Edward J. Packy McFarland, retired Scarborough High School teacher-coach where his 1963 nine rates as one of the state's strongest baseball teams ever, this year joins son Edward (Bo), 1989 inductee. in the Diamond shrine.
Also Scarborough basketball coach after previous stints at Freedom Academy and Gorham High, Packy was paid the ultimate town honor when the Scarborough Board of Education named the varsity baseball field McFarland Field in 1983 on his farewell to 35 years in education.
McFarland ranks among the state's most popular and respected figures in sports and academic circles.
Throughout his career as a caring mentor he's been noted for his strong positive influence on his young charges as much as for their signal achievements.
Packy was a sprightly outfielder at Cheverus High and Bowdoin College.
He enhanced his baseball knowledge greatly as a player and confidant of Bowdoin coach Neil Mahoney and the latter's successor, "Deacon Danny" MacFayden -- both of strong major league credentials.
McFarland was captain of Bowdoin's first varsity basketball team under Mahoney who, in a swap of expertise, made Packy a virtual player-coach (basketball wasn't in the Boston school system when Neil was a lad).
Further refinement of the McFarland diamond grasp came as Packy accompanied Neil on many scouting trips in behalf of the Red Sox with whom Mahoney was long affiliated.
But Packy's first coaching assignment came before he entered Bowdoin in the WWII era when he guided his Cheverus alma mater's team one season at age 22.
He played on the Freedom Town Team during his four-year tenure at the Academy.
in six years of coaching at Gorham and 15 at Scarborough, his teams won several Triple-C championships. In a brilliant stretch, 1962-64, his Scarborough Redskins compiled a 31-game winning streak (son Bo contributing mightily).
That ‘63 team would have been a state Class B title favorite but fell within the 1955-69 hiatus when there were no state tournaments.
Packy was also Scarborough athletic director 11 years and was the school’s first soccer coach.
He was named Maine high school baseball coach of the year in 1966, was Gorham's first Little League coach in 1952, was Scarborough's Libby-Mitchell American Legion Post athletic officer 15 years and was for several years a member of the state Legion Baseball Commission.
McFarland’s several honors included: Triple-C Class B title trophy named after him and the Western Maine Board of Approved Baseball Umpires’ citation in 1980 for his dedication to high school baseball.
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