The King of Foxcroft Academy

If you've been following Maine high school basketball for the last 30 years, you've no doubt seen Toby Nelson. Whether it's promoting Foxcroft Academy, doing radio, or broadcasting as part of Maine Public's state championship coverage, Toby has done it all. He joins the podcast to talk about the 50th anniversary of Foxcroft's title, the legacy of Monson Academy, digging into video archives, and so much more.

Also: Rhys reviews *The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act*.

Show Notes

Toby Nelson has been broadcasting Maine high school sports for 30 years, including 20 years with Maine Public Television calling state championship games. He got his start at the Bangor Auditorium in 2007 — literally walking past the broadcast table, hearing a producer say someone had called out sick, and running home to grab a shirt and tie. The rest is history.

Beyond broadcasting, Toby is Foxcroft Academy's unofficial historian, spearheading the 50th anniversary celebration of the 1975 state championship — the school's only basketball gold ball. He tracked down the coach's original scorebook, game-by-game newspaper clippings, photos, and artifacts, then posted daily historical updates aligned to the exact anniversary dates of each game.

His deeper passion project: Monson Academy, the small-town school that closed in 1969 and sent its students to Foxcroft. In 1968, just one year before closing, Monson's eight-player squad won the Class S state championship. Toby found a reel-to-reel audio recording of the title game, digitized it at a radio station, and put it online — where it's since drawn hundreds of thousands of views. He also tracked down actual game footage through Northeast Historic Films in Bucksport.

Now he's planning a Monson Academy Slaters merchandise line — t-shirts, stickers, and more — with proceeds going toward a new roof on the Monson gymnasium, the last remaining piece of the old academy.

Links & Resources

• Northeast Historic Films: oldfilms.org
• Monson Academy Slaters Facebook Page
• Eastern Maine Sports: follow on Facebook/YouTube for live streams and coverage
• Last One Out of Town, Turn Out the Lights — Dave Albee's book on Foxcroft/Monson basketball history

Key Quotes

"The sport that means the most to the most people in Maine is basketball. It just is."

"For $10, you get your ticket, your popcorn, nachos, a bottle of Gatorade — that's pretty cheap entertainment for a night."

"You'd walk home and feel dirty afterwards — in a fun way. The atmosphere in the Bangor Auditorium made you feel that way."

"None of the players had ever seen [the footage]. I was happy to be able to share that."