Bill Brennan heard bits of light laughter Sunday night. Here and there, the flickerings of smiles escaped the shadows on Ritchie Field. Brennan heard phrases that began with “Remember when Richie . . .”
The pain he felt for the young men around him no longer felt so sharp. The healing had begun.
Maine Maritime Academy is a unique place, said Brennan, its president. Kids come to this isolated campus on the shores of Penobscot Bay and leave as adults. They learn to be teammates and leaders, and how to deal with adversity.
They’re living another lesson this week.
Some 10 hours after its football team won a tense and draining game Saturday afternoon, Maine Maritime lost one of its own.
Richie Dykas, a 23-year-old assistant coach, was killed after his pickup truck failed to make one of the many turns on the state road that leads away from Castine. Steve Nackley, another assistant coach and a passenger, was injured.
The news stunned the campus and the town. Including the students, about 1,300 people live in Castine, at the tip of a peninsula. It’s difficult to sense where the college community ends and the town begins. Students and athletes serve on the town’s volunteer fire department, for instance. Some were among the responders to the accident.
When Brennan went to get his coffee in town Monday morning, he heard condolences at every turn.
“The connections are signficant,” said Brennan, who grew up in Castine because his father worked at the academy. The town has shared in the success of the Mariners, Maine’s winningest college football team in recent years. Last season, Maine Maritime qualified for the NCAA Division III playoffs for the first time.
Saturday’s win over Mass-achusetts Maritime was the Mariners’ fourth straight victory. They are 5-1 in the Bogan Division of the New England Football Conference. They play Bridgewater State on Saturday, one day after they attend a funeral mass for Dykas at St. Mary’s church in Dedham, Mass.
Chris McKenney, the head coach, declined a request for an interview. He decided his players would not speak to the media in the days leading up to the next game. Dykas, a student athlete at Mt. Ida College, was on McKenney’s staff for just two years. But at Maine Maritime and in Castine, as in any small Maine town, relationships are forged quickly. McKenney, who recruits assistants with the same care he recruits football players, found a communicator in Dykas.
“He welcomed me (to campus) with open arms,” said Eric Sabean, the new athletic director who arrived at the end of September. “He always had a smile.”
This may be the most difficult week of McKenney’s career. One loss in the last two games of the season could end Maine Maritime’s goal of returning to the NCAA playoffs. The head coach must put aside his own grief to prepare his players for the game and Friday’s funeral.
Earlier in the week, his players were told it was OK to feel anything they wanted. Laugh and joke about Dykas’ memory, or cry and hug. It didn’t matter.
“Sometimes young people don’t know if it’s proper to talk about (the passing of someone they know),” said Nate Rende, father of Matthew, Maine Maritime’s junior quarterback. Rende is a former assistant and head football coach at several high schools for more than 20 years, including Cony, Waterville and Boothbay Region. He knows from experience how real life can intrude in something that really is just a game.
“There’s great leadership on this team because there have been great leaders before them who set the example,” said Rende. “The captains understand what leadership is and how to share it.”
That comes with the education at Maine Maritime, especially for those who are part of the school’s regiment. Learning to deal with others and how to handle adversity is part of the curriculum. If you’ve got a ship taking on water in high seas, teamwork and maintaining discipline to solve the problem have to become instinctive.
“Chris is the old-school-have-each-other’s-back type of guy,” said Rende. “Saturday, some kids will use (this week) as an emotional edge and some, the emotion will overcome them at first. They’ll rally around each other.”
Their classmates share their grief. The community of Castine understands.
A loss can become a victory.
Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at: ssolloway@pressherald.com
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