Sisters carry on legacy

It was his place. His spot. Never contested. He could chitchat and joke with everyone around him. He could bellow at those passing by. It was after all the best seat, according to him.
In recent years, his health declined. He shuffled into the gym leaning on a walking aid and his daughter’s arm.
After 50 years, Jack Ketch is no longer in the house at center court. His seat is empty … except for the inscription etched in the wood … In Memory of Jack Ketch, #1 Shire Fan.
As a die-hard Houlton fan, Houlton High School officials honored Ketch’s memory on no better than night than when Houlton girls hosted Presque Isle. Ketch, a 1953 graduate of Presque Isle would not be rooting on his alma mater. Instead, he caught the Shire Fire, for sure.
Ketch’s daughters, Nancy and Ginny, accepted flowers and a certificate that looked like a copy of a season ticket enlarged with the seat number in their father’s name in a ceremony prior to the game on Dec. 9.
“It was really special,” said Nancy, Ketch’s youngest daughter. “It was really nice of them to do that. He loved going to the games and looked forward to it. Last game, last year, he was talking about this year’s games.”
Ketch’s oldest daughter Ginny added, “It was just an incredible honor. He would have been so humbled and pleased. He would not have wanted the accolades, but he would have absolutely loved it. It was such a fitting tribute.”
After Ginny’s photographs hit Facebook, she received many messages saying how people missed seeing her father and what a nice recognition it was in his memory.
Ketch passed away on June 8, 2014. Coming from Canada, Ketch loved hockey, but it was Houlton sports, especially basketball, that stole his heart.
“He enjoyed sports in general,” said Nancy.
Ketch would sneak up and watch a baseball game at Community Park or catch a soccer game at the high school.
“He was the most faithful to the basketball games,” she added. “But, even when the hockey team started, we went to a few of those games, too. But, obviously when you are working, basketball games are easier to get to because it is in the evening.”
The Ketchs went to high school basketball games as a family, as Jack, Georgia and the girls supported the high school athletes through the years – both girls as cheerleaders. The girls can remember their father at center court and trying to get his attention from the student section straight across the gymnasium where the players’ seats are located.
“From the time I was 4 or 5 years old sitting on his lap, we went to the games as a family,” said Ginny. “From catching a ball to just watching the games, he loved it all.”
Of course as teenagers, the girls remember hitting their Dad up at halftime to “bum money,” they laughed.
“He supported everything,” Ginny added. “He did not miss many basketball games unless he was out of town or at meeting because he was never sick.”
Though Ketch did not play basketball, he did participate in the men’s softball league and played hockey. Last February, Ketch was able to watch the Eastern Maine sweep of gold balls at the Augusta Civic Center. Nancy reserved a wheelchair for her father who was seated at the press table right at his regular place at courtside.
“He enjoyed the game, but he also loved the social aspect of it, as well,” said Nancy, who noted many people stopped by to talk with her father and even the refs, who he did not necessarily know, nudged him and said “hi.”
A trademark smile and his light heartedness will be missing, but the girls will take up their father’s inheritance of a lifetime seat, courtside, at Houlton High School.
“Anytime I am home, I will be there,” said Ginny, who lives in Scarborough.
For Nancy, her father’s caretaker and best friend, lonely times will subside, as being at the Houlton gymnaisum will be a comfort and a cherished memory.
“It’s going to be a tough season, Nancy said tearing up. “But, I absolutely will be there. I have been there with him for the past how many years. It was something we both looked forward to and it was something we did together.”