MBHOF '15 Coach Inductees

250 years of coaching. 3,500 wins. Just a couple of the stats that make up the 2015 coach inductees entering the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame. The second class of MBHOF will be inducted Sunday afternoon at the Cross Center in Bangor.

Dick Barstow, Bruce MacGregor, Art Dyer, Dwight Littlefield, Gene Hunter, Dick Meader and Roger Reed make up the who's who of basketball coaches in Maine.

They are part of the 29 inductee class of 2015.

Here's more on the MBHOF coach inductees...

Roger Reed is one of the truly legendary coaches in Maine high school history. After a successful stint at Bangor Christian, Roger moved up the road to coach for 27 years at Bangor High School. Under his leadership, Bangor reached new heights on the hardwood. For nearly three decades, the class A champion always had to keep an eye on Roger’s Bangor squad.

Coach Reed won 573 wins in his three decades of coaching; this total includes an incredible 64 tournament wins. At Bangor, coach Roger’s teams won 8 State Championships and 11 Eastern Maine Championships.

Roger taught more than basketball during his coaching career. His emphasis on character and personal integrity were the touchstones of the Ram program. His teams played tough man- to- man defense and were disciplined on offense. Many of his players went on to college where they continued their playing careers. Most notable among them was his son Mark, a standout guard at Liberty University.

A graduate of the Univ. of Maine at Farmington, Roger played baseball in college, graduating in 1965. He belongs to the UMF Hall of Fame as well as the Maine Sports Hall of Fame and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

Roger currently represents his community of Carmel in the Maine Legislature. He and his wife Norma have two children, Melanie Hall and Mark. He and Norma stay active by following their grandchildren’s recreational activities.

Art Dyer set the standard for excellence everywhere he coached. At Medomak Valley in the 1970’s Art’s teams won two state championships and four regional crowns while winning over 80% of their games. His 1980 team went undefeated on its way to winning the Class B State Championship.

After leaving Medomak, Art traveled down Route 1 to replace legendary coach Bill Folsom at Westbrook High School and continue the excellence the Blue Blazers were known for. Art’s Westbrook teams made an instant impact in Western Maine hoop circles as his team handed rival South Portland its first regular season loss in three years. Coach Dyer led the Blue Blazers to a state championship in 1984 against Lawrence High School.

His teams were known for their hard- nosed man- to -man defense and disciplined offense; he won over 300 games as a high school coach. Art left Westbrook High School to coach at Fairfield University as an assistant coach under Paul Cormier. He spent seven years in Fairfield as the top assistant.

Among Art’s accomplishments are three stints as a McDonald’s All -star coach, seven Coach of the Year Awards, and induction into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.

Beyond his incredible coaching resume, Coach Dyer was one of the coaches who established the Maine Association of Basketball Coaches and served as a founding member of a Gold Star Basketball Camp held every summer at Southern Maine Community College.

Art lives on Orrs Island with his wife Elizabeth. They have two children Mike and Steve.

Dick Barstow is one of the most successful high school coaches in Maine history. His teams won over 500 games in his illustrious 46- year coaching career. Included in those wins are 7 Eastern Maine Championships and four Gold Balls (two at Central Aroostook of Mars Hills, and two at Presque Isle). His teams once won 84 straight wins, loss one game, and then ran off 24 more wins!

Coach 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 as a young man.

His even- tempered approach to coaching equipped Dick 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 if ever lost his composure and handled both victory and defeat with the same demeanor.

Dick is a confirmed bachelor and alternates his time between Dunedin, Florida, and Beaver Cove, Maine.

Dwight Littlefield

Not many Maine high school basketball coaches and their programs get to be featured in Sports Illustrated (SI). But then again, no other Maine coach and program accomplished what Dwight Littlefield and the Valley High School Cavaliers did between 1997 to 2002.

The boys from Bingham won 101 consecutive games and 6 straight Class D state championships. The win streak still stands as best ever in Maine and sixth best in the nation.

Sports Illustrated reported the story about coach Littlefield’s team in 2001. The feature was entitled “Small Town, Big Winners: A hoops dynasty is the glue that hold the community of Bingham, Maine together.”

SI writer Chris Ballard wrote, “Valley’s frenetic style of play is best described as a 32-minute, five-man weave. Rebounds morph into outlet passes, cutters materialize out of the fray, and the ball fluidly and relentlessly finds the open man. It’s like watching the precision passing of a Princeton team played at the breakneck speed of those old Loyola Marymount squads.”

Welcome to the 31-year reign of Dwight Littlefield coaching Valley High School program.

His coaching and teaching career started in Searsport, then it was on to Valley High School for more than three decades. A longtime math teacher, Littlefield knows numbers and some of his career coaching numbers are staggering…

471-125 overall record

10 Western Maine Championships (coached in 16 Western Maine title games)

6 Consecutive State Championships (coached in 10 state finals)

10 time McDonald’s All Star Game coach

Littlefield was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004. He was also inducted into the MPA inaugural Hall of Excellence in 2014.

