‘Legends’ to be inducted Oct. 9 in Maine Sports Legends Hall of Fame

    Editor’s note: Bud Porter and Terry Spurling were profiled in last week’s edition of the Pioneer Times.
    Tickets to the Oct. 9 induction ceremony at the Alfond Boys and Girls Club in Waterville are available by calling Paul McClay of Maine Sports Legends in Augusta at 622-1539.
    Four Aroostook County men will soon be inducted into the Maine Sports Legends Hall of Fame representing the northern region.
    Emmett “Bud” Porter, Terry Spurling and posthumously Donald “Lefty” Graves and Frank Tapley are being honored for this extraordinary commitment and work behind the scenes to help students excel both academically and athletically in Maine.
    The induction ceremony will take place this October in Waterville.
Donald “Lefty” Graves
    Donald “Lefty” Graves was born in Mars Hill on Jan. 28, 1916. He didn’t pick up his nickname of “Lefty” until his high school years. He earned that name the rest of his life because at Aroostook Central Institute in Mars Hill he had an accurate left-handed jump shot on the basketball court, where he was usually the team’s high scorer and he also had an outstanding pitch on the baseball diamond.
    Fast pitches were never Graves’ forte, it was his slow curve ball and pin-point accuracy that sent opposing batters back to the bench shaking their heads and talking to themselves. Spectators, players and particularly his long-time catcher described Graves’ wide array of breaking pitches, always in the strike zone but never where the batters expected them to be.
    Roger Shaw, assistant superintendent AOS 99 in Mars Hill, says of Lefty, “He couldn’t break a pane of glass, but his curve ball was legendary.”
    Lefty later pitched on the amateur traveling town league team, The Mars Hill Cubs. It was said by many knowledgeable players, umpires, sports writers and coaches that Lefty Graves was the best left-handed pitcher in Aroostook and most likely in the entire state. Although deals were offered by pro and semi-pro scouts, Lefty always declined, preferring to stay in his home town and start a business with his dad and brothers.
    Beginning in the mid-1930s the Graves family bought and sold cattle, ran a butcher shop and had push carts selling meat, with each brother having a daily route and set customers. Eventually this led to a small family-run grocery store that turned into a local supermarket and a string of Graves’ Red and White Supermarkets throughout Aroostook. One is still open in Presque Isle run by Lefty’s nephews.
    Along with his business, horses began to occupy a good deal of Lefty’s time. The Graves’ brothers combined business with pleasure. Starting in 1960 and ending in 1991, their stable, Mountain View Farms, had horses racing at Foxboro, Rockingham, Meadowlands, Scarborough and the State Fair circuit throughout Maine.
    One of Lefty’s crowning achievements was his nomination by Governor John McKernan and subsequent appointments in 1988 to the Maine State Harness Racing Commission. McKernan praised Lefty for his breeding, selling and racing of horses and for his perspective and devotion to the harness racing industry in Maine, which continues today.
    Lefty always had time for his family and brothers, his life was full with bowling league competitions, hunting and fishing. In his retirement these activities came to the forefront. Golf also caught Lefty’s interest and he and his friends were on the course in Mars Hill, rain or shine.
    He was the consummate sportsman, hunting and fishing always with his brothers and sometimes with Bud Leavitt and Ted Williams, fishing on the Miramichi River.
    Frank Keenan, former superintendent of the Easton School Department said, Lefty and his family cared about the community and the people in it.
    “He was always donating to the community organizations and schools liberally when asked,” Keenan said. “This practice still continues by the Graves Supermarket and family in Presque Isle today.”
    Lefty lived a long and fulfilling life with family and friends never forgetting his community needs. He was a member of the Mars Hill Rotary Club and the first father/daughter Rotarians with his daughter Jan and a member of the Methodist church, always offering monetary support to the needs in the community.
    His family remembers most of all Lefty’s grin, the one outstanding characteristic he always displayed, whether he was toeing the rubber on the mound in high school, working with the horses, fishing, greeting customers at the store or helping the community, that grin told everyone he was enjoying his journey. That grin is still evident today because on a bench is written an inscription, “Life with a Smile”, donated by his family and friends, sitting on the 17th hole of the Mars Hill Golf Course a dedication to Lefty.
    Lefty and his wife, Esther had four children, Jan, Judy, Richard and Nancy, 11 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and three-great-great grandchildren.
Frank Tapley
    Frank Tapley, an athlete and coach, was born in Ashland on Jan. 20, 1914. As a resident of Robinson, he attended Aroostook Central Institute and played basketball and baseball. In 1931 his basketball team went to the Eastern Maine Tournament, but lost to Winslow. Frank went on to the University of Maine at Orono, continuing to play basketball and baseball teaming up with another ACI athlete, Clarence Keegan. Frank graduated in 1938 with a degree in education from Maine.
    Frank began his teaching and coaching career in 1938 in Sherman. His son, Barry, remembers hearing his father say, “Gyms back then many times were heated with a wood stove at the side of the court!”
    In 1946, Frank moved to Easton. He taught agriculture at Easton High School and coached the boys basketball team. With his teaching of agriculture, Frank had many summer class hours having to go out to inspect the different projects of his students. He enjoyed being out in the field with his students watching them work and he encouraged all of them by stressing the importance of doing well so they would receive a good education to prepare them for higher learning. He was a true mentor to his students both in the classroom and the field. While teaching, Frank also played basketball and baseball on the Easton town teams.
    As a varsity basketball coach at Easton High School, Tapley inspired each of his athletes to perform to the best of their ability, not only for themselves, but also for their team. He had great accomplishments with his coaching career at Easton, as many of his past athletes have attested to over the years. 
    “Coach Tapley’s coaching ability brought Easton much success in basketball and baseball. He placed four teams in the Eastern Maine Tournament and in 1948 and in 1956 coach’s team went all the way to the Eastern Maine semi-finals before losing in the final game,” said Steve Shaw, athletic director at Easton High School.
    In 1957 the Bears brought home the state title. In an article by Ken Clark titled: ‘We Doff Our Topper to Tap’; quotes “Coach Frank Tapley and his Easton High School Bears brought the 1957 State Basketball title back home to Aroostook County. In his new basketball season he moved ahead and developed four boys who could score, after the graduation of his top scorers from the preceding year. Coach Tap went to work with what he had, and how he and they worked!” Clark ended his article by stating, “Through this achievement with his team, he gave notice that he is one of the top basketball coaches in the state, and regardless of the material, he is to be feared in high school basketball circles throughout the state.”
    Coach Tapley was a role model and a mentor to his team showing what hard work and determination can do even if you were younger and smaller then the opposing teams. This same attitude continues in basketball at Easton High School today.
    Tapley is survived by two sons, Barry and Charles, five grand children and four great-grandchildren.
    Sue Lougee compiled the information for this article.