunter became South Portland’s athletic director. In 2000, the Maine Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA) honored him with their Distinguished Service Award.
Hunter was inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997, the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002, the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Presque Isle High School Hall of Fame in 2012.
He is survived by his wife, Mary, and seven children — Mark, Allen, Marcia, George, Paul Stephanie and Dawn.
