PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A woman who was part of some great teams and excelled in three sports over a decade ago, and a man who was a baseball great in the 1970s and went on to embark on a successful coaching career at his alma mater, are the newest members of the Presque Isle High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
A former coach of Angela Norsworthy-Hartman (Class of 2007) and a former teammate of Timothy Olore (Class of 1979) helped induct the two during a ceremony held Jan. 18 at the Northeastland Hotel.
Wildcat girls’ basketball coach Jeff Hudson said Norsworthy-Hartman was a quiet performer who became more competitive as her high school career developed.
“She was an absolutely incredible talent,” he said while presenting her for induction, “but more than that she was a great teammate, a great person to coach and a winner.”
Her soccer teams went 53-2-1 in the regular season during her four-year career, while the basketball teams accumulated a 63-9 record during the same stretch. She was part of a state championship basketball team her junior season.
“This induction has brought me back to those times and reminded me of how memorable those four years of my life were,” Norsworthy-Hartman said in her induction speech. “Of course, winning all the games we did were all great memories, but so were the memories of shoveling snow off the soccer field for our playoff game, traveling to Florida for softball spring training, and the numerous carbo nights spent with my coaches and teammates.
“I can’t wait to tell my children about all those memories and hope they can see how much more high school sports are than just the games,” she said.
She made the Maine Soccer Coaches all-state team as a senior and wrapped up her career with 33 goals and 17 assists. In basketball, she averaged 20.1 points and 6.1 rebounds as a senior to capture Big East Conference Player of the Year. She was a Miss Basketball finalist and a McDonald’s Class A/B Senior All-Star. She made the All-Aroostook team in soccer, basketball and softball during both her junior and senior years.
Richard Gardiner played baseball with Olore in high school and while presenting Olore called him the consummate teammate.
“He was just a great competitor. He was all business and truly walked the walk,” Gardiner said. “He worked hard at the game, put the hours in and it paid off. He spent countless hours honing his skills in the backyard and on many a makeshift ballfield and for his effort, was able to play the game he loved and at a very high level.
“Then he did what was logically next, he shared those experiences and love of the game to the next generation in a town and school he so dearly loved,” Gardiner said.
Olore was the All-Aroostook most valuable player as a sophomore and won the Jim Dyer Award as the outstanding player in Aroostook County as a senior. He was an outstanding pitcher, finishing his career with 274 strikeouts. He later starred at the University of Maine at Presque Isle and was inducted into the Owls’ hall of fame in 2009. He played semi-professionally for the Presque Isle Sonics and the Woodstock Shiretowners.
“Playing baseball was my real passion and I ate, drank and slept the game,” Olore said. “I sacrificed a lot of time with friends and family trying to achieve my dream of being the best. I never played to participate. I played to compete and help my team win,” he said.
As a coach of the Wildcat varsity team for 28 years, his teams won 266 games and qualified for the playoffs 23 times. He was the Big East Conference Coach of the Year on three occasions and his 1991 team finished as Class A Eastern Maine runner-up.
Olore said he is proud of his accomplishments as Presque Isle’s baseball coach for nearly three decades.
“We were consistent tournament contenders and we became a program that was respected throughout the state and beyond,” he said. “When you played our team, you had to bring your ‘A game’ because we came to play.
“I knew in order to compete outside Aroostook County you had to be better prepared, and I demanded hard work, respect and sportsmanship and we practiced fundamentals daily and stressed team play,” he said.
This is the ninth year of inductions into the school’s hall of fame, with the first class entered in 2011. All the inductees are recognized with a photograph and a plaque displayed in the school’s Hall of Fame room.
Those wishing to nominate athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors for the Hall of Fame can obtain a nomination form via sad1.org/athletics-hall-of-fame/bylaws or by calling the SAD 1 athletics office at 764-0121.
