Last week, I promised you a glimpse into the lives of the “Boys of ‘32” after grabbing the gold ring of state champions in the world of local schoolboy basketball. I can fulfill that promise, but only incompletely. After lots of research, I have come up short on some of the lives of the players of that famous team of ’32, but will deliver short profiles of those about whom I have information, mainly harvested through their obituaries.

The obituaries were found by accessing online death archives, then converting those dates to The Star-Herald microfilm archives found in the Turner Library. Of the 14 or so members of that 1932 team, I have come up with the lives of only seven … six players and the manager. It’s not exactly a coincidence that the ones on whom I have discovered information remained in Presque Isle; their obituaries appeared in the local paper through the years and are easily accessed. The list includes Ralph and Richard Sweetser, Clarence Burnett, Harold Glidden, Harold Cheney, Phil Christie and Bob McEachern.
   Harold Cheney was an outstanding athlete. Five years after high school, Harold Cheney entered the world of professional baseball; in 1937 he was drafted by the Red Sox as a pitcher until 1943. He played actively in the American League (minor league) to 1948. In 1940, he married Mary Houghton of Fort Fairfield, returned to Presque Isle and farmed from 1946 until his retirement in 1965. Harold passed away in October of 1993 leaving his wife, Mary, and two daughters, Susan Nickerson of Presque Isle and Linda Corrow of Anaheim, Calif. Very few from this area have made the grade to professional baseball. In the springtime, a series of articles in “Forgotten Times” will appear in this newspaper featuring the history of local baseball. In those articles, Jim Carter and I will tell the stories of the other two – Ron Staples and Ron Tingley – who made that grade.
   Clarence Burnett passed away in 1992 at a Presque Isle hospital at age 79. He was the son of a local building contractor, Wilmont Burnett. Also an outstanding athlete, Burnett was awarded no less than 15 varsity letters during his years at Presque Isle High School. After graduation, he attended the Maine School of Commerce and, after, Aroostook Normal School (UMPI). He served the country during WWII in the U.S. Army and, soon after, spent two years in a Baltimore hospital after a back injury. He returned to Presque Isle, married Pauline Higgins in 1941 and, together, built a fine house on Hillside. Before serving many years in civil service, he worked at Green’s Clothing along with Frank Cunningham. They became close friends. Clarence retired from civil service in 1968 at age 55. He passed away in March of 1992 and was survived by his wife, Pauline, and two daughters, Pat Nevers of Presque Isle and Paula Burnett of Bangor.
   Harold Glidden died at a local hospital in 1982. In Nathan White’s book on local basketball from 1900 to 1951, White described Glidden as a “speedy and aggressive forward” and scored the winning basket in the Eastern Maine Championship game in 1931. For a basketball player, he was shortish (5’10”) and weighed not a lick over 130 pounds. Glidden became a highly successful businessman and did so in his hometown. His story started at the bottom and ended at the top. After high school, Glidden went to work for the post office. He thought that while he delivered postal material, he also had time to sell advertisements for the new WAGM Radio Station, which had begun its long history in 1932. The station had a devastating loss during a fire in 1945. It was after that Glidden saw an opportunity and invested in the station after all was thought to have been lost. He did so well in the aftermath that in 1945, Glidden purchased the radio station. In the 1950s, he built a TV station in the old Mackin’s Drug Store building. In 1957, the Hildreth Network purchased WAGM-TV. A few years later, the TV station was moved to the Parkhurst Road, now the Brewer Road. The radio station was moved in 1958 to brand new quarters on the Washburn Road. The building still stands dilapidated, abandoned by previous owners. Glidden was also a successful owner and breeder of harness horses and was past chairman of the Maine State Harness Racing Commission. In 1949, Glidden and wife, Duska, bought the Perry home on the corner of State and Third where they raised their three children, Melodie, Bill and Tamia. Glidden passed away at age 68.
   Phil Christie was the manager of the ’32 team. He was the one I knew best because his son, Walt, and I grew up together. I spent many days and years of my youth with the Christies. After high school, Christie attended Bowdoin College, graduated there in 1936, and in 1939 graduated from Harvard Law School. As an attorney, he went to work for Bangor Hydro Electric until 1943, then returned home in order to take over his father’s large farming operation, which specialized in certified seed potatoes. He later became a broker for Maine Potato Growers Association (MPG) and retired from there in 1983. He married Polly Goodwin in 1941 and raised two children, Walt and Jane. Phil was an outstanding community leader and spent many years on the City Council. He passed away in June of 1990 at age 74.
   If you’re old enough to remember McEachern’s Market, then you certainly recall Bob McEachern. McEachern’s Market was located right across from Hall Street directly across the alleyway from Kinney’s Clothing. The store was razed in the early 1960s in order to erect a new building for various offices. Bob’s father, Don, had established the grocery store in the 1920s. Bob worked along with his father in the store along with sister, Jean. I remember Don cutting meat behind a display case, wrapping up each selection in brown butcher’s paper and tying with string, which unraveled from a spindle hanging from the ceiling. Bob tended the register located at the front of the store. It was Jean and Bob who taught me as a 6-year-old to count change … a clear memory for me. Bob and wife, Glenna, lived on the corner of Academy and Barton for many years. He passed away in May of 1990 at age 75 at the local hospital. He was survived by his wife and two children, Alan and Jane, all who have since passed on.
   Ralph and Richard Sweetser were fraternal twins, tall, lanky and muscular from their teen years working on the family potato farm on the Higgins Road. Ralph was the big gun for the ’32 team and, in fact, scored most of the points in any one game. In the final game against Portland High School for the State Championship in March of 1932, Ralph scored 18 of the 31 points.
   The Sweetser brothers were born in December of 1912, the sons of Elvin and Amy Sweetser. Ralph was the leading scorer in all four of his years at PIHS. In addition, he held a shot-put record hurling the iron 48’ 7” in 1931. Later, he became an outstanding golfer and played many years at the Presque Isle Country Club. He farmed for 45 years on the family farm on the Higgins Road. Ralph passed away in February of 2006. He was survived by two sons, Steve and Ralph Jr., four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his two brothers, Lawrence and Richard, and two sisters, Blanche and Addie.
   Richard Sweetser died at the age of 85 in September of 1998. After serving in the U.S. Army during WWII, he was employed in civil service at Loring Air Force Base and later at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey until his retirement. He spent his retirement years on the family farm. He, too, was an avid golfer. He was survived by two brothers, Ralph and Lawrence; three sons, Wayne, John and Gary; one daughter, Jean, and one sister, Blanche.
   So ends my historic travelogue through the world of local basketball up to the more modern periods. Jim Carter will be a guest columnist for a spell and deliver a few episodes of recent basketball history in up-and-coming issues of this paper. Jim is a 1964 graduate of PIHS and has coached for many years a variety of sports in the Caribou School system. He was Bangor Daily News’ “Coach of the Year” in 1990. Stay tuned for more basketball history throughout the last 50 or so years. Thanks for reading.

FORGOTTEN TIMES

by Dick Graves

Photo courtesy of Dick Graves
ATTENDING THE 1985 Pepsi Award Banquet were, from left: Harold Cheney, Clarence Burnett, Mrs. Bea Hanscom, Bob McEachern, Neil Michaud and Gene Hunter.