PITTSFIELD — Four graduates, Martha Beverage Black ’83, David Fernald ’58, DerMarr Johnson ’99 and Tom Savage ’64, are slated for induction into the Maine Central Institute Athletic Hall of Fame homecoming weekend, according to an MCI news release. The Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony is set for5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, in MCI’s Trustee Memorial Student Center. Cost is $20 per person and includes dinner. To register, visit mci-school.org/ahof or call the MCI Advancement Office at 487-5915.

Black was a field hockey, basketball and track athlete at MCI, while earning valedictorian honors. She was a three-year member of the National Honor Society, a Manson Essay finalist, and received the top female athlete award among her numerous MCI activities and honors. She received the Coaches Award in field hockey and was a team MVP in basketball. She attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she also received the top female athlete award. She was a three-time Academic All-American (twice on the first team and her third as an honorable mention) as a basketball and field hockey player. Black worked in the chemical engineering field for a number of years and is now part of the faculty at Bowdoin College as a laboratory instructor.

Fernald was a class valedictorian and three-sport athlete at MCI, playing football, baseball and basketball. He was class vice president as a senior and a Manson Essay Finalist. He was a member of the 1956 undefeated Maine prep school champion MCI team that did not allow a point. He captained the MCI postgrad team in 1957. He attended Bowdoin where he was a three-time All-Maine selection in football and also played lacrosse. His coach at Bowdoin, Nels Corey, ranked him among the best linemen in Bowdoin history. Fernald was inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. He also received his MBA from Stanford and enjoyed an extended and successful career in the software field.

Johnson earned McDonald’s, Parade Magazine and USA Today High School All-America honors while a member of the MCI post-graduate basketball team. He averaged 26 points and 6.7 rebounds a game at MCI and was named Parade Magazine National High School Player of the Year. He attended the University of Cincinnati, and was selected sixth overall in the 2000 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks. After two years in the NBA, Johnson’s career was curtailed by an automobile accident. He returned to the NBA in 2003 with the New York Knicks, then played 71 games for the Denver Nuggets in the 2004-05 season. After two more seasons in the NBA, including 2008 with the San Antonio Spurs, Johnson’s career took him to international play, with stops in Italy, Lebanon, Columbia, Argentina, Venezuela as well as additional experience in the NBA developmental league.

Savage was a four-year member of the baseball, basketball and football teams at MCI lettering the first time in all three as a freshman, serving as co-captain of the football and basketball teams as a senior. He was a starter all four years of his baseball career, and threw a no-hitter as a junior. He started at quarterback for the football team and then guard with the basketball team for three years. He was class president as a sophomore and dorm council president of Alumni Hall as a senior. He was the Manson Essay winner and selected for Boys State while an MCI student. Savage was previously inducted into the MCI Hall of Fame in 2007. He graduated from the University of Maine in 1968 and then went to work for Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He later enrolled in the New England School of Law, graduating in 1975 before moving to Bangor where he practiced law for more than 20 years.

MCI’s Athletic Hall of Fame was established in 2010. The criteria for selecting an individual for induction into the Athletic Hall of Fame are based on one or more of the following: outstanding athletic achievement at MCI; outstanding athletic achievement beyond MCI; outstanding contribution to the MCI athletic program; meritorious service to the MCI athletic program.

For the full Homecoming Weekend schedule, visit mci-school.org/homecoming.

Copy the Story Link