If any man deserves the title, “Maine’s Mr. Football” it would be Howie Vandersea of Brunswick. Consider the evidence:

First of all, Howie was a fine football player. He played three sports (football, basketball, baseball) in high school in Whitinville, Massachusetts, and then went on to play football and baseball at Bates College. At Bates he played both offense (center) and defense (linebacker), and his talent earned him a tryout with the Chicago Bears in 1963, then coached by the famed George (“Papa Bear”) Halas. “We had double sessions every day,” Howie recalls, “and then they’d cut someone at the end of the day. I lasted three weeks, and it was a terrific experience.” Howie later played semipro ball for the Portland Sea Hawks.

Second, Howie was a most successful football coach. He began as an assistant coach at Cheverus High School in Portland and later at Long Branch High School in New Jersey. He then joined the college ranks, serving as an assistant coach at Boston University and Brown. He landed his first head coaching job at Springfield College in 1976 where he served until 1984. He closed out his coaching career with the Bowdoin Polar Bears from 1984-2000. Along the way, he coached many players who later became coaches themselves, including Harvard head coach Tim Murphy, Bates head coach Mark Harriman, Springfield head coach Mike DeLong, and many others.

Finally, Howie has been a leader in honoring Maine’s top high school scholar-athletes. He helped establish Maine’s chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 1987, and served as president for 25 years. He currently serves as head of the Northeast District of the organization. The Maine chapter awards twenty $2,500 scholarships every year to high school seniors who are top scholars as well as football players. Howie notes proudly that last years awardees included three valedictorians.

I asked Howie the obvious question, “What do people learn from playing football?,” and he had no trouble with the answers. “When you work together for three straight months, you have to learn to trust one another. You have to learn how to think on your feet and make decisions quickly. You have to learn to be on time and to organize your time. You have to learn how to prepare to do a job. You have to learn how to pick yourself up after a loss and move on. And you have to stay positive.”

Howie says that the lessons learned on the football field can be applied to life, especially to positions of leadership. “About 80 percent of the officers in World War II played football in school,” he notes.

In addition to being an avid student of history, Howie Vandersea is a film buff. He was a charter member of the John Ford Film Society. John Ford, a Cape Elizabeth native, directed several notable films, including “Stagecoach,” “The Grapes of Wrath” and “How Green was My Valley.” Howie even wrote the text for the statue of John Ford which is located in Portland.

Howie’s many awards for his contributions to the game of football include his induction into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. That said, this humble man derives the most satisfaction from seeing the players he’s coached go on to succeed in life. A few weeks ago, he went to Lewiston to see the Bates football team play Colby. After the game, he went down on the field to congratulate Mark Harriman, the Bates head coach who Howie had coached at Springfield. Mark then called all the Bates linebackers over because he wanted them to meet Howie, the man who had coached him. “That really meant a lot to me,” said Howie, “I even get tears in my eyes thinking about it.”

It takes a tough man to succeed in football. It takes a tender man to know what really matters in life. Howie Vandersea, Maine’s “Mr. Football,” qualifies on both counts.

NOTE: There are 100 yards on the football field and, as it happens, this is the 100th piece I’ve written for the “Just a Little Old” column. Thanks so much for reading.

David Treadwell, a Brunswick writer, welcomes commentary and suggestions for future “Just a

Little Old” columns at [email protected].