April 12, 1996

Release # S064 Contact: Adam Levin Sports Information Director Phone #: (207) 786-6411

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bates College Athletics to Honor Retiring Coaches

LEWISTON, Maine -- Though some of Bates College's most honored coaches have recently or will soon leave the ranks, they will not be forgotten.

In order to honor retiring men's tennis and squash coach George Wigton, former men's lacrosse and football coach Web Harrison, and former men's track and cross country coach Walter Slovenski, the Bates Department of Athletics will hold three special ceremonies in the spring to present each of them with the department's Professional Excellence Citations which recognizes them for "Outstanding service to Bates College, Bates students and the Bates athletics programs." Students, parents, colleagues, alumni and friends are invited to the ceremonies to acknowledge these gentlemen.

George Wigton, best known as Bates' racquets coach, has served as head coach for six different sports since he came to Bates in 1965, when he started out coaching men's basketball and soccer. He is the longest-serving coach in basketball history, coaching 20 years and compiling an overall record of 158-279.

In 1966, Wigton took over as men's tennis coach, the sport with which he is most associated at Bates. In his 26 years at the helm of the tennis team (he took four years off from the sport in the 1970s), Wigton compiled a 167-120 record, earned a NESCAC Championship in 1988, and produced two All-Americans, Buddy Schultz '81 and Paul Gastonguay '89. Wigton also has coached women's tennis and squash and is the only coach the men's squash team has had since its inception in 1988. Earlier this year, Wigton was inducted into the National Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Association (NISRA) Hall of Fame, only the 13th coach to be honored by the organization. Wigton, who will retire from coaching at the end of this spring season, will be honored at Bates on Saturday, May 4, at the State of Maine Tennis Tournament. The ceremony will take place at noon at the Bardwell Street Tennis Courts.

Web Harrison, a 1963 Bates graduate, returned to his alma mater in 1974 as an assistant football coach. Four years later, after a brief stint as women's track and field coach, he found himself as head coach of not only football, but men's lacrosse, a sport he began at Bates in 1978 and coached through spring 1995. During those 18 years, Harrison compiled a 124-113 record. He produced a winning team three years after starting the program at Bates and had four straight 10-win seasons from 1984 to 1987. After taking over the head football coach duties in 1978, Harrison led the Bobcats to their winningest season in 12 years and brought two Colby-Bates-Bowdoin (CBB) Conference titles in his first four seasons at the helm. He also produced the school's only football All-American, Larry DiGiammarino '82. Harrison left football in 1991 and stepped away from lacrosse in 1995 to take a position in the Bates College Development Office, where he is the director of the Parents Fund and Parents Association. Harrison will be honored Sunday, May 5, at the men's lacrosse alumni game at 1 p.m. on Garcelon Field.

Walt Slovenski came to Lewiston in 1952 as coach of the freshman football team. In 1959, he took the position he would hold for the next 36 years, coach of men's cross country and track and field. In that time, he compiled more than 700 wins, won more than 20 State of Maine championships and produced 26 All-Americans. Slovenski has been inducted into the Clearfield County (Pa.), Indiana (Pa.) and Lewiston-Auburn Sports halls of fame. An outstanding athlete in his own right, Slovenski placed sixth in the hammer throw at the World Veterans Track and Field championships in the 65-69 age group in 1989. His son Peter is the women's track and cross country coach at Bowdoin College, while his son Paul, who holds the Bates pole-vault record, is an assistant men's track and cross country at MIT. Slovenski will be honored Friday, June 14, at the Colonial Hilton and Resort in Wakefield, Mass. The ceremony will take place at 8:30 p.m. in the Colonial Ballroom.

For more information about the retirement ceremonies honoring these three Bates College coaches, contact Asisstant Athletics Director Dana Mulholland at (207) 786-6351.

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