Mahaney's name is identified with baseball in Maine as a longtime benefactor of the University. The field at Orono is named Mahaney Diamond and the Larry K. Mahaney Baseball Clubhouse was also dedicated in his honor.
"He has supported amateur baseball in every respect," said John Winkin (Maine Baseball Hall of Fame 1975) head coach of baseball at the University of Maine who will present Mahaney.
"That's the key. He helped amateur baseball to grow. I don’t know of anyone who has done more to help baseball in our immediate area’.
Mahaney's Interest in baseball is attributable in part to his friendship with the late Maine coach and New York Yankee executive Jack Butterfield -a friendship continued with Winkin.
Winkin contributes much time to clinics supported by Mahaney.
“These are for kids of all ages," Winkin said.
Mahaney Is a member of the Graduate “M” Club and is a recipient of the Black Bear Award from the University of Maine General Alumni Association. in 1988 he was awarded the Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Maine. In 1989 Mahaney received an honorary doctorate from Thomas College.
He has also been an active athletic participant, lettering for three years in both basketball and baseball at Fort Fairfield High School.
At Maine he lettered in basketball for three years and was team captain as a senior. After graduating in 1951 with a B.S. in Economics, Mahaney spent two years in the U.S. Air Force and in 1954 played basketball in the Edmundston, New Brunswick League. in 1955 he earned a Master's Degree in education administration at Maine.
From 1955 to 1962, Mahaney was a coach at Brewer High School, heading the varsity football and basketball programs. The football team was undefeated in 1957 and 1958. Over a three-year period, the Witches won 23 consecutive games.
His 1957 team was state champion and several of His players were named All-State. In Basketball, Brewer won the Eastern Maine State Championship in 1959-60 but lost to Lewiston 81-64.
From Boston News
http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2006/02/15/larry_mahaney_philanthropist_supported_college_baseball_76/
By Associated Press | February 15, 2006
BANGOR -- Larry Mahaney, a well-known Bangor businessman and philanthropist known for his support of college baseball programs in Maine, died in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sunday, four days after a stroke. He was 76.
The former board chairman and chief executive officer of Webber Energy Fuels had said his work on Aroostook County potato farms as a youth gave him the aspiration to achieve, while learning to play poker contributed to his success in business.
''I learned patience, learned to play the hand dealt to you," the Easton native told a gathering at the University of Maine at Presque Isle in 1999. ''I learned to bluff a little."
A standout athlete who played basketball while earning bachelor's and master's degrees at the university, Mr. Mahaney coached high school sports before becoming manager of Webber's heating oil division and director of advertising and public relations. At the time, he was married to Louise ''Jackie" Frost, granddaughter of one of the company's founders.
Mr. Mahaney became president of Webber Oil in 1969 and diversified the family-run company into other ventures.
Husson College baseball coach John Winkin, who formerly coached at Colby College and the University of Maine, said Mr. Mahaney took his ''coaching into business from a motivational, organizational, and competitive" standpoint.
''That's why he has been so successful. He was a coach competing in a business world," Winkin said.
Mr. Mahaney's support of baseball programs led to the development of the clubhouse at the University of Maine that bears his name.
There are also Mahaney Diamonds at the university and at St. Joseph's College in Windham, as well as a Larry K. Mahaney Gymnasium at Thomas College.
More recently, he supplied $1 million last fall for a lighted, 38,000-square-foot dome practice facility at the university that is now complete and also bears his name.
Mr. Mahaney was inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.
He leaves his sons, Lance of Palm Beach, Fla., and Kevin of Bangor and Greenwich, Conn.
MAHANEY DIAMOND, CLUBHOUSE, AND DOME
Mahaney Diamond is the home of the baseball Black Bears. It is named for its chief benefactor, the late Larry K. Mahaney ’51, whose extraordinary generosity over the years led to the creation of one of the best college facilities in the northeast, including a handsome club house with offices and locker rooms, grandstand, press box, and towering light towers that overlook the field.
Mr. Mahaney coached briefly at his alma mater and subsequently at Brewer High
School before entering the world of business. He became president and later chairman of the Board of the Webber Oil Company and founded the Erin Corporation which owns and manages Holiday Inns in several states, including Maine and Florida.
Mahaney Diamond measures 330 feet in left and right fields and 375 feet to dead center. The foul poles came from the Ballpark in Old Orchard Beach that at one time was home to a AAA minor league franchise. The outfield is surrounded by fencing and a cedar hedge. A large electronic scoreboard is adjacent to the left field fence. The playing surface has undergone renovations over the years under the supervision of Joe Mooney, head
groundskeeper of the Boston Red Sox. Recently the press box was enlarged and renovated thanks to a gift from Littlefield Construction of Hartland. A feature of the Mahaney Clubhouse is the Palmer Lounge, courtesy of the late Bill Palmer. Located just behind third base, the Clubhouse has an outside deck overlooking the field.
Mahaney Diamond has hosted many intercollegiate tournaments, including a number of NCAA Regionals which had average daily attendances of over 4,000, several America East championship events, ECAC tournaments, Maine high school tournament games, and American Legion games. The most recent gift from Larry and his son, Kevin, is the Mahaney Dome, located adjacent to the east wall of Memorial Gymnasium. With a state-of-the art field turf donated by UM football great John Huard, the Dome provides winter practice space for the football, soccer, baseball, field hockey, and softball teams as well as a number of recreation programs. It was constructed in late 2006 and immediately became one of the Athletic Department’s most popular facilities, in use virtually around the clock.
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