Littlefield resides in Bingham with his wife, Cheryl. They have two children, Christie and Dustin.

D. Bruce MacGregor came to the Husson University campus in Bangor back in 1969.

26 years later he retired as one of the greatest college coaches the state of Maine has ever seen.

540 wins. A winning percentage of .745. The coach of 11 All-America players. Seven NAIA National Tournament appearances. Three NCAA National Tournament appearances.

His basketball story begins in Connecticut. As a sophomore at Roger Ludlow High, MacGregor helped his team win the New England Basketball Championship in 1955. Interestingly enough, his team beat Bangor High School in the semi-final that year.

MacGregor played for Springfield College in Massachusetts, where he earned his degree. Then on to Salem State where he earned his Master’s Degree.

After leading Reading High School to a 90-20 mark it was time to head north and settle in at the Husson campus.

MacGregor took over the Husson program in 1969 from the legendary Del Merrill and his team finished with a 16-6 record. 26 years later when he retired following the 1993-94 season, MacGregor had amassed a record of 540-185. At that time, he held the record for most wins in New England, regardless of division. He was in the top 10 in the nation among all NAIA coaches and his nearly 75% winning percentage was top 10 nationally in the NAIA.

MacGregor’s teams had 24 winning seasons out of his 26 years at Husson.

Perhaps the most memorable season was 1976 when his team finished 30-1, losing in the national tournament. That team still holds the school record for longest winning streak (30).

MacGregor took his coaching talents overseas during his career, lecturing in 11 different countries. He represented the U.S. State Department in a Goodwill Tour in Africa and represented the NAIA and NCAA with Husson University tours in Europe.

While the sport of basketball is most synonymous with the name D. Bruce MacGregor, he also spent time as a Husson assistant baseball coach with Del Merrill and then as head coach, with conference championship seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1976.

He also coached the Husson golf teams for 16 years and championships followed in that sport. MAC, Sunrise and NAC conference titles led to 8 NAIA National Tournament appearances and 3 NCAA National Tournament appearances.

MacGregor served seven years as Husson’s athletic director.

He has been inducted into the National NAIA Basketball Hall of Fame, the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, the Maine Sports Hall of Fame and the Husson University Sports Hall of Fame.

His 1967 Reading High School team was inducted into that school’s Hall of Fame and his 1976(30-1) and 1989(35-1) Husson teams were inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame.

In fact, the Husson University Sports Hall of Fame room is dedicated as ‘The D. Bruce MacGregor Room’.

Bruce and his wife, Christine, have three children, Betsy, David and Jill.

Richard “Dick” Meader

Talk about being one of best and longest running basketball coaches in Maine history, check out this fact about Dick Meader.

He has been honored with a conference Coach of the Year Award in five different decades! (1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s, 2010’s)

Meader has been in the coaching business for 40 years, the first 17 years at Thomas College in Waterville and just completed his 23^rd year at the University of Maine at Farmington. Meader also coached baseball at UMF and served as athletic director for Thomas College.

As a schoolboy player, Meader set the Solon High School record for points scored and then went on to play at Farmington State College (now UMaine Farmington). In his freshman year he set a New England college record, sinking 19 straight free throws in a game. Meader would go on to set the school career record for most points. He graduated in 1968 having played four years of college basketball and baseball while earning a degree in secondary education. Meader went on to earn his Master’s degree from the University of Maine.

Through his 40 years as a coach, Meader has won nearly 450 games. Coach of the year honors include NAIA Top Coach for 1975 and 1982. The Maine Coaches and Writers Coach of the Year in 1982, 2000, 2010, 2012 and 2013. Meader won Maine Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2000 and NAC Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2013.

As a baseball coach, Meader led the Beavers program for 17 seasons. He earned the NAC Coach of the Year Award in 2004, Maine Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 1996 and 1998. Meader was also NAIA District Coach of the Year in 1996.

In 1994, Meader was inducted into the Thomas College Athletics Hall of Fame. In 1995, he was inducted into the University of Maine Farmington Athletics Hall of Fame.

Meader is also the co-founder of the highly regarded Pine Tree Basketball Camp in Waterville that began 38 years ago.

Meader resides in Waterville. He is married to Betty Jane Meader and they have two sons, Lance and Daren.

Gene 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.

Gene 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 the Gene Hunter story.

Born and raised in the Aroostook County city of Presque Isle, Hunter played both basketball and baseball for the Wildcats. He 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 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.

Hunter then went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire and led the Clippers high school team 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.

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.

Gene is survived by his wife, Mary, and seven children. Mark, Allen, Marcia, George, Paul Stephanie and Dawn.