ORONO, Maine -- Kevin Reed was upset when his father, a pastor, moved the family from their home in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Cape Cod to start a new church.
Reed was 16 and the move meant leaving his friends behind. In hindsight, he marvels at the opportunities and good fortune that were sparked by the relocation.
"Not only do I give my father credit for being obedient to the call in his life, but I think that God had bigger plans for me than I even knew at the time," Reed said.
Those plans included stops at Dennis-Yarmouth High School, St. Thomas More School in Connecticut and the University of Maine, where Reed's basketball prowess has earned him a coveted spot in the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame.
The tenacious 6-foot-2 guard claimed three America East All-Conference honors while in Orono, one of only two Black Bears to achieve the feat. He ranks fifth on the career scoring list (1,601 points).
Reed, who twice led the team in scoring, is No. 3 all time at UMaine with 225 steals and is eighth among all rebounders with 732. He twice led the conference in steals.
"He was a complete person. He was a complete player," said former UMaine head coach Ted Woodward. "A lot of people are going to remember the jump shooting part, which he was great at, but he was very versatile."
Dennis-Yarmouth coach Al Laboranti had attended St. Thomas More, where he had connections. It's where Reed caught the eye of then-UMaine head coach John Giannini and assistant Woodward.
One of those games, at Bridgton Academy, was especially memorable. Reed poured in 36 points and hit a game-winning, 3-pointer at the buzzer.
"I just happened to have some of my best games in the state of Maine while they were watching," said Reed, who didn't take his chance to play Division I scholarship basketball for granted.
Two Division II coaches had proclaimed that he wasn't good enough to play for them and a teammate told Reed he wouldn't make it through college.
"I think that was one of the things that drove me to wake up at 5:30 in the morning at prep school with my friend Melvin Knight and go to the gym when everyone else was sleeping, just to prove people wrong," Reed said.
Reed burst onto the scene at UMaine by claiming a spot on the AE All-Rookie Team in 2003, when he led the league in 3-point shooting (.405). He went on to set school records in 3-pointers made (311) and attempted (834) and his 119 career games played are No. 1 in program history.
"When we first got the shooting machine at the University of Maine, I would take 1,000 shots a day, six days a week," Reed said.
"I wasn't the tallest, the strongest, the fastest, but I was just trying to make the most out of the gifts that I have been given," he added.
Reed, praising fellow guards like Eric Dobson, Chris Markwood and Jon Sheets with being willing passers, worked tirelessly to reward the coaches' belief in him. He attributes his resolve and mental toughness in part to being the youngest of Ken and Katie Reed's five children.
"I had the most wonderful siblings a guy could ever ask for," he said. "They made life fun and interesting."Â
Reed exhibited tremendous maturity and leadership at UMaine, which gained him the respect of everyone in the program.
"He had so many things from a character standpoint — how hard he played, how competitive he was, how much of a leader he was — that really trickled down to all of his teammates," Woodward said.
The next blessing in the two-year captain's life was meeting Houlton native Hannah Socoby. They were married during his sophomore year.
"Being married as a student-athlete really allowed me to leave basketball where it belonged, which is on the court, and to have an identity outside of basketball," Reed said. "I found that identity through my faith and my relationship with my wife."
Hannah was an outstanding player in her own right, which meant they also could talk basketball. Her brother Mark joined his brother-in-law on the team in 2006.
Reed played professionally in Europe before returning to Maine. He served as the athletic director and boys basketball coach at Bangor Christian School prior to a three-year stint an assistant coach at UMaine (2018-21).
But Reed is back where he believes he belongs, working as the campus pastor and a Bible teacher at Bangor Christian. He and Hannah, who coach the girls basketball team, have three children: sons Jalen, 18 (a UMaine freshman) and Rajon, 15, and daughter Jordyn, 11.
"As a man of faith, I believe that everything happens for a reason, and there are no accidents at the end of the day," Reed said. "So I'm enjoying my role."
The 2024 UMaine Sports Hall of Fame class will be officially inducted at a banquet held at Jeff's Catering on Friday, Oct. 4. For more details on this year's induction class, please click here.
