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The Last One Out of Town Turn Out the Lights: The Epic 1975 Foxcroft Academy Basketball Season
The Last One Out Of Town Turn Out The Lights tells the inspiring untold story of how a soul-crushing school district consolidation changes the fate and fortunes of two rural Maine high schools. That controversial school merger allows Foxcroft Academy to finally establish a winning basketball team and claim its one and only Gold Ball, the trophy of the Maine High School Basketball Championship. Bitter feelings and personal struggles are revealed, as are stories of admiration and light-hearted moments. Through a turbulent time in America, this book examines the impact of a winning high-school basketball team on two rival schools and their towns.
The book marks the 50th anniversary season of Foxcroft Academy's lone state basketball championship in the school's 200-year history. It weaves unpopular decisions to cut popular players from the team, fights with hated rivals, and a phantom foul that should never have been called and that lead to the kind of championship season that all small towns, coaches, players, and fans across the country covet, embrace, and treasure for a lifetime.
The book marks the 50th anniversary season of Foxcroft Academy's lone state basketball championship in the school's 200-year history. It weaves unpopular decisions to cut popular players from the team, fights with hated rivals, and a phantom foul that should never have been called and that lead to the kind of championship season that all small towns, coaches, players, and fans across the country covet, embrace, and treasure for a lifetime.
296 pages, Paperback
Published February 18, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 31, 2025
When a basketball fan thinks of areas where high school basketball is big, Maine won’t be the first thing on their mind. Indiana will certainly come to mind, and maybe Kentucky and Maryland, but certainly not Maine. However, in 1975, a school in rural Maine captivated the town and the state with their improbable run to the state championship. The story of the Foxwood Academy basketball championship team of that year is told in this book by David Albee, a graduate of the school.
This came at a time when there were school closures and consolidations were common in rural Maine. A good section of the book begins with this backdrop. Foxwood Academy, located in Dover-Foxwood was consolidated with Monson which led to much grief, especially in the latter town. Monson was very good in basketball at the time of the consolidation, which added another layer of issues many had with the merger. While reading this part of the book, I was wondering what this had to do with the story, but as it turned out, Albee was right to include this history in the book as it was important to the story of Foxwood’s success on the court later in the decade.
The biggest factor (literally) in the rise of Foxwood basketball was a 6’ 8” player named Kevin Nelson. He came over from the Monson school district while younger and grew into one of the better players in the state. His story is told well by Albee as is that of the Foxwood coach Skip Hanson. In fact, many of the players, parents and others who were important to the success of the Ponies are portrayed well in the book.
The basketball action, not only for the championship season where the Ponies went undefeated, but for the seasons in which Monson was a powerhouse for smaller schools as well as the rise of Foxwood Academy is described quite well. A reader will not only feel the action on the court, but the excitement in the stands and in the band as well. They are just as important to the story as the players.
Overall, this was a very good account of a rural school and community coming together after a rough transition period. The story of the Foxwood Academy basketball team is one that high school basketball fans will want to read.
I wish to thank Globe Pequot Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
This came at a time when there were school closures and consolidations were common in rural Maine. A good section of the book begins with this backdrop. Foxwood Academy, located in Dover-Foxwood was consolidated with Monson which led to much grief, especially in the latter town. Monson was very good in basketball at the time of the consolidation, which added another layer of issues many had with the merger. While reading this part of the book, I was wondering what this had to do with the story, but as it turned out, Albee was right to include this history in the book as it was important to the story of Foxwood’s success on the court later in the decade.
The biggest factor (literally) in the rise of Foxwood basketball was a 6’ 8” player named Kevin Nelson. He came over from the Monson school district while younger and grew into one of the better players in the state. His story is told well by Albee as is that of the Foxwood coach Skip Hanson. In fact, many of the players, parents and others who were important to the success of the Ponies are portrayed well in the book.
The basketball action, not only for the championship season where the Ponies went undefeated, but for the seasons in which Monson was a powerhouse for smaller schools as well as the rise of Foxwood Academy is described quite well. A reader will not only feel the action on the court, but the excitement in the stands and in the band as well. They are just as important to the story as the players.
