David Albee will highlight high school basketball at tourney time at the Cross Center and mark the 50th anniversary of Foxcroft Academy’s amazing run at winning the only state basketball championship in the school’s history.
This story began with a fifth-grade student in Monson dreaming of someday leading his high school team to a state championship who grew to be 6-foot-8 and instead led another town’s high school to a state title. There are funny and sad stories along the way weaved with a nostalgic look at high school basketball in rural Maine including the impact it has on the community that in this case inspired one jovial man to create a large plywood sign that became the title for this book.
David will show photographs during the event.
About the Book, “The Last One Out of Town Turn Out the Lights”
One small town’s pain is another small town’s gain as a soul-crushing school consolidation connects a tall, star player from Southeast Monson to a young, driven coach that leads to Foxcroft Academy’s first and only Maine state basketball championship in 1975 in the school’s 200-year history. The dubious path to a coveted Gold Ball dribbles through a turbulent time in the 60s and 70s and a series of gut-wrenching decisions that ultimately create team chemistry and a plywood sign that capsulate a rural community starved for a winner.
About the Author
Dave Albee, a 1972 graduate of Foxcroft Academy voted “Most School Spirited” as a senior in the school yearbook, was an award-winning sportswriter and sports columnist for 35 years at five newspapers in four states from Maine to California.
Despite covering some of the world’s biggest sporting events, teams, and players during the past five decades, it is Foxcroft’s first and only state basketball championship season that Dave covered for his hometown Observer in 1974-75 that served as the inspiration for his book — “The Last One Out Of Town Turn Out The Lights.” That one season is deeply personal to Dave compared to all the college and professional sports seasons he has experienced. Dave was born and raised in Dover-Foxcroft and competed in football, basketball, and baseball at Foxcroft Academy. The bit of serendipity at the local grocery store provided the opportunity to witness and now write about the 1975 state championship season on its 50th anniversary.