History of Sports
by: Piscataquis Community Middle School 8th Grade Students
Included in the next three pages:
Baseball
Basketball
Soccer
Baseball
Baseball started in Guilford in 1898. The games were played at the Town Field which was owned by the Town of Guilford. Before it was built it was plain woods or a field. In 1965 the field did not have a grandstand anymore; a new backstop was constructed. The town field is located along Water Street. The field also runs along the Piscataquis River. Near the Town Field there is a tennis court, a playground, and a basketball court.
• Text By: Spencer Martell and Paul Martin
• Eight Grade Students at Piscataquis Community Middle School
• Images from the Guilford Historical Society
Dave Gaw was the coach of the PCHS Pirates from 1965-1987. He was born and raised in Boothbay, Maine. He played baseball up through college until he graduated in 1963. He was a first baseman and an outfielder. He coached because of his love of baseball.
During the season they played teams in the Penquis League. Those teams included: Dover-Foxcroft, Milo, Dexter, and Greenville. When the teams played games they played the teams three different times. Coach Gaw liked this because he could know different tactics the coach would use. He would find the coach’s steal signs. When MCI (Maine Central Institute, Pittsfield) came into the league it messed up the scheduling.
At that time the baseball team was aggressively coached. The coach was aggressive because he would have them try and steal as many bases as possible. Even though PCHS never won a state championship, they have won the league championships. It was hard to get into the championship because at that time there were no heal points to help them out.
The games and practices were held at the Guilford Town Field for as long as baseball was active in Guilford. During the seasons adult teams played games against other adult teams. Those teams had no real coach because they all knew about baseball.
During one game PCHS was playing, a big thunderstorm came and it started down-pouring. The teams had nowhere to go. So they ran to the nearest building, which was an old chicken house that was never cleaned out. Luckily they were in there because lightning had struck the backstop.
Dave Gaw coached all of his sons during the time he coached. When his youngest son Allen graduated, he had to stop because of his back. Today, he is still living in Guilford. He is a Yankees fan because of a 25¢ bet. At the end of his twenty three years of coaching, he had coached 428 games, won 309 games and lost 119 games.
(Information by Dave Gaw)
Basketball
Luke Nadeau, Matt Stone
Mr. Webb
Pirates Basketball was a very big sport in the 1900s. Over the years they won 10 championships. In 1904 they started basketball; also in 1904 and 1905 they won their first championship. They won all championships in 1905, 1906, 1907, and 1908.
In 1911, 1912, and 1913 they didn’t do very good because they were moving around too much. In 1914 they played in the parish house for two years. The 1915 team won the county title. In 1916 and 1917, however, the boys were excluded from the parish house and only played a few foreign courts. In 1919 the boys were allowed to play in the town hall; they continued until the burning of the structure.
In between the 1920s and 1940s the basketball team was not that great but they were okay. They won the championships of 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, and 1948; they were ever good. In the 1950s though the 1990s there were good teams, but they only won three championships. Now we have okay teams, but they have not won any championships.
Soccer
(photos scanning in process)
Text By: Elaine Riitano & Belle-Natalie Wingert
Eighth Grade Students at Piscataquis Community Middle School
Images from the Guilford Historical Society
The History of Boys Soccer in Guilford
The Guilford soccer team was established in 1968, under the leadership of Mr. Rusty Sweeney, the math teacher at the high school. He was the main reason we even have a soccer team here at PCHS today. Mr. Sweeney was a big fan of the game and that’s why he had it started. When they first started they would practice on the boy's baseball field. There was no JV soccer, just because not a lot of other schools even had soccer yet. They played a seven game scehdule, winning four games and losing three. They beat each different team that they played that year once.
The first ten years of the PCHS soccer team was coached by Mr. Sweeney, and he was the only coach! Then Mr. Paul Stearns took over, and he coached for the next 18 years. He is now the current superintendent of the school. When he became coach they won his first game in 1997! Mr. Stearns said, that day, “I had chills running up and down my body I was so happy!” Then the following year they went into their first playoff game in Ashland and they lost 2-1, but it was an awesome accomplishment that they even made it that far.
When they where playing they would travel to ridiculous places, like Waterville and Nokomis, schools we would never dream of playing today.
Once the program was really going, they got pretty good, so good that in 1983 they won the Eastern Maine Championship, and went onto the state game! They did lose that game, but get this: It was played in the SNOW, how crazy is that?
They did take home the State Championship Gold Ball in 1985. What a great day that was, it was Richmond vs. us, the game was played in Pittsfield, and we won 3-1! There’s kind of a funny story to this game that was shared with me. One of the Pirates players, Ronny Hersey, had broken his leg in the first half. Both he and Coach Stearns didn’t even think he had broken his leg. So being a dedicated soccer player he was put back in, and proceed to score a goal in the second half to put them ahead--how awesome is that! Coach Stearns didn’t even know about Ronny until the next day, when he saw him walking in on crutches and had his leg in a cast. He was flabbergasted to see that one of his players played with a BROKEN leg.
We have continued to have a soccer team here at our current high school PCHS. They have not yet had another state championship, but we are always working hard at it. We have had great deal of improvement in our school; we now have a middle school team and we have a Pirate Recreation program that starts our little Pirates out young! So the next time you're rolling through Guilford, stop by and take a look in our trophy case. You’ll be surprised at the accomplishment our little town has made. We can’t wait to see what the teams will bring in upcoming years.