Crowley named ‘Survivor,’ honored by governor

 Contributed photo
    BOB CROWLEY, who was crowned the sole survivor Dec. 14 of the 17th season of the CBS show “Survivor,” was invited to the State House last Tuesday where Gov. John E. Baldacci proclaimed Feb. 17 as “Bob Crowley Day.” Pictured are, fourth from left: Baldacci, Bob’s mother, Anna Crowley; Crowley and his wife, Peggy, who is originally from Fort Kent, as other family members and friends, including Peggy’s cousin, Sarah Brooks of Ashland, far right, look on. Crowley will visit Aroostook County later this summer as he will attend a marshmallow roast Sunday, July 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pavilion as part of the Portage Lake Centennial celebration.

    “Bob Crowley took Maine core values – honesty, dignity and respect – and displayed them on a national stage,” Baldacci said in a press release. “He showed the country what it means to be a true Mainer and how to succeed while still being true to yourself. He is someone who we can all look to as a good role model for our youth, both as a teacher and as a ‘Sole Survivor.’”
    Crowley is no stranger to folks in the greater Ashland area. His wife’s cousin, Sarah Brooks, teaches world history at Ashland High School, and Crowley himself has visited the area numerous times.
    “There are so many people up here who know him,” said Brooks. “With the exception of last year, Bob has gone on every Maine-Quebec Winter Carnival Caravan since we started it back up again in 2002, and he’s one of our big entertainers on the trip.
    “On the caravan, he’s usually one of the storytellers on the radios. We all have two-way radio communications in all of the vehicles on the caravan. A couple of years ago, Maine humorist Gary Crocker and Bob were our entertainment all the way over,” she said. “He’s also done tree trimming work in the Ashland area; taking down big, old elms with his ropes and going up there with saws. His wife, Peggy (Page), is originally from Fort Kent. She graduated from Fort Kent High School in 1969. It was Peggy’s idea to get the caravan up–and-running again after an absence of many years.”
    Brooks, who accompanied Crowley to Augusta, said a lot of the students at her school know him.
    “His daughter, Page, used to stay at my farm in the summer,” said Brooks, “so that’s another connection that a lot of kids in the area have with him.”
    Crowley said he was honored to be recognized by the governor last week.
    “It made me proud,” he said Thursday from his home in South Portland. “It was nice to be able to have my mom up there, and be recognized for something that I’ve done right.
    “There was an Army sergeant who was honored in front of me. I was thinking, he’s been to Afghanistan, he’s been to Iraq and has risked his life for all of us; I’m being recognized because I was on a reality show. It was an interesting contrast … one that I felt slightly guilty about, but it was a fun day,” said Crowley. “I had my whole family down, and friends, and we all went over to the Maine State Museum afterwards. We got a behind-the-scenes look at some Indian artifacts that are going to be brought out in May that are absolutely gorgeous.”
    Crowley said one of the biggest changes since winning the show is that he is now recognizable.
    “I enjoy it. Every time I turn around – when I least expect it – somebody looks at me and says, ‘Wow, you’re Bob, aren’t you?’ Last February I was ‘Hey, you!’ Now I can’t go into the grocery store without being recognized,” he said, noting that within the first two days of winning “Survivor” he did 158 interviews. “I chat with people and my wife gets upset … she sends me out for milk which used to take me 15 minutes, now it’s an hour and-a-half. She’ll call me on the phone and say, ‘Stop talking about Survivor and just bring the milk home.’
    “People also ask me for my autograph, which is nice,” said Crowley. “Usually people come up with a napkin and ask me to sign it, but my wife has been getting photos of me that I keep in my pocket. Those are really the only chances since being on the show … other than that, I’m still shoveling snow and throwing in firewood.”
    During the season, which was filmed in Gabon, Africa, Crowley won five consecutive competitions.
    “That’s not bad for an old man from Maine,” said Crowley, 57. “I was so upset when I didn’t win the last one because that would have set a record. Still, five in a row isn’t bad.”
    Crowley is the oldest person to win “Survivor” since the show debuted in 2000.
    “I think my age worked in my favor … sort of as a cloak,” he said. “They thought of me as an old man. Theoretically I am, but I’m in pretty good shape. When they finally realized that, I think they were thinking I was really handy to keep around. When they wanted to get rid of me, it was too late, and I lucked out that they gave so many challenges in a row that I’m so good – and lucky – at.”
    One highlight for Crowley was when he was on Exile Island – thinking he was likely going to be voted off the island the next day – and asked the segment producer if he could go “over there.”
    “I pointed four or five miles away,” he said. “He got on the radio, spoke to someone, and said, ‘You can go anywhere you want.’ He let me loose in Africa. I went up on a mountain that was probably just hundreds of feet high … it wasn’t like Mount Katahdin, but when I got up there, it was the same impression that I got when I was on Mount Katahdin looking around Maine … just how beautiful the natural land was. That was one of the most exciting points for me … when I realized somebody had let me loose in Africa. It was kind of like a dream.”
    In addition to winning the $1 million prize, Crowley also received a $100,000 prize voted by the fans of the show. He plans on using some of the money to take his wife, Peggy, on the honeymoon they never had.
    “We’re just in the beginning phases of where we’re going to go and what we’re going to visit,” he said, “but we’re going to go to Gabon, as well as other parts of Africa. The best time to go is in the summertime and I don’t want to miss another summer. ”
    One appearance already on Crowley’s summer agenda is to the Portage Lake Centennial celebration. Crowley will attend a marshmallow roast Sunday, July 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pavilion.
    “It will be fun to be there,” he said. “I get the same feelings driving to Aroostook County as I did in Africa. When you look out over Aroostook County and get up on top of some of those knolls and look out over the potato fields and forests, it’s breathtaking. I’m looking forward to coming back to Aroostook.”
    In addition to being a physics teacher, Crowley also spends time on a research boat for the Smithsonian Institution in Canada, is an entomologist for the USDA, a skunk relocater, as well as president, vice president and chief negotiator for his local teacher’s union.

Photo courtesy of CBS
    AFTER SPENDING 39 DAYS in Gabon, Africa, Bob Crowley, a physics teacher at Gorham High School, was crowned the sole survivor of the 17th season of the CBS reality show “Survivor.” Crowley is no stranger to folks in the greater Ashland area. His wife’s cousin, Sarah Brooks, teaches world history at Ashland High School, and Crowley himself has visited the area numerous times. He will attend a marshmallow roast Sunday, July 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pavilion as part of the Portage Lake Centennial celebration.

Contributed photo
    BOB CROWLEY, who was crowned the sole survivor Dec. 14 of the 17th season of the CBS show “Survivor,” was invited to the State House last Tuesday where Gov. John E. Baldacci proclaimed Feb. 17 as “Bob Crowley Day.” Pictured are, from left: Baldacci, Bob’s mother, Anna Crowley; Crowley and his wife, Peggy, who is originally from Fort Kent. Crowley will visit Aroostook County later this summer as he will attend a marshmallow roast Sunday, July 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pavilion as part of the Portage Lake Centennial celebration.