Class of 2009

Roger Sorrent(*)

A native of Italy, Sorrent moved to Rhode Island and worked for an architect in Boston, Mass. Sorrent worked as a construction foreman for architect Wayne Stiles and built the Wawenock Golf Club in Walpole, Wilson Lake Golf Course in Wilton, North Haven Golf Club on North Haven, assisted with the design of Bar Harbor Golf Course in Trenton and in 1932 built the front nine holes at the Rockland Golf Club.

In 1965-66, Sorrent built the back nine holes at Rockland Golf Club. He later did a redesign at Rockland’s seventh hole, extending it to a par 5 and extended the length of the eighth hole at RGC. This allowed Rockland to have a practice area between the eighth tee and the ninth green. In 1975, Sorrent helped Peter Hodgkins in the redesign of the 11th green and the lengthening of the 13th and 14th holes at Rockland Golf Club.

Sorrent was a strong influence on Hodgkins and advised him on many occasions, which assisted in the growth of the Rockland Golf Course. Sorrent redesigned greens at Megunticook as well as the seventh and ninth greens at the Northport Golf Club. Sorrent also advised many superintendents on cultural practices and he made major changes in existing courses both in and out of Maine.

Sorrent was also Maine's left-handed champion and he and his wife, Anna, managed the Rockland Golf Club from the middle 1950s to the middle 1960s.

Off the links, Sorrent was a successful hunter. During a 33-year stretch, he tagged a deer in 32 of those seasons.

Art Dyer

Dyer is a graduate of Windham High School where he lettered in basketball and baseball, and then attended Gorham State College, where he also played both sports.

Dyer began his 32-year coaching career in Maine School Administrative District 6, and then, in 1970, took over the Medomak Valley High School boys hoop program, leading the Panthers to the regional tournament 10 straight years, playing in six Western Class B finals, winning four championships and state titles in 1977 and 1980. During his 10 years at MVHS, the Panthers compiled a record of 184-44.

Following the 1980 season, Dyer took over the Westbrook High School program and, during the next 10 years, led the Blue Blazes to the tournament nine times, playing in four Western Class A championship games and winning the state Class A title in 1984. Dyer’s record at Westbrook was 152-6.

During his 20 coaching seasons, Dyer had a record of 336-109, a .760 winning percentage, led teams to the tournament 19 times, coached in 10 Western Maine championship games, winning five of those and captured three coveted gold balls.

In 1991, Dyer was named an assistant coach at Division 1 Fairfield University in Connecticut. the Stags won the MAAC once, with the team earning one berth in the NCAA tourney and another in the NIT tournament during that time.

He is a seven-time coach of the year by the Maine High School Coaches Association and the Maine Basketball Coaches Association; was named the SMAA coach of the year four times; received the Richard A. Costello award for achievement in sports from the University of Southern Maine; and in 1992 received the SMAA’s dedicated service award.

Dyer also coached teams in the Boston Shootout as well as in Taiwan and Spain and coached against the Russian Junior Olympic team.

Off the court, Dyer was one of the founders of the Maine State Basketball Coaches Association and the Gold Star Basketball Academy.

Dyer lives on Orr's Island with his wife, Elizabeth.

Don Palmer

Palmer was born in Patten and attended Patten Academy, where he was a standout basketball and baseball player. He then attended Aroostook State Teachers' College in Presque Isle, where he majored in physical education, while playing soccer for three seasons, basketball for four seasons and baseball for two years.

Palmer came to the Midcoast in mid-1960s where he taught and coached gymnastics at Georges Valley High School 1966-69.

Palmer then went to Camden-Rockport High School where he was named the Windjammer boys varsity soccer coach and, for the next 34 years, led the Windjammers to numerous tournament appearances. Palmer led the Windjammers to nine regional championship games, winning titles in 1990, 1991 and 1995, and captured the school’s lone state soccer championship in 1991.

When Palmer retired from coaching he held an impressive 334-150-44 record, with a .690 career winning percentage. His teams also won the Knox-Lincoln League’s Arthur Dexter Cup six times.

Palmer, who was credited with starting the youth soccer program in Camden-Rockport in 1980, was named the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference coach of the year in 1991 and, in 2004, was honored with the KVACs distinguished service award. That same year, the soccer field at the then new Camden Hills Regional High School was named "Don Palmer Field" in recognition for years of service to the school and the sport.

Palmer, who coached eighth-grade basketball for a number of years, has worked as the broadcast partner with Charlie Crockett on Windjammer basketball games first on WRKD-WMCM radio and then for more than two decades on local cable television.

