In the spring of 2004, I was standing on the beach on St. John in the Virgin Islands with a cell phone to my ear. Clark Truesdell, my former Bowdoin College roommate, was on the other end of the line, providing a play-by-play account of the final minutes of the NCAA Division III women’s basketball national championship game between Bowdoin and Wilmington (Ohio) College. We were ahead by eight points with four minutes left, as I recall, and then everything fell apart and we lost 59-53. We had met a Bowdoin student on the beach earlier, and I was signaling to her how things were going, first with a thumbs up and then starting to turn down and then, sadly, with a full thumbs down.

Two weeks ago, I was sitting in an apartment on Anna Maria Island in Florida, glued to my laptop to watch the NCAA Division III women’s basketball championship game between Bowdoin and Amherst. We played Amherst even for two and a half quarters, and then things went south and we lost, 65-45. Amherst, by the way, hasn’t lost a game in the last two years; Bowdoin nearly upset them in a regular game in January, losing by just four points.

Maybe next year. Well, that’s not quite true. Definitely next year in terms of my being a diehard Polar Bear fan. That’s just something I do. My wife Tina is also a big fan, although she’s not nearly as obsessed as I am or as is my good friend David Humphrey. David (three years ahead of me at Bowdoin) and I take our fandom seriously. We talk before, during and after every game. We look up the high school careers of players who have committed to Bowdoin, speculating about who might really shine. Tina and I have some players over for dinner in January when classes aren’t in session as part of the Bowdoin Friends program. David bakes a cheesecake for the team every year. We care to the extent that my good wife has been known to utter the phrase, “Get a life!”

In the fall of 2014, David and I went to Bowdoin’s opening game against the University of New England in Biddeford. We quickly noticed the fine play of Kate Kerrigan, a firstyear from Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts. We introduced ourselves to her parents, Bill and Janet, and noted that their daughter was destined to be a star. They were surprised to learn that we had come to the game as we weren’t parents of players.They were also happy that we had the same name, so they could easily remember us forever after as “the two Daves.”Kate Kerrigan fulfilled our prediction and more, earning several all-NESCA honors and being named the national player of the year in all of Division III in 2018.

We have experienced many many highs, along with some rare lows, over the last 15 years. We have seen scores of players blossom as players — and people — over their time at Bowdoin. We have admired the superb coaching abilities of Stephanie Pemper (who went on to coach at the Naval Academy) and Adrienne Shibles, the current head coach. We have never criticized either coach, as we figure that they know what they’re doing — and they do. We admire their the-team-is-first coaching philosophy, an approach which prepares future leaders.

I don’t know what next year will bring, but the team looks most promising. I do know that David Humphrey and Tina and I will be in the stands. I do know that we’ll see some terrific basketball. And at some point, some day, the national championship will be ours. Maybe next year.

So thanks for the magical moments and the many memories, Polar Bears. We’re with you all the way.

David Treadwell, a Brunswick writer, welcomes commentary or suggestions for future “Just a Little Old” columns. at dtreadw575@aol.com.