Sideline Stories: Remembering Maine Sports Hall of Fame Coach Dick Meader

Maine said goodbye to a true sports legend and Maine Sports Hall of Fame inductee with the passing of Richard “Dick” Meader, 76 on Oct. 16, 2022

Dick and brother, Bob, were Solon High School basketball and baseball stars in the early 60’s. Following a successful high school career, Dick attended Farmington State Teachers College in 1964 and soon became one of the top college players in Maine under Coach Len MacPhee. His ball-handling and passing skills filled the bleachers at Dearborn Gymnasium. From scoring 40 points and making 19 consecutive free throws in one game to receiving the most votes for the inaugural Maine small college basketball team, he had an impressive career. Perhaps his crowning moment was when Celtics Hall of Famer John Havlicek leaped to his feet in amazement at one of Dick’s plays in the Boston Garden his senior year. 

In baseball, Dick led the Farmington State College team in hitting as a senior and received the MVP Award under Coach Roger Wing. He graduated as all-time stolen base leader. 

Following graduation in 1968, Dick married college classmate Betty-Jane Stanhope from Dover-Foxcroft and began his coaching career as the freshman basketball coach at Nokomis High School in Newport. 

In 1970, he served as the University of Maine at Orono graduate assistant under Coach Skip Chappelle while earning his master’s degree. 

From 1971 to 1988, Dick was the Thomas College men’s basketball coach, and from 1972 to 1990, he was the director of athletics.  While at Thomas, he co-founded the Pine Tree Basketball Camp with Dick Whitmore in 1973; the camp involved over 37,000 players and 6,000 coaches in 38 years. 

After a short hiatus in order to watch his sons’ Waterville High School games, Dick returned to his alma mater to coach basketball and baseball and later coached his two sons, Lance and Daren. At the University of Maine at Farmington, he took pride in recruiting and coaching predominantly Maine players; many of them, like himself, were from small towns. Coach Meader was also proud of the number of his former players who joined the coaching ranks. 

Over Dick’s 44-year career as a head college coach, he led his basketball teams to 513 wins and received 16 Coach-of-the Year awards. 

Coach Meader was inducted into five athletics halls of fame: 

• 1994 Thomas College Sports Hall of Fame, 
• 1995 University of Maine at Farmington Athletics Hall of Fame, 
• 2015 New England Basketball Hall of Fame; 
• 2015 Maine Basketball Hall of Fame, and 2018 Maine Sports Hall of Fame.

In 2020, Dick Meader received the National Association of Basketball Coaches Outstanding Service Award. 

• 2021, the UMF Athletics Hall of Fame Room was to be named after him. 
• The night following Dick’s stroke, Thomas College planned to dedicate the Athletics Hall of Fame digital wall in the new Sukeforth Family Sports Center to Dick and his wife, who taught at Thomas for 41 years. 

Dick is survived by his wife of 54 years, Betty-Jane Meader; his sons, Lance and his wife, Amy, of Falmouth and Daren and his wife, Jennifer, of Gorham. 

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