Lawrence “Locky” Gardner will be officially inducted, posthumously, into the Maine Sports Legends Hall of Honors Shrine for 2008 during a banquet at the Alfond Youth Center in Waterville Sunday.
Gardner
This honor is presented to men and women for their extraordinary commitment and work behind the scenes, both academically and athletically. Gardner will be representing the Northern Region of the Maine Sports Legends. Perley Dean of Presque Isle will also be recognized posthumously.
Lawrence “Locky” Gardner was an athlete, playing baseball and basketball in high school and college.
In 1940 at Jacksonville Grammar School, Gardner started his career in education for 37 years. Moving to Fort Fairfield the next year, he was a principal (teaching principal at first) of the Fort Fairfield Grammar School and Junior High School until 1969, when he was named principal of Fort Fairfield High School.
He coached grammar school basketball for 16 years, including a state championship team in 1950. Keith Mahaney of Fort Fairfield had Gardner as his first basketball coach from 1944-1947.
“I learned all the fundamentals of the game during these three exciting years that served me extremely well during my high school and college career,” said Mahaney, who went on to star in basketball at the University of Maine and still holds basketball records today along with being inducted into the Maine Hall of Fame.
Thomas “Skip” Chappelle said, “Locky was a real key and inspiration to me in my coaching profession and what it was all about. A very valuable mentor and role model to me in my early coaching career, he had tremendous insight into what the teaching, education and coaching profession were all about.”
Chappelle worked with him for five years and went on to play and coach at the University of Maine and has been inducted into five sports halls of fame.
Along with coaching, Gardner officiated basketball and baseball and was a member of the National Association of Approved Basketball Officials and National Baseball Umpires Association.
As a teacher and principal, Gardner spent 37 years in the education field trying to make a difference. Many teachers recall how he was driven by the students and how he cared about them immensely. He strove to help them succeed in their goals, and in their lives.
Gary Janosco, a former teacher and later a principal for SAD 20, recalls very clearly the impact that Gardner had on his life.
“He became very quickly a mentor and almost a second father.” Janosco recalls some advice he received from Gardner. “If you want to be a good teacher or principal, you’ve got to be three things: fair, firm and consistent.
Gardner had the calling of the ultimate “school man.”
“School was made to feel comfortable for us, he had the knack of making all of the students feel special, important and loved,” said Jim Ugone, who had Gardner as a teacher, coach, principal, Boy Scout leader and eventually his superior.
Ugone, became a teacher and coach in Fort Fairfield and later was principal of Caribou High School.
“I couldn’t have been luckier to have met such a caring and unassuming man, one who gave so much and asked so little of the people he met,’” said Ugone in a letter to the editor on Gardner’s passing in 2002.
Gardner was very active in the community by serving on the town’s budget committee, as recreation director for eight years, member of the Aroostook Valley Country Club and past president of the Upper St. John Valley Senior Golf Association, past president of the Fort Fairfield Athletic Association, past director of the Community General Hospital, United Fund, Fort Fairfield Chamber of Commerce and commissioner of the Fort Fairfield Housing Authority. In 2002, Gardner passed away, leaving one son, Larry, who is a teacher and coaches at Fort Fairfield High School, daughter-in-law Marilyn and a granddaughter, Libby.
His son remarked, “Dad would be very humbled and appreciative of this fine honor.”