Longtime coach Bill McAvoy gets Hall of Fame nod

6 years ago

When Bill McAvoy began coaching varsity basketball at Central Aroostook High School of Mars Hill in 1977, his immediate challenge was both modest and meaningful.

“I was told that if I only win two games I’d be all right — as long as those two games were against Washburn,” he said earlier this week. “Most of those games were sold out either at home or on the road, and the kids were so fired up, so you tell it meant something to both teams.

“Today I’m still not sure what it was all about, but I remember that first day people telling me, ‘You’ve got to beat Washburn.’”

McAvoy has gone on to amass a 432-229 record during 34 years as a varsity coach at Central Aroostook, Katahdin of Stacyville and Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook.

Combine that with a playing career highlighted by an undefeated 1967 state championship season at Sherman High School, being on the first team at the newly consolidated Katahdin High School a year later and becoming the career scoring leader at Unity College, and it’s no surprise that the 68-year-old McAvoy is set for induction into the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday.

To read the rest of “Longtime coach Bill McAvoy gets Hall of Fame nod,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Ernie Clark, please follow this link to the BDN online.