Palmer lives in Camden with his wife, Gayle.

Rick Mazurek

Mazurek was born in Rhode Island and moved to Rockland at the age of five, where he developed into a three-sports standout at Rockland District High School and later at Husson College in Bangor.

Mazurek is best known for basketball, leading Rockland to its first two Eastern Class B championships in 1989 and 1990, with the Tigers going 40-4 during that two-year span. Mazurek scored more than 1,000 career points for Rockland. Mazurek was a Bangor Daily News and Portland Press Herald first-team All-State selection, named a McDonald’s all star and was a three-time Courier-Gazette all star. At Husson, Mazured scored more than 1,500 points (seventh all-time at the school) and is currently third all-time in 3-point percentage at Husson, shooting 44 percent behind the arc. "Maz" help lead Husson to two NAIA tournament berths and, in four years, never missed a game at Husson, which ranks him second in school history in games played.

Mazurek was also a standout baseball player at RDHS, hitting a school record 17 career home runs, helping the Tigers to the 1989 state Class B championship, the only one in school history. During his senior year, Mazurek hit .685 and was selected the Portland Press Herald’s high school player of the year. He also played three years for Husson.

On the links, Mazurek was an All-State golfer his senior year at Rockland, also lettered in golf at Husson and in 1992 won the Rockland Golf Club championship.

During the past two years, Mazurek has coached two different Rockland Little League all-star baseball team, with both earning a fourth-place finish at the states. He has served on the Rockland Little League board for the last seven years, including being president and 2007 he was inducted into the Husson College (now University) Sports Hall of Fame.

Roy Bennett

Bennett was considered one of the finest high school basketball players in the Midcoast during the 1950s, playing four years of varsity basketball and baseball at Camden High School.

A point guard, Bennett was named the Mustangs’ captain for both his junior and senior years, during which time Camden was 37-8, including going 23-1 during the 1958-59 season, the best campaign for Camden since 1941. During the Group 3 tournament, Bennett sank the game-tying and winning free throws with 30 seconds to play, as the Mustangs erasing a 17-point deficit to defeat Boothbay on the Seahawks' home court.

Bennett was Camden’s offensive leader with his ballhandling and scoring abilities, often pacing the Mustangs with double-digit scoring efforts. Following his senior year, Bennett was named All-State honorable mention, and was regarded by many as the best player on the Midcoast during the 1958-59 season.

Bennett attended the Bob Cousy Basketball camp after his junior season, and coach Beryl Leach stated that Bennett returned from the camp and was able to "relay many sound pointers to his teammates." Bennett raised the money to attend the Cousy camp by operating a hot dog stand.

After high school, Bennett attended Maine Maritime Academy where he was a two-year starter on the basketball team, averaging 26 points during his junior year, while playing two years of college baseball, compiling a career record of 8-1 as a starting pitcher.

After graduation from MMA, Bennett was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy, was a merchant marine for 3 1/2 years and then became a Procurement Engineer for General Dynamics in Massachusetts. He was later transferred to San Diego where he was the vice president of purchasing and materials at General Dynamics Space Systems Division, which built rockets for transporting satellites into space.

Bennett also served 20 years with the U.S. Naval Reserves, retiring as a captain.

Roy is a member of the Rockland Golf Club and lives with his wife Jeanne in Solana Beach, California.

Beryl Leach

Leach grew up in Blue Hill, where he played varsity baseball, basketball and competed in track. In December 1942, Leach joined the Navy and served on PT boats in the Pacific. After his Navy service, Leach enrolled at the University of the Maine, participating on the Black Bear basketball, baseball and track teams, with Maine winning the state basketball championship in 1950.

In September 1951, he came to Camden High School as a math teacher and coached basketball, track and cross country for 17 years and baseball for 11 seasons. Leach also spent many years coaching Junior Legion and Little League baseball. Between 1957-1964, Leach’s basketball teams had a record of 112-34, winning four Knox-Lincoln championships, three times going undefeated in league play and led the 1959 team to the Western Maine Class M finals before falling to Freeport in the title game, ending the Mustangs' 23-game winning streak.

Leach’s 1959 team scored 64 points a game and held its opponents to 44 points per contest. Leach called the 1959 team the best he had coached at Camden and believed that the team’s desire and hard work carried them to the sectionals in Lewiston.

For decades, Leach was the school’s athletic director and served for years on the executive committee of the state high school association. After 34 years of coaching and serving as athletic director, Beryl retired, but became the custodian of the baseball and softball fields in Camden and Rockport. The baseball field at Camden-Rockport Middle School (behind Mary E. Taylor School building) is named after him.

