“He is why I coach;” Hutchins leaves lasting legacy at Greely

Legendary, longtime Greely teacher and coach Glen Hutchins passed away last month at the age of 91. File photo

While Glen Hutchins spent time coaching at North Yarmouth Academy, as well as at Cheverus and Yarmouth High Schools, he’ll forever be synonymous with Greely High School in Cumberland, thanks to his long tenure there as a soccer, basketball and baseball coach and an economics and history teacher.

Hutchins, who passed way last month at the age of 91, has the stadium field at Greely named in his honor, but he also leaves behind a rich legacy of triumph and more importantly, the confidence he instilled and the life lessons he taught generations of athletes.

Sue Obar is best known these days as the mother of Brooke Obar (Greely Class of 2020, now playing at Bentley University) and Mollie Obar (Greely Class of 2021, now playing at Brandeis University), who played key roles during the Rangers’ most recent girls’ basketball dynastic run, but more than four decades ago, as Sue Whittum, Obar was influenced by Hutchins’ kindness and his love for all sports, including limited girls’ sports offerings in those days.

“You hear a lot today about generational athletes, but (Coach Hutchins) was a generational coach,” Obar said. “He became a major impact on my life and he did that for anyone he coached. I lived three miles from the center of town. I’d ride my bike up and spend the day under his tutelage at the basketball and soccer clinics he coached. The girls had just started soccer and he took me and others under his wing. He’d open the gym and allow the younger kids an opportunity to play with the high school kids. He was a real advocate for girls in sports. He proved girls could play man-to-man defense in basketball too.”

It’s hard to imagine now, but not too long ago, there was a perception that girls’ basketball players couldn’t play man-to-man defense. Coach Hutchins refuted that notion. Courtesy Sue Obar.

Hutchins was a Ranger through and through, graduating from then-Greely Institute in 1949. After attending the University of Southern Maine and the University of Maine, as well as earning a graduate degree from Williams College, he dabbled in coaching everything from baseball, softball and tennis before truly making his mark on the pitch and hardcourt.

Hutchins established Greely’s boys’ soccer team as an early power, leading the Rangers to four state titles in a nine-year span between 1974 and 1982. Greely won Class B back-to-back in 1974 and 1975 (with Hutchins’ son Kyle a star), blanked Madawaska to win Class A for the first time in 1979 (with his other son Jay as a standout), then knocked off Ellsworth for another Class A crown in 1982.

“‘Hutch’ developed the program from nothing,” said Mike Andreasen, Class of 1980, a member of the 1979 championship team and the coach of the Rangers since 1998. “They went something like 4-10 the first year and people were so happy they wanted to throw him in the pool in celebration. He had bleachers delivered and had us work on them. He got the field and the lights. We were one of the first fields to have lights. When I was a kid, going to Greely games was an event. It was the only show in town.

“The way I coach comes from him more than anyone else. Commitment and having kids hold themselves accountable. Things us old school coaches think are important. When I took over, ‘Hutch’ coached with me for a few years as freshman coach. I idolized him and still called him Coach. My first year, we beat Cape in the semifinals (1-0) after they beat us 6-1 and 5-0 during the regular season. Before the playoff game, he called me at 6 a.m. and we met to discuss strategy. We wound up beating them because of his influence.”

Rob Hale, a legend in his own right, who has coached the Greely swim program to 13 combined state titles in his more than three decades at the helm, wasn’t talented enough to play soccer or baseball for Hutchins, but he was able to serve as a manager and said that the lessons he learned still guide him today.

“I never got to play for him, but he was still a mentor,” Hale said. “As a freshman, after I didn’t make the cut in soccer, he pulled me aside and said he needed a ‘right-hand’ man, so I became the manager. Besides the usual manager duties, he would give me an index card at practice and tell me to take certain players and run them through the drills on the card. Surprisingly to me, the players listened. It got me thinking that coaching might be in my future. Later, in my 20s, he tracked me down to work his soccer clinics. Fifty years and five different sports later, I am still trying to make him proud.”

Glen Hutchins, far right, led the 1983 Greely Rangers to the first girls’ basketball state title in program history. Among his players that year was senior Sue Whittum (now Obar), front row, second from left. Courtesy Sue Obar.

Greely’s girls’ basketball program was strong from the outset, but it wasn’t until 1983 that the Rangers broke through and brought home the Class B state title, beating Houlton, 57-49, for the crown.

Obar was a senior on that team.

“That was a special time and a special team,” said Obar, who went on to play at Colby College. “A cohesive unit. (Coach) was the common denominator. He never credited himself. He’d say we just jelled as a unit.”

Beyond the wins and the state titles, it was Hutchins’ ability to connect with his athletes, boys and girls, and keep that connection long after their time in a Greely uniform ended that makes him remembered so fondly.

“He impacted so many lives,” Andreasen said. “He was always a champion of the underdog. He loved those kids who didn’t have much.”

“I can’t say enough about the positive role model he was that for most of us wasn’t realized until our adult years, but thankfully, we did eventually realize it,” Obar said. “He was a family member and a coach at the same time. His caring continued after high school. We made it a point go get together as a team every year for a cookout all the way through this year. There would always be six to 10 players from that generation present. He remained sharp with a great memory. One of the last exchanges we had a few days before he passed was about a call made in our (1983) state game, where he said,’ You know, that really wasn’t a foul’ on a call that sent me to the bench.”

Hutchins’ last head coaching job came at Cheverus, where he directed the nascent girls’ basketball program during the first decade of the 21st Century. He helped lay the foundation for what would become a consistent contender.

Soon after Hutchins retired for good, Greely’s stadium field became Glen Hutchins Field.

And according to Andreasen, Hutchins didn’t like being in the limelight.

“When we dedicated the (stadium) field to him, he hated the attention,” Andreasen said. “We had a ceremony at Val Halla (Golf Course) and he got roasted, but he wasn’t comfortable with it.”

Hutchins also received a Service Award for his contributions to high school soccer and was inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.

He was living in New Jersey at the time of his passing. Coincidentally, that day, June 28th, New York Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán threw a perfect game. Hutchins was a lifelong Yankees fan.

Hutchins was pre-deceased by his wife of six decades, Virginia. He is survived by a son, Kyle and his wife Rita Marie, a son, Jay and his wife Rowena, a daughter, Geraldine; as well as four grandchildren, Sarah and her husband Andrew and great-grandson Drew; Jeanette and her husband Will, Trent Jay and Chase.

There are tentative plans for a celebration of life next spring, but you can rest assured that the life of Glen Hutchins, forever remembered as ‘Coach’ or ‘Hutch,’ will be celebrated in ways large and small in all corners of Cumberland, North Yarmouth and beyond for a long, long time.

“(Coach) had a life very well lived until the very end,” Obar said. “I would always get a call out of the blue from him every couple months, just to check in. He’d always conclude the call by saying, ‘stop over sometime,’ as his door was always open, literally.”

“The two men who influenced me the most were my own father and Coach Hutchins,” said Andreasen. “He taught me to do it the right way. No shortcuts.”

“(Coach Hutchins) is a legend to us,” Hale said. “He is why I coach.”