Eastern Maine Sports Blog

Maine sports fans are familiar with the name of Harold Alfond, whose name adorns both the Alfond Arena and the University of Maine Alfond Stadium. However, Black Bears fans from out-of-state may be unfamiliar with just how Harry got his name on not one, but two sports arenas in the state.Mr. Alfond, who was born in 1914 and died in 2007, was a sports fan since his high-school days. He was also a shrewd businessman who founded the Dexter Shoe Company (1956). Bargain shoppers can thank him for founding the first factory store when he started selling factory-damaged shoes from distinctive log-cabin outlet stores.However, Alfond’s true loves were sports and philanthropy, which he organized through his private Harold Alfond Foundation. His donations helped the University of Maine to improve their facilities, explaining why his name appears on both of their arenas. The 5,712-seat Alfond Arena, opened in 1977, hosts the men’s and women’s ice hockey and basketball teams, while the 10,000-seat Alfond Stadium, opened in 1998, hosts the football team.Alfond did not limit his sports donations to UM, or even to the state of Maine. He donated 1.65 million to Saint Joseph’s College of Maine to build its Alfond Center sports arena (with an additional 10 million to build Alfond Hall, the main academic building), but he also donated to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. That school’s Harold and Ted Alfond Sports Center is named for Harold and his son. In addition to college sports, Alfond and Dexter Shoe had a limited partnership in the Boston Red Sox franchise dating back to 1978. Although Dexter was sold in 1993, two of the Alfond sons still retain the stake. Alfond sponsored Maine competitive sailor Kevin Mahaney in his bid for the 1992 Olympics, at which he took 2^nd place in the soling class along with Jim Brady and Doug Kern. Finally, Alfond was also an investor in the Belgrade Lakes Golf Club, recognized by Golf Digest in 2002 as the Northeast’s only 5-star public golf course.Alfond’s philanthropy also took other forms, including a 7 million donation to the MaineGeneral Medical Center’s cancer care facilities (now known as the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care) and a Scholarship Foundation which started a “Harold Alfond College Challenge” in 2009, two years after his death. This program offers 500 grants to Maine residents who are enrolled before their first birthday, intended to help families aim for higher education after high school.