Three U.S. Olympians, an NBA coach, an Ironman competitor and the state’s winningest high school hockey coach are among the inductees in the Maine Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2017.
The 13 inductees will be honored at a ceremony at Merrill Auditorium in Portland on May 21.
“We continue to be blessed to be able to honor the greatest in Maine sport history,” said Dick Whitmore, chairman of the Maine Sports Hall of Fame. “The class of 2017 is one of the strongest in the hall’s 42-year annals.”
The inductees are:
• Bob Bahre, the former owner of the New Hampshire International Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, that has held at least one NASCAR race every year since 1993. He previously owned Oxford Plains Speedway and made it a major racing venue.
• Angela Bancroft of Norway, a world-class competitor in Ironman events and a certified triathlon coach. She placed seventh in the Ironman world championship in 2011.
• Brett Brown of South Portland, the head coach of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. He will join his father, Bob, in the Maine Sports Hall of Fame. Brett Brown starred at South Portland and Boston University. He coached the Australian national team in the 2012 London Olympics and was an assistant on the San Antonio Spurs for four NBA championships.
• Dan Burke is to be inducted posthumously. He established the Class Double-A Portland Sea Dogs franchise in 1994. The team has had affiliations with the Miami Marlins and Boston Red Sox and is generally regarded as one of the better minor league franchises.
• Richard “Dick” Capp of Portland is a Super Bowl champion. He played linebacker for the Green Bay Packers and recovered a fumble in the first Super Bowl in 1967. At Deering High School, Capp captained the 1959 state champion football team and was a state champion high jumper. He earned a basketball scholarship to Boston College, where he played for Bob Cousy. Capp also played football for Boston College and was drafted by the Boston Patriots.
• Ian Crocker, of Portland, has won more Olympic medals (five) than anyone in Maine’s history, including three golds. He competed in three Summer Olympics. He once held world records in the 50- and 100-meter butterfly and the 100-meter freestyle.
• Norm Gagne is the second-winningest coach in high school hockey history. Still coaching at Scarborough High, he has over 700 career wins, including stints at Gardiner, Waterville, Gorham and Lewiston. His teams have won seven state championships.
• Three members of the Hutchins family of Cumberland, for their contributions to soccer. Glenn, the father, coached at Greely High where the field is now named after him. His sons, Kyle and Jay, both played professional soccer. Jay played at Boston College and Kyle at Providence College and the University of Southern Maine.
• Leslie Bancroft-Krichko was a member of the U.S. Olympic nordic ski team at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid and 1988 Olympics in Calgary. She also competed on the World Cup. At Oxford Hills High School, Krichko won cross-country state crowns as well as skimeister awards.
• Sarah Marshall Ryan of Falmouth was a standout basketball player at McAuley High, where she led the Lions to two state championships and was twice honored as Maine Gatorade Player of the Year, and at Boston College, where the Eagles advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16. Married to Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, she is a sales consultant for the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA.
• Tom Reynolds built one of the state’s most competitive alpine ski programs at the University of Maine-Farmington. He led his teams to four collegiate alpine championships and three Canadian-American collegiate championships and was honored as coach of the year several times.
• Anna Willard of Greenwood competed in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. She set the U.S. women’s record for the event at the 2008 U.S. Olympic track and field trials. She was a standout runner at Telstar High in Bethel, Brown University and the University of Michigan.
For more information or to purchase tickets to the ceremony, go to mshof.com.
CORRECTION: This story was updated at 10:19 a.m. on Jan. 11, 2016 to include Richard “Dick” Capp among the inductees. The Maine Sports Hall of Fame inadvertently left him off the list of inductees they announced initially.
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