Sideline Stories: Bill Green, Executive Director, Maine Sports Hall of Fame

One night, around 1991, I had an epiphany in Williamsburg, Virginia. I was accompanying my wife who was on a business trip to Colonial Williamsburg. We were seated with couples from Miami, Washington D. C. and Chicago. When they learned where we were from, a lady repeated my answer in disbelief. “M-aa–a-a-a-i-i-n—ah?” She replied as if no one, at least not anyone in a suit, could be from such a wild and untamed territory.  As the conversation rolled along, we discussed recreational opportunity, school test scores and murder rates. By the time the evening was over, I was lying to them because I was afraid they’d move here.

Okay, we need people and that’s a joke, kind of. I realized, in a fancy place with fancy-looking people, that among those four places, Maine was the most desirable place to live by far. I decided to brag about Maine. To be proud of what it has to offer.  This changed not only my professional life, but my life in general.  Some commencement speaker somewhere told graduates to “find a hobby and participate in it once a week.  That hobby should bring you as much joy as if you have doubled your income.” I think that idea is brilliant.  Here is a place you can get out and do things. As the great OutdoorWriter for the Bangor Daily News Bud Leavitt once said, “There’s more beauty in my backyard than there is in the whole province of Labrador as far as I’m concerned.” Here you can paddle the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, hike the toughest part of the Appalachian Trail including the famed “Hundred Mile Wilderness, sail the blue water off our coast, bike byways in any terrain imaginable, tour Maine Huts and Trails, visit the Bold Coast, downhill ski, cross-country ski, hunt, fish, boat or run Beach to Beacon where you’ll meet one of the most highly accomplished and respected athletes who ever lived.  When I asked an artist friend why Maine had produced so many artists, he said, “Artists go to the most beautiful places.” Interesting.  We also produce more than our fair share of writers. One hundred years from now, when we are all gone, the name Stephen King will be known by every school child in America. I can mention him in this article, because he loves sports.  As do I. I am sometimes overwhelmed by how fortunate I am and have been.  A big part of that is the joy that sports bring.  My Patriots and Red Sox might win or lose. There’s always boating on the bay, biking one of my favorite courses around Cumberland or simply pushing a stroller with a one of my newly arrived grandchildren. I didn’t get rich, but I do consider myself very fortunate. Fortunate that something or six someones spurred me to look around and better appreciate the place where I live. I think all Mainers should be happy because we are in one of the most beautiful places in the world and we have an opportunity to take advantage of it.