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| Staff photo/Gloria Austin Whitney McNamee of the Fort Fairfield Tigers goes up for a shot while defended by Hodgdon’s Haley Gardiner (40) and Lacey McQuarrie last Wednesday. |
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
Larry Gardner earned his 300th career win as a varsity coach, a milestone in the coaching ranks, with the Fort Fairfield Lady Tigers’ 55-38 win over Limestone on Saturday.
Coaching wins are counted as regular season and post-season tournament play only. Scrimmages, exhibitions, Christmas tourneys and the like are not counted in win totals used by the Maine Association of Basketball Coaches (MABC).
“It is a very nice milestone,” Gardner said, “but it wouldn’t be possible without the many great players, great teams, outstanding assistant coaches and the fans who have helped make so many memorable moments and have helped make our basketball program what it is today.
Gardner began his varsity coaching career as the Fort Fairfield boys’ coach from 1980-89. He coached the 1984 and ’88 teams to the school’s only Eastern Maine championships before retiring in 1989.
In 1998 he returned to coach the girls and in 2010 guided his team to the school’s first girls Eastern Maine title and Fort Fairfield’s first state championship.
He won 101 games as a boys’ coach over nine seasons and his tally was at 199 in his 14-plus years with the girls heading into last night’s game against Katahdin.
“I still keep in touch with many of my former players,” Gardner said. “They have certainly made an impact on my life and I hope in some small way I have made an impact on theirs as well.”
