WINTHROP — For 21 years, Dave Poulin coached the men’s basketball players at Winthrop High School. For 46 years he taught his students.

At no time during this time did he think he would get an honor like the one he got on Saturday afternoon.

Winthrop’s gym will now be called the David J. Poulin Gym, a tribute the school made official Saturday in a ceremony before the men’s basketball team game with Carrabec. Fans arriving at the match – which Winthrop won 61-48 – entered through doors under a sign bearing the gym’s new name, and after the ceremony the longtime coach called the honor “overwhelming”. .

“I’m almost in tears,” said Poulin, who was joined at the recognition ceremony by his wife, Lisa, son Mike and daughter Katie, as well as grandchildren Noah and Sophie. “It’s amazing, people here. I had students and their children as students, and maybe even got to the point where (I taught) grandchildren of students. … It just means a lot.

Poulin won back-to-back state championships in 1992 and 1993 and guided the Ramblers to seven Mountain Valley Conference championships, but said having his name inscribed on the team gymnasium came as a surprise.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “Not at all. … I didn’t see that in any way.

The ceremony featured a presentation from athletic director Joel Stoneton, who thanked Poulin for his contributions over nearly half a century of teaching, as well as his family for “sharing your father with us and your husband.”

At the ceremony, Stoneton asked everyone who played for Poulin or was taught by Poulin, who was the parent of one of his students or players, or who worked with him or knew him well in the community of get up. By the time Stoneton was done with his criteria, few of those present were still seated.

“That’s what I thought, Coach,” Stoneton said. “If you ever doubt the impact you had on these people, take that mental picture and live in it.”

Logan Baird scored 24 points and Matt Beck added 15 to beat Winthrop, who used a 17-0 run in the fourth quarter to erase a 42-39 deficit. Joel Gehrke scored 18 points and Luke Carey added 11 to lead the Cobras.

Poulin, who said he heard from several former players before the ceremony, said nothing afterward. He said that was the current plan.

“When all of this happened, I said ‘Joel, I’m not talking.’ That was months ago,” he said. “I was probably more nervous today than when the Colts were playing. I was really nervous. And I knew I wasn’t going to talk. It’s just one thing to coach and kind of be at the center of what’s going on, but it really isn’t. It was the center of everything.

Poulin’s best player, TJ Caouette, said last month that his coach deserved the honor.

“The impact he had, not just on the players, but on the individuals who came through the Winthrop system, he touched their whole lives, for the better,” he said. “Certainly when you think of the town of Winthrop and sports, I immediately think of Coach Poulin.”

Winthrop’s current coach, Todd MacArthur, was present at the ceremony and praised Poulin’s contributions as a teacher and his style as a coach.

This February 17, 1997 file photo shows Winthrop boys’ basketball coach Dave Poulin at the Augusta Civic Center. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

“(He was) incredibly passionate, and held children to very high standards and loved his children,” he said. “He was a demanding coach, and if you looked at him without knowing him, you would think he was tough. But he loved his kids and they were running through a brick wall for him.

Caouette said the demanding nature made Poulin the ideal man for the job.

“Everything in his life was Winthrop basketball,” Caouette said. “He is very demanding, but at the same time he developed all the boys, because he was also a teacher. … If you were to interview every player who has gone through all the decades, I think they would all echo the same thing.

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