Sport legends induced into the world of fame

By H. Jay Burns

Two sports legends whose Bates careers overlapped were recently inducted into local halls of fame. Bob Hatch, longtime Bates football coach and athletic director, joined the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in June.

Dave Harkins ’53, who played football and baseball for Lewiston High School and at Bates, entered the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame in April. As Harkins looked on, Hatch spoke at his former Bates quarterback’s induction ceremony.

“I talked to some of his former teammates before coming here tonight,” Hatch was quoted in a Sun Journal

story. “I asked them to describe him, and the words that came out most often were modest, intense, intelligent, loyal, tough, and a true friend.”

Football coach from 1952 to 1972, Hatch became Bates athletic director in 1974, right away facing the challenges of Title IX. “The steps that women have made in just the 25 to 30 years since then have been amazing,” Hatch told the Sun Journal. “That changed everything at the time, too, from recruiting to the physical layout of a campus. Everything was really set up for men, even though we were a co-ed campus.”