Page 14 - The Bell Tower - Winter/Spring 2014

Athletic Hall of Fame
BRUCE HANKEN (’72) was a four- year starter for the UMFK’s men’s basket- ball team from 1968-1972. Bruce is the second-highest scorer in the University’s history with 1,751 points – all scored prior to the inception of the three-point shot. Bruce was named to the All-Conference team all four years, and was named to the All-Maine Small College team for three years. Bruce worked closely with legend- ary UMFK coach, Lowell “Ozzie” Osgood (HOF’08), and the UMFK Athletic Council for four years.
After graduating from UMFK with a Bachelor of Science in Education, Bruce embarked upon a 37-year teaching and coaching career on the high school level. He went on to achieve 192 wins as a head coach at Southern Aroostook High School (Dyer Brook, Maine) and at Sacopee Valley High School (Hiram, Maine) basketball pro- grams, combined, coaching both boys and girls teams.
After four years at Southern Aroostook High School, Bruce, a graduate of Deering High School in Portland, Maine, returned to the southern part of the state. He and his wife, Carol, have lived in South Hiram for more than 35 years. Their three children all played basketball, as well. When he’s not coaching, Bruce enjoys reading, gardening, going to Walt Disney World, and being with his family.
Bruce was recognized, along with the other members of the UMFK basketball 1,000-point club, during festivities held at the 2013 Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
JAMES McCLOSKEY (’87)
attended UMFK 1983 to 1987, earn-
ing a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. He captained the 1985-1988 UMFK men’s basketball team, was named the team’s Most Valuable Player from 1984 to 1986, and earned accolades as the top rebounder in District 5 and the state of Maine. The Penobscot Valley High School (Howland, Maine) graduate helped lead
his UMFK team to a Northeast College Conference championship in 1987, and was a two-time NCC first team selection. He amassed more than 1,000 career points and grabbed 1,000 rebounds during his UMFK career. During his junior and senior years, Jim earned all-state and District 5 all- conference honors. Jim also was a four- year veteran and a two-time captain of UMFK’s men’s soccer team. He started every game in goal for the Bengals during his four years on the squad.
Jim is a special education teacher
at Mattanawcook Junior High School in Lincoln, Maine, where he coaches the girls’ basketball team, which is undefeated during the past three seasons. Jim has coached girls and boys basketball for 13 years, and girls soccer for five years.
When not teaching or coaching, Jim can be found gardening or fly fishing at one of his favorite fishing holes. Jim is known for generosity and his special gift of teaching both on-and-off the court. He resides in West Enfield, Maine with his wife, Mary. Jim has two grown children: a son, Joseph, and a daughter, Casey.
DONATAS “DONNY” SUMYLA (’07)
led his UMFK men’s soccer teams to two Sunrise Conference championships, two National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Region X championships, and four Potato Barrel championships over cross- county rival, UMPI. Donny was named to the Sunrise Conference’s first team three times; and held the distinction of being named both the Sunrise Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year (2004) and Defensive Player of the Year (2006) during his four-year career at UMFK.
In addition to being an accomplished player on the soccer field, Donny excelled
in the classroom, graduating in 2007 with
a double major in Business Management
and E-Commerce. He twice was named an Academic All-American by the NAIA. Donny’s career at UMFK was capped off with the honor of being named UMFK’s Male Athlete of the Year in 2007.
Active on campus, as well as on the soc- cer field, Donny served as the UMFK Student Senate President during the 2006/2007 aca- demic year.
Following his graduation from UMFK, Donny moved to Boston, where he spent a year working in the travel industry. He later embarked on a backpacking trip to Central America, and also spent half-a-year living in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Now back in his homeland of Lithuania, Donny is employed by Swedbank’s IT depart- ment as the Head of User Support Lithuania, where he manages a team of 12. Donny reports that he has been happily married since June 2013.
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