The Maine Sports Hall of Fame will hold a double induction ceremony this year, not only honoring the seven new inductees from 2021 but the nine from the Class of 2020.
The ceremony will be held Sept. 26 at Merrill Auditorium in Portland. Last year’s induction ceremony was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The 2021 inductees include:
• Tom Caron, the Lewiston native who is the host of the Boston Red Sox pregame and postgame shows on NESN. Caron also worked at WGME-TV and with the Portland Pirates before joining NESN in 1995.
• John Donato, who compiled a 563-271 record coaching girls’ basketball at six different schools. While at Houlton his teams won nine regional and four state titles. His Lawrence High team also won a state title in 2015.
• Robin Emery, one of the pioneers of women’s running in the state in the 1970s. She won 255 road races in Maine, according to the Maine Running Hall of Fame, the most by any female runner.
• Ed Feeney won 415 games as Portland High girls’ basketball coach. His teams won 10 regional and three state titles.
• Mary Mitchell Friedman, a former Colby basketball player and Portland attorney, is being recognized for her work as executive director of the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.
• Leon Gorman loved the outdoors and built his grandfather’s company, L.L. Bean, into a worldwide corporation. He will be honored posthumously.
• Matt Mulligan went to a high school (Penobscot Valley) that did not have a football team, yet earned a scholarship to the University of Maine and played eight seasons in the NFL, for the New York Jets, New England Patriots and Detroit Lions.
They will be joined by 2020 inductees Amy Bernatchez (field hockey), Cathy (Narsiff) Caron (ice hockey), Tony Fournier (karate), Merle Hallet (sailing), Lisa Kuronya Coombs (boxing), Marty Milligan (football), Don Richards (swimming), Carroll Ware (fly fishing) and Lindsay Whipple Kallas (tennis).
Tickets may be purchased at www.mshof.com/tickets. For more information contact Bill Green at Billgreen@mshof.com.
The ceremony will be conducted keeping all COVID-19 guidelines in place. “We are committed to a ceremony this year,” said Maine Sports Hall of Fame president Brian Corcoran. “Whatever the new normal is, we intend to be a part of it.”
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