A legendary figure in the coaching annals of Bowdoin, Ray Bicknell
guided two storied programs in their infancy—men’s
basketball and women’s soccer—to phenomenal heights
during his twenty-three-year tenure at the College.
Already an accomplished coach by the time he arrived at Bowdoin,
Bicknell had served successful stints at Deering and Cape Elizabeth
High Schools and had also coached the Egyptian National Team, whose
bid to compete at the 1956 Olympics was canceled due to the
Israeli-Egyptian hostilities.
Prior to his arrival at Bowdoin in the fall of 1962, the
men’s basketball team had failed to post a winning campaign
in its twenty-one years of existence. Bicknell piloted the Polar
Bears to a State Series championship in that first winter of
1962–1963 and, just five years later, posted consecutive
State crowns in 1967–1968 (15-6) and 1968–1969 (16-5),
posting the program’s best-ever marks for wins in both
campaigns. The 1967–1968 squad was named as the ECAC Division
III Team of the Year and garnered Bicknell New England Coach of the
Year recognition. The four-time Maine Coach of the Year
finished his basketball coaching career with 202
victories—perhaps none sweeter than his upset of nationally
ranked Colby for his final career win on February 23, 1985.
Bicknell assumed coaching duties of the school’s new
women’s soccer program in 1977 and coolly guided them to a
6-1-0 record in their debut season. In his seven seasons at the
helm, the Polar Bears became the dominant team in small college
soccer in New England, capturing more than 76 percent of their
contests. Under Bicknell, the Polar Bears won 67 games and four
straight Northeastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Championships from 1981–1984, going undefeated against
NIAC opponents during that incredible four-year stretch. Upon
his retirement, the Athletic Department established the Ray
Bicknell Award to honor annually the most outstanding women’s
soccer player.
Since his retirement, Bicknell has received numerous accolades,
including being inducted into the Maine Sports Legends Hall of
Fame, the Institute for International Sport Hall of Fame, and the
New England Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1977, he received the Alvin
“Doggie” Julian Award from the New England Basketball
Coaches Association, honoring his lifetime contributions to the
sport of basketball.
Ray’s late wife, Jane (Mrs. Coach), was as much a part of
the team as anyone. In addition to all of his past players, whom
they considered family, they enjoyed their twenty-one nieces and
nephews and their families.
