Orono, Maine -- Ten years after an unprecedented unbeaten season, the 1961 University of Maine football team matched that feat, and in impressive fashion.

 

Coach Harold Westerman rallied his forces once again and the Black Bears responded with an 8-0-1 record. The performance earned UMaine another Yankee Conference championship and set the standard for the program in terms of winning percentage (.944). It has never been matched.

 

The 1961 and 1951 squads remain the only undefeated football teams in Black Bears history.

 

The '61 UMaine team exhibited an uncanny ability to persevere in close contests, going 5-0-1 in games decided by five points or less. The only thing that stood in the way of a perfect season was a 15-15 tie in a State Series game against Bates.

 

"We were better on defense than we were on offense," said Don Harnum of Brewer, a two-way end for UMaine. "We didn't have any big-scoring games."

 

The Black Bears defeated the Army "B" squad 21-6 and also beat Rhode Island (22-20), Vermont (34-14), New Hampshire (7-6), Connecticut (2-0), Colby (14-0), Bowdoin (13-8) and Massachusetts (10-7).

 

The victory over UConn was a nail-biter as the Huskies were driving down the field late in the fourth quarter.

 

"They were running over the top of us and they get to the 4-yard line and they go to kick a field goal," Abbott said. "Dick Kinney comes in and blocks the field goal."

 

The title game against the Minutemen was a contest originally scheduled as the season opener, but was postponed because of an outbreak of the flu at UMass. It was the first Yankee Conference title contest played at Alumni Field in Orono. 

 

The game was played on Wednesday, Nov. 23, the day before Thanksgiving, and featured poor weather and field conditions. Roger Boucher's 27-yard field goal, the first of his varsity career, only 90 seconds into the second half, provided the Black Bears with their eventual margin of victory.

 

"It was muddy, rainy, cold day," said Walt Abbott, an assistant coach that year who went on to serve as UMaine's head coach from 1967-75. "There weren't many people in the stands."

 

The '61 squad featured the program's best passer to date, senior Manch Wheeler. The quarterback, who threw for 715 yards and eight touchdowns that year, still ranks 19th on UMaine's career passing list with 1,475 yards.

 

Co-captains Dick Kinney (10 receptions, 171 yards) and Dave Cloutier (7 rec., 161 yds.) were the top pass catchers.

 

"We probably only threw the ball six or eight times a game, and half of those were screen passes," said Harnum, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the squad.
 

On the ground, the line opened up holes for a balanced stable of backs led by Dale Curry (291 yards), Cloutier (230), Wheeler (221), Walt Beaulieu (189) and Earle "Pete" Cooper (152). Cloutier led the team, scoring seven touchdowns.

 

"Cloutier was one of the best athletes to play at Maine," Abbott said.

 

Joel Densmore and Wheeler handled the punting chores.

 

Wheeler also helped lead the defensive backfield, nabbing a team-high four interceptions, while Curry had two.

 

The Black Bears' All-Yankee Conference honorees included first-team choices Kinney, Cloutier, Wheeler and Phil Soule.

 

All-Maine picks included Wheeler, Cloutier, Kinney, Curry, Ed Reidman, Alton "Bump" Hadley.

 

UMaine's domination in the Yankee Conference also helped it finish fourth in the voting for the Lambert Trophy, which was awarded to the best small-college football team in the East. 

 

Other members of the '61 squad were: Henry Richards, Bob Laberge, Tom Patrick, Frank Tarazewich, Tom Brown, Ed Kiley, Walt Beaulieu, Dave Lippard, Ray Caldwell, Ted Rose, John Dudley, Phil Jones, Ed Reidman, Don Derrah, Bob MacLeod, Dave Crabtree, Keith Willard, Harry Simmons, Tom Paiement, Ray Sawyer, James Van Valkenberg, Bill Brown, Wes Jordan, Norris Nickerson, Bill Chard, Ed Rancourt, Bob Tyler, Dave Brown, Tom Austin, Brian Smalley, Scott Robinson, Pierre Labat, Jim Rudbeck, John Roberts, Pat Reidman, Jack Brown, Leon Worthley, Roger Sawyer, Pete Stanzilis, Dale Hanson, Art Mosher, Jim Houle, Don Harnum and Leon Harriman.

 

Cloutier, who was inducted into the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame in 1993, played for the Boston Patriots of the American Football League in 1962. Wheeler, who played with the Buffalo Bills, also in 1962, was a 1989 Hall of Fame inductee.

 

Caldwell went on to become a standout coach at Mt. Blue High School in Farmington and Cooper was the longtime head man at Lawrence High in Fairfield. Wes Jordan became the head athletic trainer at UMaine, while Tom Austin was a fixture as the football coach at Colby College in Waterville and later at Fryeburg Academy.

 

Westerman's staff in 1961 included future head coach and UMaine Sports Hall of Famer Abbott, Hall of Famers Jack Butterfield and Woody Carville, and David Rand.

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The 2023 UMaine Sports Hall of Fame class will be officially inducted at a banquet held at Jeff's Catering on Friday, Sept. 29. For more details on this year's class, please click here.
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