Page 18 - Newsletter_Spring_2019

Former Houlton Coach With 557 Victories Earns Maine Basketball Hall

of Fame Nod

is story is based on articles by Ernie Clark, Bangor Daily News. e contents are reprinted with permission.
John Donato’s relationships with Maine high school
basketball dates back to his own interscholastic upbringing in
Middleborough, Massachusetts, back in the 1960s.

“I remember going to the [Boston] Garden and watching Stearns
and Morse playing,” he recalled, hearkening back to the 1963
New England tournament when Stearns of Millinocket defeated
Morse of Bath to win the regional crown after Morse had
outlasted Stearns in double overtime in that year’s Maine Class LL
state fi nal.

Fifty-six years later, both Donato and the two teams he watched
battle in that 1963 New England fi nal are set for induction in to
the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame (MBHOF).

“When you start coaching way back, you don’t realize that you
might put yourself in this situation,” said Donato, who was on
hand at the Cross Insurance Center February 6th as this year’s list
of inductees was revealed. “It’s quite an honor. A lot of bus trips, John Donato is one of the 16 inductees to the 2019 Maine Basketball
a lot of mileage, but I’ve had some great players and I’m honored Hall of Fame announced in February.
to represent them as a coach.”

Donato is one of 16 inductees who comprise the sixth class since the MBHOF was created in 2014. He’ll be joined by a variety of players
and coaches whose careers are synonymous with memorable moments and eras in Maine basketball history.

is year’s class, which will be inducted during an August 18 banquet at the Cross Center, also includes Jim Beattie, Jeff Bowers, Stephanie
Carter- ompson, John Conley, Matt Gaudet, Max Good, Gail Jackson, Doug Lisherness, Becky Moholland Ireland, Mark Reed, Scott
Saft, Rick Simonds, Derek Vogel, Mari Warner and Linda Whitney.
Eight “Legends of the Game” who have impacted the basketball scene on a more local or regional level also will be recognized, with this
year’s honorees consisting of Mike Bouchard, Bill Burney, Leigh Campbell, Hank Madore, John “Jeddy” Newman, Jay Ramsdell, Dick
Sturgeon and Al Halliday.

Also nominated by the hall’s 17-person selection committee are the 1963 Stearns and Morse high school basketball teams that fought for
both statewide and New England supremacy.

“ ere’s a screening process and then the committee meets in December at Colby College,” said Tony Hamlin, chair of the hall’s board
of directors and head of the selection committee. “ ere’s about 800 years of basketball knowledge in that room, and the basketball
community is so small that we don’t miss too many names.”

“It’s an informal, somewhat subjective structured process, if that makes any sense, and so far I think we’ve done a pretty good job of
selecting those people who are worthy. ere are still names out there that we know we have to attend to and we will over the next two or
three years.”

Donato was a three-sport athlete at Middleborough High School and is a three-time inductee into that school’s athletic hall of fame.

He played basketball and baseball at the former Ricker College in Houlton, where he got his start in coaching, fi rst in baseball and, not long
after that, in basketball.

In his 42 years of coaching Maine girls varsity basketball, Donato has compiled a 557-244 record with 11 regional titles and fi ve state
championships.
Four of those state titles and nine of those regional crowns came during his 18 years at Houlton High School. Since then, he has spent
nine years at Messalonskee of Oakland, fi ve years at Mount View of orndike, one year at Hall-Dale of Farmingdale, seven years at
Lawrence of Fairfi eld and the last two seasons at Orono High School.

Donato guided Lawrence to the 2015 Class A state championship and a second straight North regional crown in 2016.
“I always wanted to coach,” he said. “I wanted to play basketball and baseball and I wanted to coach.”

“I’ve had a lot of great players, and I just like to see the kids grow as individuals. at part of the process is really important to me.”
www.houltonalumni.com PAGE 18