Plenty has changed in the 41 years Keith Weatherbie has worked at Cape Elizabeth High School, the past 21 as the school’s athletic administrator.

Girls especially, but boys too, have far more options on the playing fields. Athletic boosters have become an integral to high school athletics. Year-round club and travel teams have gained popularity, though not necessarily for the best.

But Weatherbie, who is set to retire at the end of the school year, said one thing has hardly changed a bit.

“There is very little change in the kids as far as there interest in playing, their wanting to win, wanting to have fun,” Weatherbie, 63, said. “I can’t say there’s any change in that.”

That is why the experience of teaching and working in athletics at Cape has been “thoroughly enjoyable” for Weatherbie for over four decades.

A 1963 grad of Cape Elizabeth High School, Weatherbie went on to play four years of varsity baseball and basketball at the University of Maine at Portland (now known as the University of Southern Maine). His senior year, he captained both teams. In 1993, he was inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame.

After a student teaching stint at Portland High School, Weatherbie, a math major in college, accepted a job at Cape.

“My first year teaching, I never worked so hard in my life. I taught two classes of world history, taught two classes of biology and I taught one class of chemistry,” Weatherbie said.

Over the years, he’s also taught math and physics. During his first 10 years as athletic administrator, he taught two sections of physics as well. He’s also coached everything from middle school basketball to freshman baseball to varsity track – a sport that has seen quite a transformation during his tenure.

“I had Joanie Benoit (now Samuelson) as a student of mine,” Weatherbie said. “When she started high school, the most they let girls run – they didn’t have cross country back then, she played field hockey – was half a mile. By the time she was a senior, they’d allow girls to run a mile.”

Weatherbie said Samuelson was an excellent biology student and “probably the fiercest competitor I ever saw.” And that was with limited opportunities for female athletes.

“One of the biggest changes has been the increase in activities for girls,” Weatherbie said. “We have added girls ice hockey, girls lacrosse, boys and girls Nordic skiing, boys and girls alpine skiing, and football for boys,” adding that girls volleyball is set to be added next year.

With the increase in athletic options for students has come the need for booster clubs to financially support them.

“When I first started 41 years ago, there was no such thing,” Weatherbie said. “The school funded the entire athletic program. We have 27 varsity sports here. And we wouldn’t have many of those activities if we didn’t have such active booster organizations.”

The willingness of the Cape Elizabeth community to support its athletic programs has been integral to the Capers’ consistent success across the athletic spectrum. By Weatherbie’s count, the school has won 85 state championships in “18 or 19 sports” during his time.

The addition of Hannaford Field, a turf, multi-use field that cost around $800,000, has helped the Cape football program become top-tier in only five years, thanks to the community.

“That field was completely privately funded,” Weatherbie said. “Having that there with the lights, the Friday night football, it’s huge. And it hasn’t hurt our soccer program either. It’s still a great soccer program.”

Weatherbie said there are several reasons for Cape’s athletic success, No. 1 being the commitment of the students

“At this school, we have a lot of kids who are internally driven to success,” he said.

“One of the things I very rarely talk about with my coaches is winning because I know they have that drive in them and the kids have that drive to succeed.”

A simple philosophy in hiring coaches has also helped.

“What I have tried to do is go out and hire the best coaches I can and then try and do whatever I can to aid them in their coaching so that they can basically concentrate on their coaching,” Weatherbie said. “It’s the coaches that make for a good, strong athletic program. We have good coaches and I’ve hired every single one of them.”

A third factor is the stability in the Cape athletic department. Weatherbie is the school’s second athletic administrator/director in 43 years.

“I can’t think of another place around that’s only had two athletic directors,” Weatherbie said. “I think that helps with the continuity of the program.”

Weatherbie has seen a couple of negative developments in high school athletics in recent years.

With travel and premier soccer teams, AAU basketball, club swim teams and other year-round athletic opportunities, he believes there may be too great a focus on a single sport.

“From a historical point of view, the kids who have gone on to excel in college, they were all three-sport athletes,” Weatherbie said. “We’ve had several boys who were drafted to play professional baseball. Every single one of them was a three-sport athlete. They all played soccer, they played basketball and they played baseball.”

Parents are also more involved than they once were.

“There has been a big change in the parents,” Weatherbie said. “The difference that I see now is that it’s like they are reliving their youth in their child’s athletic activities. Many might see it as a way for their child to go to college. For the vast majority, that isn’t going to happen.”

Weatherbie knows athletics are important in families – son David coaches track at Cape, daughter Donna is pool director and David’s win on the mound in the 1993 Western Maine championship baseball game is one of his fondest memories. Yet he also knows the high percentage of Cape students who do go on to college do so because of their academic achievement, not their athletic prowess.

“It is a community that does very well, not just in athletics,” Weatherbie said.

And he plans to remain a community fixture at athletic events even in retirement, though maybe not at the 200-plus he estimates he attends each year.

“I will enjoy watching the contests,” Weatherbie said. “I get very, very nervous at our games. I want us to do well. Maybe after I retire, I won’t be quite as nervous at our games.”

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