The Maine Basketball Hall of Fame Tuesday announced its 2023 induction class and several players and coaches with local ties stood out.
Todd Hanson. File photo
Former Brunswick boys’ coach Todd Hanson, who was also a standout player at Waterville High and the University of Maine, led the Dragons to the Class A state title in 2001-02, shocking the powerhouse Deering Rams, led by Nik Caner-Medley and Walter Phillips, in the final. Hanson, who also led Brunswick to the 2004 Class A state game, which it lost in overtime to Portland, retired after 25 season and 309 victories with the Dragons.
Mike Murphy. File photo.
Mike Murphy, the longtime coach at Scarborough, Westbrook and Deering, also a one-time playing standout at Cheverus, Merrimack College and the University of Southern Maine, led the Rams to the 2009 Class A state championship. Murphy has won well over 300 games and is now in his 15th season at Deering, where he has won 160 games and counting.
Christina Strong. File photo.
Christina Strong, a one-time star player at Georges Valley High School and later at the University of Maine, spent five years as the coach of the Yarmouth girls’ program, where she coached her daughter, Sara D’Appolonia. Strong, who won the Miss Maine Baskeball award in 1990, was also an exceptional soccer player in high school and college.
Other inductees with local ties included Paul Burnell, who played on South Portland’s 1979 and 1980 Class A championship teams and went on to become a highly-respected referee; Jonathan Stovall, who starred at Cheverus and later played big-time college hoops at the University of Pennsylvania and Boston College; and the Bob Brown-coached University of Southern Maine men’s basketball team from 1989, which made a run to the Division III Final Four.
This year’s induction ceremony is August 20 in Bangor. Tickets will be available on-line beginning in May at mainebasketballhalloffame.com.
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