Of the 21 men and two women who make up the third class of the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame, some started dribbling soon after they could walk. Others followed fathers onto the hardwood.

For John Jordan, it all started with a neighbor about to dispose of an outdoor hoop before asking Jordan if he wanted it.

“I was real little,” said Jordan, now 60. “I said, ‘Sure.’ We had it put up in the driveway.”

The Jordans’ driveway in the Falmouth neighborhood that connects by causeway to Mackworth Island turned out to be ideal for a basketball court.

“So I used to get to play with the older kids,” Jordan said, “because if they wanted to use our court, I had to play. I had to be 10, 11, 12 but I got to play with the high school kids because I had the nicest court in the neighborhood.”

Jordan went on to star for Falmouth High, helped Maine Central Institute win a New England title, and led the University of Southern Maine to a four-year record of 81-28. He set scoring (2,039 points) and rebounding (1,504) records at USM that still stand, and his career assists (420) and steals (192) totals remain among school leaders.

On a rainy Wednesday inside Cheverus High, Jordan shook hands and swapped stories with eight other members of the class of 2016, scheduled for induction Aug. 21 at Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, home to a permanent Hall of Fame exhibit.

One such contemporary was a fellow 6-foot-8 center, Charlie Wootton of Rockport, who led Camden-Rockport High to the 1974 Class B state title and a 45-1 record his final two seasons before continuing his career at Bentley College.

“We never got to play against each other, but you’re famous!” Jordan told Wootton. “Are you kidding me? You guys were unstoppable. You really were famous.”

Both big men wound up in finance, Jordan with a mortgage company in Portland and Wootton, 59, in commercial banking in Rockport. Both spoke of lessons they learned from basketball.

“It teaches you discipline, it teaches you teamwork,” said Wootton, noting that such traits are critical to lifelong success. “I think that’s what team sports, and certainly this game, gave to me.”

“Basketball brought me out of my shell,” Jordan said. “I was very, very shy. Through basketball I got to meet a lot of people and go out there in front of a lot of people, and learn not to be afraid.”

The Philadelphia 76ers selected Wootton in a supplemental draft after he finished college and asked him to work on his game in Europe for a few years. He declined, and became an assistant at the University of Maine in Farmington for Len MacPhee, another class of 2016 inductee.

“This is really special,” said MacPhee, 75, who won state titles as a player with Cape Elizabeth in 1956 and South Portland (after transferring) in 1958, and coached for three decades at Farmington, leading the men’s program for 24 years and the women’s program for seven. “These are people I coached against. Some of these players were nightmares to me (as opposing players). Some of them helped me coach. I.J. (Pinkham, the Boothbay Region coach with more than 600 victories) played for me. Such a fun fraternity of basketball people.”

Joe DeRoche, 50, led Westbrook High to the 1984 Class A state title under Coach Art Dyer and went on to set a Thomas College scoring record of 2,218 points under Coach Dave Meader. DeRoche, who still lives in Westbrook and works as an information technology analyst for L.L. Bean, attended the 2015 Hall of Fame ceremony that included Dyer and Meader.

“I was pretty lucky to play for two people that were inducted last year,” DeRoche said. “It’s quite an honor to be part of the history of Maine basketball. It really is.”

The Hall also will honor two teams. The 1995 Cony High girls went 22-0 and won the first of two straight Class A state titles. The 1947 Patten Academy boys – nine of the school’s total male enrollment of 27 – won the Class B state title and knocked off Boston Latin 35-32 in Boston Garden for a mythical New England Class B title.

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