The 1963 Champs!
- millinockethistsoc
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Sixty-three years ago (March 1963), the Stearns High School Minutemen made basketball history!
Following are excerpts from some of the news articles about the games.
March 16-17, Bangor Daily News sports page…Stearns, Morse Make New England Cage Bids Tonight. For the first time, Maine will send two teams to the event, Morse High School and Stearns High School…and both teams face major hurdles. Stearns faces a tougher assignment (than Morse)…but Stearns has displayed its agility in previous games and courage in the Maine title game and could outsmart the Islanders (Rogers High School of Newport, RI).
Stearns won that game against Rogers High School of Newport, RI and went on to face the Massachusetts champion Rindge Tech.
March 19, Bangor Daily News…Rindge Tough But Not Unbeaten, Unbeatable. The story says Rindge is the tourney favorite. It goes on to say, “This hasn’t fazed Stearns players. The Minutemen watched the Cambridge club in action, then turned to Coach George Wentworth with grins and asked, ‘What will we do against them?’ To which Wentworth replied, ‘I’ll tell you Tuesday.’ Stearns went on to defeat Rindge 62-58. The Boston Herald noted, “Terry Carr twice converted both ends of a 1 and 1 free throw situation in the final 70 seconds to provide another chapter to Stearns Cinderella story.”
Meanwhile, Morse High School of Bath defeated Tolman High School of Rhode Island setting up the first ever Maine final at the New England tournament and a second showdown between the two teams. Morse had beaten Stearns earlier in February for the Maine state title.
March 24, Boston Sunday Globe… Stearns Captures N. E. Title, 56 to 54.
March 24, Bangor Daily News…Stearns Tops Morse for Title, 56-54. Stearns High of Millinocket, Maine added the final chapter to its Cinderella story last night defeating Morse HS on a pair of free throws by sophomore Jon MacDonald with 21 seconds remaining. In the same article, “Terry Carr sparked a third period surge which propelled Stearns into the lead. MacDonald and Carr and Vaznis sparked Stearns throughout.”
Another article says: “Screaming thousands from down Maine way brought the old locomotive back to the new North Station last night. Give me an S, give me a T chanted the Stearns rooters.” It continues…”they came in cars, buses, trains, and planes. They wore furs, sweaters, jodhpurs, slacks and even shorts…to witness the first all-Maine final in tournament history.”
The town of Millinocket was nearly empty of citizens the weekend of the New England championship game as so many were at Boston Garden. A large banner hung over Penobscot Avenue and a parade led the team returning to town and to a crowded reception at the SHS gym (the old gym at the original SHS building).
1963 team members included: John Madore, Terry Carr, Dave Vaznis, Jon MacDonald, Dean Chase, Jim Brunette, Dave Segee, Levi Pelletier, Jim Barnes, Cliff Bouchard, Bing DiCentes and Peter Fitzpatrick. George Wentworth was coach and Gary Stevens and Jim MacDonald were managers.
The museum has the banner from Penobscot Avenue. A few years ago, Peter Fitzpatrick donated one of his bronzed sneakers and championship jacket. A later owner of the former Coach Wentworth’s home donated a pair of coach’s sneakers and a whistle. MHS has numerous scrapbooks with photos and news articles on the team.
