BRUNSWICK — Ray S. Bicknell, coach in the department of athletics emeritus at Bowdoin College, died Monday at the age of 93.
Coach Bicknell joined Bowdoin in 1962 after a distinguished 15-year high school career. He was head coach of men’s basketball at the College for 23 years and recorded more than 200 career wins. He was head coach of women’s soccer for seven years — for a time the ‘winningest’ team at Bowdoin — and he also was director of scheduling for the athletic department. He also coached tennis and lacrosse at the college for shorter periods. Bicknell retired in 1985.
Ray Bicknell was born on March 1, 1920, in Boston, but spent most of his early years in Leominster, Mass. He graduated from New Hampton (N.H.) Prep School and enrolled as an undergraduate at Springfield College, where he was captain of the basketball team and played football and lacrosse. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1947 and a master’s degree at Springfield in 1951.
When he came to Bowdoin in 1962, Bicknell took over a program that had not produced a winning season in 18 years. It took several years for him to turn that record around, but during his first season, he led the Polar Bear basketball team to the first state series title in Bowdoin’s history. Sportswriters hailed the club as a ‘Cinderella team’ and coach Bicknell was widely acclaimed for his leadership.
Two of his finest seasons came in 1967-68 and 1968-69, when his teams posted records of 15-6 and 16-5, which at that point were the best records in the college’s history. But perhaps his sweetest victory was his final career win in February 1985 when the Polar Bears upset the nationally-ranked Colby Mules. In 1968 he was named New England small college coach of the year and his team won the Eastern College Athletic Conference trophy as the outstanding small college team in the east.
Bicknell was named Maine Coach of the Year four times.
Some of Coach Bicknell’s greatest coaching success came during his years leading the women’s soccer teams. During the sevenyear period, his teams posted a 67-20-3 record.
In 2010, his name was added to the Bowdoin College Athletic Hall of Honor.
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