David Albee

Dave Albee, a 1972 graduate of Foxcroft Academy voted “Most School Spirted” as a senior in the school yearbook, was an award-winning sportswriter and sports columnist for 35 years at five newspapers in four states from Maine to California. His first big break came while he was an attentive clerk at an A&P grocery store in his native town of Dover-Foxcroft, Maine trying to pay off his college debt. One day in 1973 while working at the A&P, Dave was bagging groceries for the sports editor of the local weekly newspaper, the Piscataquis Observer, when he asked her if she was planning to cover Foxcroft Academy’s big season-opening basketball game at Orono High School that coming Saturday night. When she said “no” and admitted she knew little about basketball, Dave on a whim and on the spot volunteered to cover the game for her. Dave drove to the game, wrote a game story longhand on Sunday, submitted it to the Observer on Monday and on Tuesday received a phone call from its editor/publisher offering him a full-time job. That launched Dave’s long newspaper career which included freelance assignments with USA Today/Gannett News Service and The Sporting News and covering multiple Super Bowls, World Series, NBA and NHL playoff games, World Cup soccer, NCAA football bowl games, and NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournament games. Dave, now residing in Petaluma, CA, is an honorary member of the Baseball Writers Association of America, who has voted on player induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame and on selection for college football’s Heisman Trophy. Despite covering some of the world’s biggest sporting events, teams, and players during the past five decades, it is Foxcroft’s first and only state basketball championship season that Dave covered for his hometown Observer in 1974-75 that served as the inspiration for his book — “The Last One Out Of Town Turn Out The Lights.” That one season is deeply personal to Dave compared to all the college and professional sports seasons he has experienced. Dave was born and raised in Dover-Foxcroft and competed in football, basketball, and baseball at Foxcroft Academy. The bit of serendipity at the local grocery store provided him the opportunity to witness and now write about the 1975 state championship season on its 50th anniversary.