The West squad lines up for the National Anthem at the start of the 2017 Lobster Bowl at Thornton Academy in Saco. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer)

For several years, two key groups looked across Maine’s western border with a bit of envy at the annual high school football all-star game between New Hampshire and Vermont that had been played since 1954.

Maine’s football coaches wished they had a similar all-star game for their just-graduated seniors.

More importantly, key members of the two Shrine Temples in Maine felt similarly. Across the country, there were several Shrine All-Star football games that promoted the service of Masonry and raised significant funds for the Shriners’ Hospitals for Children (now called Shriners Children’s).

Dave Libby, the potentate of the Kora Shrine in Lewiston, talked to several members and said it was time for Maine to have its own all-star football game, recalls Rick Olfene, a football official who had grown up in Auburn. Along with Olfene, several other Shriners were recruited to be part of the original organizing committee.

Olfene and Barry Richardson, who had starred at Edward Little High and played college football at Princeton, were part of that group. So, too, were George “Buster” Downing of Minot and Frank Preble. Those four men are believed to be the only living members from the original group that would found what has become a Maine summer sporting tradition, the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic.

The 36th game will be played at 4 p.m. Saturday at Don Rioux Field in Lewiston. Since the inaugural game in 1990, the all-star contest has donated over $1 million.

That far exceeds what Olfene thought was possible when he took part in initial planning meetings at the old Silent Woman restaurant in Waterville.

“I’m elated and pleasantly surprised that it’s lasted 36 years,” said Olfene, now living in Scarborough. “I never thought it would go that long.”

WOULD THE GAME LAST?

Olfene, 75, said the first three games were critical. In 1990, the organizers had to convince the leadership of the Lewiston-based Kora Shrine to provide $10,000 in seed money. The Anah Shrine of Bangor contributed the same.

They had to work out everything from scratch. Richardson chose the primary Red vs. Blue colors based on his old Edward Little vs. Lewiston rivalry. Lore indicates the lobster logo, still used today and possibly drawn by a UPS driver who knew Downing, actually came before the Lobster Bowl name was decided. A venue had to be found. Training sites (10 days at two sites that first year) were needed, along with plans for parking, game-day programs and hiring officials. The list was endless.

“That first year, it cost me like $125,000 to stage the game,” said Richardson, who was the Lobster Bowl’s first athletic director.

And no one was certain it would draw a big crowd.

Based on reports, about 7,000 fans showed up at Hill Stadium in Saco on July 28, 1990, for the first game. Fitzpatrick Trophy winner Steve Knight of Marshwood scored the first touchdown on an 8-yard run, and the West won, 24-14.

Ticket proceeds, along with sponsorships from local businesses and a generous gift from the Thornton Academy boosters’ concessions stand, added up to a $6,000 profit after the temples were repaid.

Having the players (and now cheerleaders) also make a commitment to raise a minimum amount of money was years away. There was nothing saved for the following year’s game.

“We donated every cent, and the next year we started out at zero again,” Richardson said.

The second Lobster Bowl was played at the University of Maine. Attendance sagged. The Anah Temple opted out of the partnership. Richardson said one of the key founders, Everett Trask, who died in 2006, thought the game needed to take a one-year hiatus to get on stable financial ground. Richardson and others thought a pause would kill the game.

The game needed a home. Richardson knew it belonged at Waterhouse Field in Biddeford, then the mecca of high school football.

“My thinking at the time was, I don’t care if it’s the deluge of the century, having the game at Biddeford will draw people,” Richardson said. “Biddeford people will go to a football game.”

Jim Johnson of New Hampshire paints a football on Waterhouse Field in Biddeford in preparation for the Lobster Bowl Classic in 1999. Waterhouse Field was home to the game from 1992 to 2016. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)

The game would remain at Waterhouse until 2017, when it shifted to Thornton Academy because Waterhouse’s grandstands were deemed unsafe and the field was temporarily closed.

“The staff was so good for us. And (then Biddeford High athletic director) Donnie Wilson was just a prince for us,” Richardson said.

THE FIRST COACHES

The first two head coaches were Rod Wotton of Marshwood for the West and Pete Cooper of Lawrence for the East. Wotton’s 1989 Marshwood team had just moved up to Class A and went 12-0 in a championship season. Lawrence was the Eastern Class A champ in 1988 and had been to the Class B state final four straight seasons from 1983-86.

Rod Wotton of Marshwood was the West head coach for the first Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic in 1990. His staff included John Wolfgram and Mike Landry, adding credibility to the game. (File photo)

“We were fortunate, looking back, that we had Rod Wotton and Pete Cooper,” Olfene said. “We had two men that were very enthusiastic.”

Richardson said choosing Wotton and Cooper simply made sense.

“I went with at the time the deans of high school coaches, and they were both gentlemen. And they were both Class A at the time, and the first year I wanted to start with Class A coaches and then rotate through Class B and Class C,” Richardson said.

Wotton lived in Rochester, New Hampshire, and would have been well aware of the success of the New Hampshire vs. Vermont Maple Sugar Bowl.

In a 2009 Portland Press Herald story, Cooper said Maine’s high school coaches had long talked about having their own all-star game. They also thought that Vermont, which rarely was competitive, might pull out of the Maple Sugar Bowl and Maine would take its place.

“When that didn’t happen, we decided to have our own game. We needed a sponsor and the Shriners came through,” Cooper said.

Both head coaches put together a who’s who of Maine football coaches for their staff, adding a further layer of credibility to the game.

Cooper’s staff was his Lawrence assistant, Mike Mealey, and Ken Libbey of Mattanawcook Academy, Carl Rudman of Madison, Jim Walsh of Old Town, Frank Stoutamayer of Oxford Hills, Dan O’Connell of Brewer, Arthur Greenlaw of Stearns and Frank Knight of Waterville.

The West staff included John Wolfgram of South Portland, Mike Landry of Biddeford, Jim Hersom of Livermore Falls, Mike Bailey of Portland, John Trull of Old Orchard Beach, Dan Turner of Fryeburg Academy and Marshwood assistants Tom O’Malley and Butch Arthers.

Wotton joked in 2009 that he barely had to do any coaching because “I had eight assistants who did more work. … John Wolfgram ran the offense, Mike Landry handled the defense, and I just sat back.”

THE LEGACY CONTINUES

Current Lobster Bowl president Joe Hersom refers to Olfene, Richardson, Downing and Preble as the “four godfathers of the Lobster Bowl.”

Now the game is able to make annual donations in the $125,000 range, with significant fundraising by players and cheerleaders.

“They’ve got great guys running it now,” Richardson said.

Olfene said the Lobster Bowl serves multiple positive purposes, including promoting amateur football in Maine and being a vehicle to promote the charitable work of the masons and Shriners.

He said the interest level has been raised by the players themselves, who see through their fund-raising efforts that they’re able to help others who are less fortunate.

“And there’s also nothing wrong with a little pride, stepping on the field and showing your skills to the general public,” Olfene said.