The Lewiston High School boys’ soccer team made waves on and off the field this past fall. Dirigo High School senior Riley Robinson has made an impact in his community during his four-year career. Both will be honored during the Maine Sports Hall of Fame’s 41st annual induction ceremony this Sunday at Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
The Blue Devils are being honored for their “teamwork, leadership and excellence,” according to event organizers. Lewiston’s team brought together players from multiple countries and cultures to go a perfect 18-0 and capture the program’s first Class A state championship.
“The Maine Sports Hall of Fame has as part of its mission, ‘A Better Maine Through Sport,'” Chairman of the hall of fame board Dick Whitmore said in a news release. “The Lewiston team exemplifies this at the highest level.”
Robinson will be one of five high school seniors to receive $5,000 scholarships that the hall of fame awards to scholar-athletes. The three-sport star (football, basketball and baseball) is fourth in his class with a GPA of 96.85. Off the field, Robinson has volunteered at blood drives and senior-citizen dinners.
Other scholarship recipients are Yarmouth’s Walter Conrad, Ellsworth’s Talor Hamilton, South Portland’s Maddie Hasson and Fryeburg Academy’s Anna Lastra.
There will be some local flavor in this year’s hall of fame induction class, as well. Pennie Page Cummings, of Lewiston, is one of 12 new members into the hall. Cummings made her mark on the golf course, winning six Maine Women’s Amateur Championships in four different decades, to go along with nine runner-up finishes. She has also added 11 Senior Championship victories.
The rest of the induction class includes former Yarmouth High School and North Yarmouth Academy boys’ hockey star Travis Roy, former Cony High School and University of Maine women’s basketball star and current Maine assistant Amy Vachon, and U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer John “Jack” Kelley, who coached at Colby College and Boston University and spent time in professional hockey front offices.
Other inductees are: runners Kristin Barry of South Portland and Sheri Piers of Westbrook, Olympic downhill skiier Kirsten Clark-Rickenbach of Raymond, pro hockey player Doug Friedman of Cape Elizabeth, powerlifter Dan Hamblett of Portland, high school football star Ralph Payne of Brewer, former Colby star and one-time Red Sox pitcher Ed Phillips of Portland, and the Cross family of Bangor, which has put the family business’ name on both Cross Center in Bangor and the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, as well as partnering with the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins and Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots.
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