WATERVILLE — Of the many unforgettable moments their Waterville boys basketball team had, one immediately stands out to Eric Browne and Todd Hanson. On Friday, the two got to relive it.

Ahead of the 1984-85 season opener, Browne and Hanson watched as Waterville’s 1943-44 New England and state championship team was treated to a 40-year anniversary celebration. Now, 41 years later, it was their turn. 

“I remember I thought those guys looked so old,” said Hanson, a senior guard on that ’84-85 Purple Panthers squad. “Fast-forward these years later, hopefully we don’t look as old now as we thought those guys looked.”

Like their counterparts four decades earlier, the 1984-85 Waterville team would go on to win a state title and become widely recognized as one of Maine’s all-time great teams. That team was honored with its own 40-year reunion ceremony ahead of the Purple Panthers’ game against Maine Central Institute.

Waterville basketball entered the ’84-85 season with sky-high expectations. The roster was loaded, its starting five consisting of guards Hanson, Mike Smith and Dick Whitmore, and forwards Browne and Scott Saft. Kevin Whitmore, another standout forward, was a fuse off the bench.

Four of those players — Saft (Amherst), Hanson (Maine) and the Whitmore brothers (Dick/Brown, Kevin/Colby) — had outstanding college careers and are in the Maine Basketball Hall of Famers. Waterville’s coach, Ken Lindlof, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2024.

“To have four Maine Basketball Hall-of-Famers (players) and a coach on one team, I don’t know if any other team in Maine could ever say that,” Smith said. “It’s impressive now to be able to look back at what all the guys on that team did and what they accomplished.”

The team went 21-1, with its only loss coming to Bangor. The Purple Panthers avenged that defeat in the Class A East semifinals with a 59-52 victory. They beat Cony 66-63 in the regional championship game before dominating South Portland, 60-35, to claim their first state title since 1949.

“Even though Bangor had these three (6-foot-7) guys and we had our only loss to them, we all said, ‘That’s not a problem; we’re going to beat them next time,’” recalled Browne. “Not a one of us was worried because we all believed we were a good team. That was a pretty good sign.”

Eight of the team’s 11 players were present for the reunion Friday, as was Lindlof. Current Waterville coach Jared Browne (no relation to Eric) presented the team with its Gold Ball, and team members were given pieces of Waterville’s old Donovan Gymnasium floor.

Only two players from the team, T.J. Halliday and Joe Jabar, still live in Waterville. Others have moved elsewhere in the state or New England or even in Virginia — or, in Browne’s case, 3,000 miles away in Seattle.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been in this gym, so it’s good to see that it still looks pretty similar,” Browne said. “If you’re in other states, you realize that Maine high school basketball is more important when you’re growing up than it is in other states. People really get into it.”

The former teammates, all but one of whom are still living (Peter Connellan passed away in 2023), keep in touch. Hanson, who would go on to coach the Brunswick boys team from 1997-2021, sends a reminder each year of how long it’s been since the team’s memorable run.

As for their coach? Lindlof, of course, is still coaching. After his time at Waterville from 1981-2002, he was an assistant for the prep team at MCI, where he remained until the school shut down the program in 2012. He’s been the coach at Winslow High since 2017.

“That (1985) team is still my template,” Lindlof said. “I’ve changed some things, but that’s what I aspire my teams to be in terms of teaching and team-building. They were great players who had 100 percent buy-in, they put their community first, and they came together to play for a cause greater than themselves.”

The Waterville-MCI game wasn’t the only one the 1984-85 team would be attending Friday. The group also planned to cross the river to watch Lindlof coach Winslow against Spruce Mountain — a role that, given the bitter rivalry between the Purple Panthers and Black Raiders, has also been the subject of some ribbing.

“I’m not sure if we’re going to root him on or heckle him, but we’re all going to head over there,” joked Hanson. “I’m really happy he’s still coaching; I relied on him for a lot of advice when I was at Brunswick. He’s one of the best out there.”