Russell and Hanson among Maine Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
1975 Class B champion Foxcroft Academy team also honored
Please join the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame in welcoming the following 17 individuals, six “Legends of the Game”, and the two iconic teams for induction into the Class of 2023.
The induction ceremony will be held at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on Sunday, Aug. 20. Tickets may be purchased online beginning in May at mainebasketballhalloffame.com.
Among the 17 individuals is Jamie Russell. In his 38th year of coaching both girls and boys, Russell has 422 wins at Piscataquis Community High School, Penobscot Valley High School of Howland, and currently at Central High School in Corinth.
HALL OF FAME COACH — Current Central Hall High School girls coach and former PCHS boys coach Jamie Russell is among the Class of 2023 for the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame. In 38 seasons, Russell has won 422 games and counting.
Russell is also a noted historian on the game of basketball in the State of Maine. He has authored two books that detailed every current school in the state’s year-by-year basketball history since the 1961 expansion from three to four classes, and most recently the expansion to a fifth division.
Also to be inducted is Arthur “Skip” Hanson. Following a tremendous playing career at Aroostook State Teachers College, Hanson began his coaching career at Higgins Classical Institute before returning to his alma mater, leading the Foxcroft Academy Ponies to an undefeated season in 1975, capturing the Class B state title.
1975 STATE CHAMPS — The 1975 Class B champion Foxcroft Academy basketball team and head coach Skip Hanson are among the members of the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2023. Hanson is pictured after that season’s regional final with Kevin Nelson, center a 2016 Hall of Fame inductee, and Jeff Dunn.
Hanson’s teams won 107 games before he transitioned to administration, serving on multiple MPA Basketball Committees as an athletic director, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent before retiring in 2011.
The two teams being inducted in 2023 are the 1975 Foxcroft Academy boys and 1989 University of Southern Maine men.
The Ponies brought the gold ball to Dover-Foxcroft during an undefeated season, finishing the year with a perfect 22-0 record. Foxcroft ran through the Eastern region at the old Bangor Auditorium defeating Limestone, Van Buren and Orono. A week later, in front of a packed house at the Augusta Civic Center, Foxcroft defeated Medomak Valley 56-53 for the school’s only Class B basketball championship.