Overall, this was a very good account of a rural school and community coming together after a rough transition period. The story of the Foxwood Academy basketball team is one that high school basketball fans will want to read.
I wish to thank Globe Pequot Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
September 2, 2025
I was interested in the material. Growing up in that era I remembered the name Kevin Nelson
Even as a young boy I remember hearing his name on the mentioned George Hale broadcast.
So many touchstones of memory. George Hale, Steve Martin, Skip Chapelle.
On material and personal interest to me this book scores very high.
I respect the writers enthusiasm for the material. And I realize this book has a small subject matter population of interest. That said when I read that Albert was a longtime sportswriter that had covered many national events I expected better writing.
The list of old homilies and comparisons were after the tenth one in each chapter painful and trite. It is possible to describe a small town event without writing down to the audience.
I have so many good things to say about the effort and material here and I recognize this as a labor of love for the author. I don’t like to pan someone’s effort, especially in a case like this.
Still there are some clunkers here, repeatedly. Also some timeline errors that a writer or editor should have picked up on. Kevin Nelson who by every known account was a fine young man and became a fine gentleman gave a quote imagining his 74:75 team as the players from Bill Walton’s Portland Trail Blazers. The quote is written as how he felt “then” as opposed to how he feels now in remembrance. The problem is the players he mentions were, with the exception of Walton not on that team in 74/75. He was describing the championship team of a few years later. He could not have compared his team to those players at that time. Maybe later in his memory but this is not how it reads.
This is not Nelson’s fault. We all have memories drift over the years and certainly the decades. A good writer, editor, fact checker would have clarified this memory.
It’s a small book from a small local press and it, for me, brought good memories. I just hate to see the main subject of a book not protected in an easily correctable mistake of either memory or wording.
Here is something that boggles. In the 1974 tournament the Augusta Civic Center Orono and Camden teams played in the Class B State Game. In front of over 6000 fans.
It is truly a world gone by. I go to the ACC for games each spring. Crowds of a quarter of that for the very largest schools would be an accomplishment
Even as a young boy I remember hearing his name on the mentioned George Hale broadcast.
So many touchstones of memory. George Hale, Steve Martin, Skip Chapelle.
On material and personal interest to me this book scores very high.
I respect the writers enthusiasm for the material. And I realize this book has a small subject matter population of interest. That said when I read that Albert was a longtime sportswriter that had covered many national events I expected better writing.
The list of old homilies and comparisons were after the tenth one in each chapter painful and trite. It is possible to describe a small town event without writing down to the audience.
I have so many good things to say about the effort and material here and I recognize this as a labor of love for the author. I don’t like to pan someone’s effort, especially in a case like this.
Still there are some clunkers here, repeatedly. Also some timeline errors that a writer or editor should have picked up on. Kevin Nelson who by every known account was a fine young man and became a fine gentleman gave a quote imagining his 74:75 team as the players from Bill Walton’s Portland Trail Blazers. The quote is written as how he felt “then” as opposed to how he feels now in remembrance. The problem is the players he mentions were, with the exception of Walton not on that team in 74/75. He was describing the championship team of a few years later. He could not have compared his team to those players at that time. Maybe later in his memory but this is not how it reads.
This is not Nelson’s fault. We all have memories drift over the years and certainly the decades. A good writer, editor, fact checker would have clarified this memory.
It’s a small book from a small local press and it, for me, brought good memories. I just hate to see the main subject of a book not protected in an easily correctable mistake of either memory or wording.
Here is something that boggles. In the 1974 tournament the Augusta Civic Center Orono and Camden teams played in the Class B State Game. In front of over 6000 fans.
It is truly a world gone by. I go to the ACC for games each spring. Crowds of a quarter of that for the very largest schools would be an accomplishment
June 17, 2025
I bought this book from a bookstore in Bar Harbor Maine. I wanted to read something that told a story about something in that area, and this book was all that and more.
This book is so well researched, and you can tell how much the author enjoyed writing it.
This book is so well researched, and you can tell how much the author enjoyed writing it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews