As the current Seahawk basketball season kicked into high gear about a month ago, I realized it was 50 years ago this week that I played in my one and only tournament game. When you have only experienced one – and you lost – you really never forget it. For years I have envied the successful teams coached by the state’s winningest high school boys coach I.J. Pinkham. Some of his players got to experience eight to 10 tournament games – some even more.

Dialing back to Feb. 17, 1973, our Seahawk team was seeded sixth in Class D and we headed to Auburn that morning on the bus to face third-seeded Gould Academy for an afternoon tilt at Edward Little High School – no Augusta Civic Center back then. We had played the Bethel-based school “up there” earlier in the season … and lost 70-55 … but at least we knew what we were up against that Saturday.

After suiting up in one of the school’s classrooms, Coach Walt Gorneau got us pumped up to play with his pregame talk. Of course, I have no recollection of what he said but he always had a sparkle in his eyes before games – he took them seriously.

As a sophomore, I started alongside fellow sophomore Mark Brewer and juniors Pete Cook, Phil Page and Brian Fossett.

Our opponents had speed and height. Although Mark Brewer was about 6’6” the rest of our starters were 5’8 to 5’10” and not known for our rebounding. We had shooters, speed and defensive skills, which carried us throughout the season.

The Gould Huskies had three guys over 6’ and two quick guards. They started John Altgelt (6’5¾”), Bill Hawk (6’3”), Charlie Ault (6’3”) and their two guards were David Robinson and Roland Cruz. Those five scored all but four of their points in the game.

Gould had a veteran team and it was tournament-experienced. In 1972, it was seeded second and defeated Richmond in the quarterfinal but lost in the semifinal by one point to third-seeded Wells.

When I realized it had been 50 years, I got thinking about what more I could find out about that game, mostly from Gould’s viewpoint. Yes, I did have access to the Register’s record of the game. The Register ran one photo of the game on page 1, taken by Ken Marston, of yours truly taking a jump shot from just beyond the foul line, with information about the game in the cutline (caption).

I happened upon the Bethel Historical Society website which is where I found the fully scanned 1973 Gould yearbook. Low and behold, there they were … and there we were! Five action photos of our game! There was Roland Cruz rolling in for a layup; Charlie Ault showing good form on a short jumper and a separate photo of him blocking a Phil Page shot; John Altgelt blocking a shot by Mark Brewer and David “Gator” Robinson flying through the lane for a shot as yours truly looks up in vain. The next page was a team photo. Coincidentally, but not surprisingly, the yearbook sports editor was senior Charlie Ault.

Having gotten to know Charlie more when he worked at Fisherman’s Wharf during the summers, and bumping into him during several basketball seasons over the years while he officiated games, I sent him an email recently “congratulating” him on the 50th anniversary of our game. I also included a photo of our team and copies of those pages I found in the Gould yearbook. He thanked me for the memories and said he would send me a page from the scrapbook that his mother had saved, which included the box score … and a big photo of himself taking a shot over Phil Page. Photographer was Steven O. Muskie, son of Sen. Edmund Muskie.

We trailed by four after the first quarter, 16-12, but we managed to slice their lead in half by the half, 29-27, so we were feeling pretty good about our chances. However, Pete Cook, one of our leading scorers, along with Mark Brewer, sat on the bench most of the third quarter in foul trouble. Gould increased its lead to 10, 45-35, after three quarters and went on to win, 61-47.

Charlie was their leading scorer with 17 points, seven from the foul line. Altgelt (13), Hawk and Robinson (10 each) gave them four double figure scorers.

Phil Page led us with 13 points, while Pete Cook, Mark Brewer and yours truly added eight points each.

Gould went on to defeat Rangeley in the semifinal but lost to Wiscasset in the Western Maine final.

It ended up being Coach Gorneau’s last game as Seahawk coach. Our group finished 10-8 in 1974 under new coach Bob Strong but we didn’t make the tournament. We also failed in 1975.

My teammate and friend, the late Mark Brewer, had much happier tournament memories as he went on to attend Gould. He and his teammates ended up stopping a five-year Class D championship run by the vaunted Jonesport-Beals Royals, 57-56, in 1975.

“I think the best part of the tournaments for me was to continue to see players on the teams we played against as we continued on with our lives,” said Charlie this week. “Just think, I just officiated with Walt Gorneau and our combined ages was 148 years. I did remind him, with a smile, that Gould was undefeated against Boothbay when I played and he was the coach!”

So, ironically, I think I can finally put my disappointment to bed. This past week, the final game in that gym at Edward Little High School was played, as two new gyms are being built at the city’s new school.