I love going to antique stores or flea markets, because you don't look for items, they look for YOU. So imagine my joy when I came across a 1970 football program recently at an antique store in central Maine, placed in a display among some other Maine-centric items in honor of the Pine Tree State's 200th birthday:
The program is rather thin by today's standards, but it's loaded with goodies. Let's dig deeper:
 |
| The coaching staff. Walt Abbott has served UMaine since the 1950s in every capacity imaginable: Student, player, coach, administrator, instructor, TV/radio announcer, you name it. Jack Butterfield also was the head baseball coach. Bob Pickett later was the head coach at UMass. Dick DeVarney was a former star QB and infielder at UMaine. |
 |
| The trainer and the equipment guys. Oh, to go into that locker room and snap up a few jerseys and helmets ... |
 |
| The captains. Ah, the old Durene jerseys with long sleeves and stitched numbers. (And yes, I know my graphic above has shorter sleeves.) |
 |
| Some of the Black Bears. Here's an oddity: 1969 was college football's 100th anniversary, so why is a "102" logo used in 1970? |
Alas, the team wasn't nearly as good as this program, going 3-5, although the Bears won their last three games after an 0-5 start, and no one was named to the all-Yankee Conference first team. (I believe this was the last year Maine played as few as eight games, although who knows what'll happen in 2020.) Although the game preview tabbed Maine as heavy underdog to C.W. Post, the Bears crushed the Pioneers, 42-8, for its first victory in front of a Homecoming crowd of 7,611.
Now excuse me while I look for another antique store. (Yeah, I know there's eBay, but where's the fun in that?)
 |
| The cheerleaders, posing at a grid rather than on the gridiron. Anyone falls off this thing and you're looking at a lawsuit. |
