Staff Writer
Jeffrey Joseph may not have gotten to see any of the tall buildings he was promised when arrived in Presque Isle from the Caribbean island of Dominica in 1996, but he still reached a pinnacle of a different sort 12 years later.
On Saturday, Joseph, along with former women’s basketball and softball standout Heather (Brewer) Richards and long-time Caribou High School athletic director Dwight Hunter, was inducted into the University of Maine at Presque Isle Owls Athletic Hall of Fame at a ceremony held at the Campus Center.
Joseph had a record-setting career for the Owl basketball team from 1996-2000, establishing school records for rebounds in a season (340) and in a career (887), while leading National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Division II teams nation-wide in rebounding as a senior. He also scored 1,212 points, putting him sixth all-time at the school in that category.
But during Joseph’s induction speech, he jokingly recalled a recruiting telephone call with then-UMPI head coach Karl Henrikson before heading state-side from his home country.
“I remember asking Coach if there were any skyscrapers in Presque Isle. He told me ‘yes.’ Then after I arrived, he showed me Key Bank,” Joseph told the audience before drawing a roomful of laughter.
Sharon Roix, long-time registrar at the university, was Joseph’s presenter for the evening. She read through Joseph’s impressive resume on the basketball court, at the collegiate level and then later his semi-professional career in both North and South Carolina. She then said that in her over 30 years as a registrar, she “got to know a lot of students. Some students you never forget because of the people they were.
“You were one of those students.”
Joseph remembered how others in the university community assisted him during his transition into the United States. “People really helped me out and I really appreciate it.”
His words of advice to current UMPI students took on a similar tone. “Learn to be respectful,” Joseph said. “Help everyone who needs help in every situation.”
Joseph has spent time since his basketball career ended volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club teaching “Street Smarts,” a gang prevention program. He currently works in Manchester, N.H. at New York Life and resides in Francesstown, N.H. with his wife, Van Buren native and UMPI alum Lori (Morrow).
Heather (Brewer) Richards was the other former UMPI star athlete honored during the evening. In basketball, she led the Maine Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (MAIAW) in steals both her freshman and sophomore seasons and led in assists her junior year. She was the Maine Athletic Conference (MAC) assist leader her senior year. She holds UMPI’s all-time assist record with 529.
On the softball diamond, she was an NAIA District V All-Star and was voted Rookie of the Year as a freshman. She made the MAC all-state team as a junior.
Richards also starred in the classroom as a Dean’s List student throughout her career from 1992-1996. She was also recipient of the Maine Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (MAPHERD) Outstanding Major Award in physical education.
“What I achieved here (athletically) was great,” Richards said, “but I really valued my education.”
Richards’ presenter, her then basketball coach and current UMPI men’s soccer coach and instructor Alan Gordon, remembers Richards as a fierce competitor. “When Heather stepped onto the floor, I knew we were going to battle,” he said.
Gordon read a letter from Deborah Draper, also an UMPI hall of famer and a teammate of Richards when Draper was a senior and Richards a freshman.
“She was a true leader I was happy to follow,” Draper wrote. “Her athletic and leadership skills were second to none.”
Richards is currently a health teacher at her alma mater, Old Town High School. She has coached a variety of sports, including field hockey, cheerleading and basketball, and resides in Bradley with her husband, Jason, and three children, Mikayla, Bryce and Hannah.
The third inductee, Dwight Hunter didn’t graduate from UMPI, although he did attend Aroostook State Teachers College in Presque Isle before transferring to the University of Maine at Orono. He did, however, affect the lives of many in the university and the Aroostook County community with his leadership ability and as one who placed sportsmanship and character above all other qualities.
A fine athlete at Presque Isle High School in the early-1950s, he followed his college years with a stint in the United States Army before serving as a teacher, coach and athletic director at Caribou High School for 41 years, retiring in 2002.
During his tenure at CHS, his teams accumulated nine state championships, 21 Eastern Maine championships and 35 sportsmanship awards in various sports. He has received numerous national, state and local awards. In 1998, he was just one of six athletic directors in the United States selected by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association to receive the National Federation Citation Award.
Hunter’s presenter was his son, Scott, who began by saying he was grateful his father was able to accept the award in person after spending much of the last month hospitalized in Bangor. “(My family and I) are thrilled to be here after what he has been through.”
When referring to his father’s career in athletics, he said that it has “always been more than winning and losing or learning how to play a sport. (Athletics) provide a means for children to find success, to build self-esteem, to learn about teamwork, perseverance and the value of hard work and sportsmanship.
“He also believes that winning and showing good sportsmanship are not mutually exclusive,” Scott Hunter added.
In life, he said his father was far from perfect, noting “he cannot carry a tune, never pronounces ‘Detroit’ or ‘Chicago’ right and is prone to exaggeration.
“But, he always gets the important things right. He has been a loving and devoted husband to my mother for 45 years, he’s been an exemplary son, father and proud grandfather and he’s remains true to his beliefs and in the true value of athletics in young people’s lives.”
In his acceptance speech, Dwight Hunter noted he was both honored and humbled to be inducted, “honored because I recognize all the great people who have already been inducted and humbled because without the help of other people, I wouldn’t be standing here.”
He listed his some of his influential figures, such as his older brother, Gene, Dr. Clifford Wieden, Caroline Gentile, Bill Haskell, Cal Green, Bill Hanscom, Alan Pease and Vincent Inglese, calling them all “great role models and educators who cared about kids.”
He then thanked his wife, Nancy, and three children, Scott, Shelley and Stacey, for “allowing me to do what I did for 41 years.”
The hour-long ceremony, which followed the induction dinner, also featured remarks from UMPI athletic director Bill Casavant, Dean of Students Christine Corsello and President Don Zillman.
UM-PRESQUE ISLE held an induction ceremony for its three newest members of the Owls’ Athletic Hall of Fame. The event took place Saturday at the Campus Center. From left are, Jeffrey Joseph, Heather (Brewer) Richards and Dwight Hunter.
