Nobody did as much for youth sports in central Maine as Dick McGee.
From its inception in 1959, through its growth to include girls sports and surrounding towns, McGee was the heart of the Fairfield Police Athletic League program for 50 years, until his health no longer permitted it in 2013.
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McGee died Thursday, surrounded by his family. He was 84.
“In my eyes, Dick McGee has always been a giant,” Bruce Roderick said in 2013.
A lifelong Fairfield resident, Roderick followed in McGee’s footsteps, like so many others, and became a PAL volunteer. “We were fortunate to stand on his shoulders.”
McGee came to Maine from his native Rhode Island in the ’50s to attend and play football at the University of Maine. It’s our good fortune that he never left.
McGee coached football at Colby College and also served as the school’s athletic director. In his later years, when he was able, he would still attend Colby games and practices. B.L. Lippert, a Cony High School teacher and the football team’s offensive coordinator, played quarterback for Colby in the early 2000s. He remembers seeing McGee walk on the Colby track while the Mules practiced. Sometimes, McGee would come over and talk football with the players.
“I always begged him to stop and tell a few stories to the QBs during our special teams period. He didn’t want to step on any of the current coaches toes, but he was universally respected,” Lippert said. “The days he stopped to chat were better than the ones he didn’t. It’s that simple.”
Up until a few years ago, McGee was a staple at Maine chapter of the National Football Foundation’s annual kickoff luncheon every August. McGee would sit with the Colby contingent, and he traded stories with peers, the other Maine football greats. Those luncheons are a living lesson in the state’s football history, and I’m honored each time I’ve had the opportunity to cover it.
As important as Colby football is to McGee’s life story, his real legacy is PAL. McGee would always point out he didn’t do anything alone, and he would recite the names of others who helped PAL grow over the years. People like Fred Gould, Harold Joseph, Bill Donahue, Jim Pellerin, Doug Cutchin, George Taylor, Lois Cooper, Shirley McGee, Dick’s wife, who died eight years ago, and so many others I’m unfortunately forgetting but who are no less important.
For five and a half decades, McGee was PAL’s glue. He was the driving force behind the facility just off Fairfield’s Western Avenue, home to PAL’s football, baseball, softball and soccer fields. The complex bares his name, and that honor only bestows a fraction of the gratitude the PAL communities hold for McGee.
I never played for coach McGee. I first met him in 2000, when the PAL complex was being dedicated in his honor. Over the years, I’d see him at Colby or Lawrence games, and we’d talk about local sports, or the Patriots, or Red Sox, or UMaine or Colby, or just life. I had the privilege of seeing him coach at Colby’s summer football camp. It was obvious youth sports were his passion.
“Don’t go anywhere,” McGee said to me a few times. “This area needs more people like you.”
No, Dick. This area needs more people like you. And because of your incredible influence, we have them.
Goodbye, and thank you.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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