When Brad Smith got a call from a former colleague informing him he had been inducted into Bridgton Academy’s Hall of Fame, he thought it was a joke.
“When I was there, we used to play jokes on each other, so I thought this was a joke,” the North Yarmouth resident said.
Smith Contributed
Even when he realized his friend was serious, he still thought, “This is unbelievable.”
Smith, the former baseball coach at Gray-New Gloucester High School, was one of eight new members inducted into Bridgton Academy’s Hall of Fame in October. During his 20-year tenure at the academy that ended in 2019 he served as the athletic director, head baseball coach, assistant football coach, English teacher and assistant head of school.
His time at the post-graduate prep school often didn’t feel like work, he said.
“I worked with a bunch of people who, like me, just loved working there,” he said. “It was easy to be motivated when you’re working with other people who are also motivated toward the same goals.”
As head baseball coach, Smith’s Wolverines claimed 145 victories in his 10 seasons. He spent one year as assistant football coach.
Coaches and teachers from his school days inspired him to pursue education and athletics as a career.
“I never once regretted that decision,” he said.
“Brad laid the groundwork for a robust, successful athletics program at Bridgton, which our student athletes continue to benefit from until this day. We are grateful for his service to the Academy and the profound impact it continues to make,” said Head of School Martin Mooney.
Smith said one of the unique challenges to coaching at Bridgton was the turnover rate, with the student body rotating out after each yearlong fifth-year program. However, he could often use that to his advantage.
“It gave me an opportunity to reassess what I was doing in the classroom and on the athletic field, what worked and didn’t work,” he said.
Gray-New Gloucester baseball coach Brad Smith, left, watches Nick McCann makes a break for home during a 2016 baseball game. Adam Birt / Lakes Region Weekly
He joked, “I used to tell kids, ‘Oh, we’ve been doing this for years,’ when really I thought of it the other day.”
He was on the committee that discussed creating the school’s Hall of Fame to honor the achievements of those who have attained prominence professionally, athletically or through service to their communities.
“Little did I know, 10 or 12 years down the line, I would be a member of it,” he said. “It’s very flattering and I’m very humbled.”
After his time at Bridgton, Smith was an assistant principal at Leavitt Area High School in Turner and went on to coach baseball at Gray-New Gloucester for eight years.
“I wanted to reach a goal of winning over 400 baseball games, which doesn’t happen to a lot of people, and I did,” he said.
In 2019, with 412 career victories under his belt, Smith made the decision to retire from coaching.
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