The Maine Basketball Rankings Podcast

Behind the Lobster Bowl with Joe Hersom

Since 1990, the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl has raised over $1M dollars thanks to a summer football classic of Maine's recently graduated Seniors. Shriner Joe Hersom joins the podcast to talk about the impact of the game, the importance of the money they're able to raise for hospitals, how the players fundraise, the various events around the game (like the golf scramble), this year's broadcast on @MainePublic , those little shriner cars, and more! Learn more about the Lobster Bowl: https://maineshrinelobsterbowl.com/ Subscribe to Maine Basketball Rankings: https://www.mainebasketballrankings.com/#/portal Gear (affiliate links) Green Screen: https://amzn.to/3Iiodki Lighting: https://amzn.to/4n7cNzc Microphone: https://amzn.to/47ekYEa Webcam: https://amzn.to/464U4y0

Football and Softball and Pier Fries

OOB's Jason Webber brings a football intensity to everything he does and the podcast is no different. He joins me to talk about the different between coaching football and softball, getting guys to run through a wall, 8-man, his work with WHOU, pier fries, mini golf, and so much more.

A Baseball and Softball Regional Final Preview

It's Regional Final Tuesday for baseball and softball and Marc Calnan from Eastern Maine Sports is here to preview some of the championship tilts, plus talk about the best players and teams he's seen so far this spring and which teams he's surprised are no longer playing. Plus, he talks about Eastern Maine Sports' new podcast and so much more! Subscribe to Maine Basketball Rankings: https://www.mainebasketballrankings.com/#/portal Gear (affiliate links) Green Screen: https://amzn.to/3Iiodki Lighting: https://amzn.to/4n7cNzc Microphone: https://amzn.to/47ekYEa Webcam: https://amzn.to/464U4y0

The King of Foxcroft Academy — with Toby Nelson

If you've been following Maine high school basketball for the last 30 years, you've no doubt seen Toby Nelson. Whether it's promoting Foxcroft Academy, doing radio, or broadcasting as part of Maine Public's state championship coverage, Toby has done it all. He joins the podcast to talk about the 50th anniversary of Foxcroft's title, the legacy of Monson Academy, digging into video archives, and so much more. Also: Rhys reviews *The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act*. *Toby Nelson** has been broadcasting Maine high school sports for 30 years, including 20 years with Maine Public Television calling state championship games. He got his start at the Bangor Auditorium in 2007 — literally walking past the broadcast table, hearing a producer say someone had called out sick, and running home to grab a shirt and tie. The rest is history. Beyond broadcasting, Toby is Foxcroft Academy's unofficial historian, spearheading the **50th anniversary celebration of the 1975 state championship** — the school's only basketball gold ball. He tracked down the coach's original scorebook, game-by-game newspaper clippings, photos, and artifacts, then posted daily historical updates aligned to the exact anniversary dates of each game. His deeper passion project: **Monson Academy**, the small-town school that closed in 1969 and sent its students to Foxcroft. In 1968, just one year before closing, Monson's eight-player squad won the Class S state championship. Toby found a reel-to-reel audio recording of the title game, digitized it at a radio station, and put it online — where it's since drawn hundreds of thousands of views. He also tracked down actual game footage through Northeast Historic Films in Bucksport. Now he's planning a **Monson Academy Slaters merchandise line** — t-shirts, stickers, and more — with proceeds going toward a new roof on the Monson gymnasium, the last remaining piece of the old academy. --- ### Links & Resources - **Maine Basketball Rankings:** mainebasketballrankings.com - **Gold Ball Odds (tournament simulator):** mainebasketballrankings.com - **Northeast Historic Films:** [oldfilms.org](https://oldfilms.org) - **Monson Academy Slaters Facebook Page:** search "Monson Academy Slater" on Facebook - **Eastern Maine Sports:** follow on Facebook/YouTube for live streams and coverage - *Last One Out of Town, Turn Out the Lights* — Dave Albee's book on Foxcroft/Monson basketball history

Why Cliff Urquhart left Southern Aroostook After 5 Titles

Cliff Urquhart built a dynasty in Dyer Brook with a Southern Aroostook girls team he led to 5 state titles and one of the more dominant runs any program in the state has seen over the last decade. But earlier this spring, he stepped off the sidelines to take an administrative job even further north at Fort Fairfield. He joined the podcast to talk about that, his time at Southern Aroostook, an unforgettable closed scrimmage with Caribou, and so much more. Subscribe to Maine Basketball Rankings: https://www.mainebasketballrankings.com/#/portal Gear (affiliate links) Green Screen: https://amzn.to/3Iiodki Lighting: https://amzn.to/4n7cNzc Microphone: https://amzn.to/47ekYEa Webcam: https://amzn.to/464U4y0