Leach and his wife of 57 years, Martha, live in Lakeland, Fla.

Charlie Crockett

Crockett began his sports career as a member of the first Rockport Little League team and was a four-sport letter winner at Rockport High School in basketball, baseball, track and cross country, and during his senior year in high school, he coached the Rockport Elementary School basketball team.

After graduating from the University of Maine, Crockett taught at Camden High School and Camden-Rockport High School for 36 years and during each of those years he coached the school’s boys cross-country team, winning four league and three regional cross-country titles and was the varsity softball coach for 28 years. Crockett also coached boys jayvee basketball for three years and started a student 10-pin bowling league at the Camden YMCA. And for many years was the head timer and meet director for many Camden-Rockport ski meets, while his wife, Penny, was the head coach of the girls ski team.

When the Camden and Rockport high schools merged in the mid-1960s, principal Horace McGowan asked Crockett to assist with the transition and he created the C-R Club. During the 30 years that Crockett ran the C-R Club, an organization that built school spirit and purchased all of the school’s athletic awards, made large donations to the school and school projects including purchasing the granite sign at the new Camden Hills Regional High School. Over the years, the C-R Club, under Crockett's guidance, raised more than $125,000 from the concession stand, school store and basketball program ads.

In 1966, Crockett began broadcasting high school sports on WRKD radio, mostly as the voice of the Windjammers. Crockett also called games on WMCM, and continues to do so on local cable television and, over the years, he has called more than 1,500 sporting events. Crockett also helped establish CRTV which involved students in the broadcasts of sporting events and graduation at Camden-Rockport High School.

Crockett is also a commodore at the Rockport Boat Club where he started an adult turnabout series, enlarged the children's sailing program and skippered his own sloop in numerous races.

Since 1985, Crockett has organized the Washington D.C. trip for incoming seniors at Camden Hills, and, to date, has taken more than 2,500 students to Washington, with stops in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, trips that include an opportunity to see a Major League Baseball game, for many students their first big league game.

Crockett and his wife, Penny, live in Hope.

Don Bowman

(*) Born in 1926, Bowman was a big, burly man who was highly respected by teammates and opponents as one of the best baseball players in the Midcoast. Bowman used a heavy wooden bat and was known for hitting the ball a "country mile."

Bowman grew up in Jefferson, and while playing for Jefferson High, got an invitation from Brooklyn Dodger recruiter Clyde Sukeforth of Waldoboro to attend a professional tryout camp in Brewer. Sukeforth was inducted in the Midcoast Sports Hall of Fame’s initial class in 2007.

In 1947, Bowman played for the Portland Pilots, an unaffiliated Class B minor league team in the old Northeast League.

A powerful left-handed hitter, Bowman played against Don Newcombe, who went on to play in the majors with the Brooklyn Dodgers, winning 20 games three times and was the only player to win rookie of the year, most valuable player and the Cy Young award. In that game, Newcombe defeated Bowman 2-1, but Bowman collected two hits off Newcombe, including a double.

In 1949, Bowman played briefly for the Augusta Millionaires, a semi-pro club with a Red Sox affiliation. Later that year, Bowman was signed by a team in Watertown, N.Y. that was affiliated with the Washington Senators and was later signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Dodgers assigned Bowman to their minor league team in Upstate New York in the US-Canada League, where played two seasons, and then he played four years for the Dodgers’ in Lamesa, Texas.

Bowman's first year in the minors he made $200 a month and he made $400-$500 a month the last couple of years he played. He was quoted in Jim Baumer book When Towns Had Teams, “We didn't make much money, but I was still playing professional baseball and doing something I loved to do."

In the mid-1950s, Bowman returned to Jefferson and played in the Knox-Lincoln Twilight League, suiting up for Waldoboro, Warren, Thomaston and Damariscotta over the years. Bowman was a key player for Waldoboro championship teams in 1956 and 1957 and hit .458 for the 1960 Damariscotta team which topped the league standings.

In 1956, Bowman was part of the Knox-Lincoln all-star team that played a pair of games against a much hyped Eastern Maine all-star squad. Bowman and his teammates swept the two-game series winning 14-6 and 4-3, with Bowman collecting two hits and scoring three runs in the first game.

Bowman was also known locally for being a champion ox puller and pulled cattle for 55 years all over New England and Nova Scotia. And for 36 years, Bowman was a fixture behind the wheel of a Jefferson school bus.