Raiders coach to be honored
Toolbox
Anna Grearson - Published: October 5, 2009
Before I get into what this week brings in terms of fall sports, let's talk about some basketball.
Back in April, U-32 varsity boys basketball coach Dan Gandin thought a friend of his was playing a prank on him.
The friend was calling to tell the longtime coach he had been selected as part of the fifth class to enter the New England Basketball Hall of Fame where Gandin will join many other local and national basketball players and coaches.
"I feel just really honored," Gandin said this week. "I was really surprised. I have no idea of how I got in; my record probably has something to do with it. I was on their Web site yesterday looking at people who are in – Matt Johnson (girls varsity coach at BFA-St. Albans), I think he's an outstanding athlete – Amy Molina, my own AD, Bob Cousy and on and on and on. I am humbled by the whole thing. It's going to be very exciting."
The ceremony is this Friday night at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, but the actual Hall of Fame is located within the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island.
Gandin joins other members of the Class of 2009, including Green Mountain varsity boys coach Robert "Stretch" Gillam, Bellows Falls' Jayne Barber and Black River's Sue Pollender. Essex's Libby Smith, South Burlington's Becca Bright and Rice's Mike Evelti and Todd Roberts are also among those being honored on Friday.
Gandin started coaching basketball in 1973, spending three years at Chelsea before becoming the assistant at Blue Mountain and the varsity coach at Williamstown. Gandin took over at U-32 in 1978 and has been at the Gallison Hill school ever since.
"I think it's the excitement, the challenge of it, the reward of it," he said. "I like being able to take a bunch of guys, and for the most part, having successful years with them. There are hundreds and hundreds of players I've had, and talking to them after is rewarding. I still get excited for every game."
Gandin credited his success and love of his job to those who have helped him and coached alongside him over the years, including Mike Macke, Bruce Viens, Bob Rowe, Fran Pinard, Ron Brown, Dean Trombley and others.
"I've been blessed with a lot of talent and had the ability to do a pretty good job with that," Gandin said. "I've had a great career, and I don't see it ending soon. As long as I get excited and enjoy doing it and enjoy the challenge, I want to keep doing it and hopefully the kids feel the same way."
The New England Basketball Hall of Fame's Web site, www.internationalsport.com/basketball, lists the following as criteria for selection:
"Athletes, coaches, teams, administrators, referees, organizations and contributors to the game of basketball at the high school, prep school and collegiate levels in New England, whether deceased or alive, active in the game or not, who have distinguished themselves in competition or in service to the game are eligible for nomination. A 'contributor' is defined as an individual who has played an integral role in the development and promotion of the game at any/all level(s) in New England and/or is someone who has brought lasting recognition to themselves and the sport through their work and achievements. Nominees who are not selected in any given year are immediately eligible for consideration in subsequent years."
To begin to list those already in the Hall, and as a huge basketball fan, believe me I want to list all of them, would take many more inches than I can devote to this column. But to name just a few: Former Maine women's basketball standout Cindy Blodgett (Class of '02), UConn's Sue Bird ('03), Manute Bol ('04 from Bridgeport University), Tom Brennan ('06), Matt Bonner ('02, from Concord, NH, now plays in the NBA), former Norwich University coach Bob Brannum ('03), Caron Butler ('03, prep player at Maine Central Institute and now of the NBA), Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Jim Calhoun ('02), Marcus Camby ('04, UMass, now of NBA), Keith Cieplicki ('03, Rice Memorial High School), Bernie Cieplicki ('03, Rice), Bernie Cieplicki Jr. ('06, Rice), Bob Cousy ('02, played at Holy Cross), Henry Dalrymple ('02, St. Johnsbury), Lenny Drew ('04, Montpelier and Williamstown), Sue Duprat ('06, St. Michael's coach, now Athletic Director at Harwood), Julius Erving ('02, UMass), Patrick Ewing ('02, Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School), Mona Garone ('03, Oxbow), Rory Grimes ('04, St. Johnsbury), Layne Higgs ('06, St. Johnsbury), Ed Hockenbury ('04, Norwich University), Cathy Inglese ('03, UVM & Boston College), Rebecca Lobo ('02, UConn), Jasmyn Huntington Monroe ('06 Oxbow), Jen Neibling ('04, Randolph), Paul Rabidoux ('04, Rice), Kim Silloway ('03, St. Johnsbury), Spaulding's 1962 boys basketball team ('02), Jade Huntington Strohm ('06, Oxbow), Bob Tipson ('02, JC coach, Champlain) and Sheri Turnbull ('03, UVM).
Congratulations to all of those being honored there this weekend. Sounds like the kind of place a basketball fan like myself needs to get to sometime soon.
Fall sports continue this week, business as usual, but that playoff word is starting to be tossed around a little bit.
Early, I know.
Unless we're missing something, the schedule is void of any activity today.
Tomorrow, however, brings the first chance for the Stowe boys soccer team to start a new unbeaten streak after the Raiders' 17-game streak came to a close on Saturday against St. Johnsbury. Stowe has been turning a lot of heads this fall, and I fully expect the Raiders to make a full recovery.
That all begins tomorrow at home against Montpelier, which will also be looking to bounce back from a loss (A 6-0 loss to Harwood, also on Saturday, to be exact).
Northfield, Peoples Academy and U-32 also host boys soccer games at 4 p.m. tomorrow afternoon against Lyndon, St. Johnsbury and Randolph, respectively.
U-32 will also host a cross country meet tomorrow afternoon while Spaulding races at BFA-Fairfax.
The U-32 field hockey team, which has now more than tripled its win total from last fall at 10-1, hosts perennial postseason player Stowe at 4 p.m. Stowe has not had the same dominating success it has enjoyed over the past decade, but is still a solid program. Sam Purnell has led the Stowe Raiders in scoring while the U-32 Raiders have enjoyed a more balanced attack. Both have a fair amount of youth gaining valuable varsity experience this fall.
The Harwood boys soccer team welcomes St. Johnsbury on Thursday afternoon – the same Hilltoppers who toppled Stowe's unbeaten streak – at 4 p.m. in Duxbury. Harwood blanked Montpelier 6-0, as I said above, on Saturday, setting up a great Division I matchup for Thursday.
Montpelier travels to Spaulding, also at 4 p.m., that same afternoon.
Girls soccer returns on Friday with home games at Hazen, Stowe, Harwood, Northfield, Cabot and Twinfield, and all three area football teams are also in action.
U-32 has the lone home football game as the Raiders welcome North Country. U-32 beat rival Spaulding in Barre this past Saturday with both teams minus some important players out with injuries. North Country scored 69 points on Oxbow (home Saturday at 1 p.m. against Winooski) recently, and U-32 certainly can put points on the board in a hurry.
Montpelier, fresh off its first win of the season, will face an uphill battle at unbeaten Colchester Friday night while 1-4 Spaulding travels to 1-4 Brattleboro.
Saturday is Homecoming at Peoples Academy with the girls soccer team hosting Lyndon and 1 p.m. and the boys, also against Lyndon, following at 4 p.m. The day begins with the Peoples Academy Invitational cross country meet at 10 a.m., featuring all local schools with the exception of Spaulding, which races at the Middlebury Invitational at 3 p.m.
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