By Renee Worthing
Staff Writer
Kennebunkport resident Steve Pelletier can be often seen in the playing field at Consolidated School honing his skill with a javelin.
Even the rain does not deter Pelletier from his three weekly practices with a steel tipped aluminum spear weighing a little more than a pound.
Competitors in the outdoor track event make three throws to throw the longest distance. The top eight throwers make another three throws. The person with the longest throw measured to the nearest inch is declared the winner.
In recognition of Pelletier’s 20 years of success with the javelin, he was inducted into the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame April 27 during the 25th induction ceremony.
“I was surprised and humbled,” he said.
He said it brought back many fond memories of his years coaching and competing.
His interest in javelin began during his senior year at Edward Little High School in Auburn. He said he entered high school with the intention of earning three varsity letters.
“Football was my best; basketball was my love,” Pelletier said.
After football and basketball season ended, he tried outdoor track. He first tried running the mile, but when he didn’t do well, he turned to pole vaulting, still with little success. In his junior year, he tried the 440-yard dash.
“I believed it was a good thing to be involved in three sports,” Pelletier said. “I was seeking an event I would be successful in.”
He attempted other field events as a senior, including shot put and discus, but neither interested him after the first couple of weeks.
“I stayed with javelin even though I was not an instant success,” he said. “It was slow, steady progress. But by the end of year, I qualified for Class A , which was called Class LL back then.”
At his first outdoor track meet, he hurled the javelin 108 feet. At the final meet of the year, he threw it 162 feet and earned the title of state Class A runner-up and qualified for the New Englands.
After graduation in 1969, he entered University of Maine Orono, where, under the guidance of coach Ed Styrna, Pelletier won the Maine championships in 1972.
By the time he graduated in 1974, he had earned four varsity letters and won the state collegiate championship with a 203-foot throw.
Pelletier accepted a one-year position as the cross-country and indoor track manager at the school and later served as coach until 1991.
While he coached, he continued competing at the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) level where he earned 11 state championships and was named runner-up nine times before moving on to the National Masters. He became a State Masters javelin record holder from 1978 to 1984, placing in two age groups, 25 to 29 and 30 to 39. He won the National Masters championship in 1983 and 1984 and was named runner-up in 1982 and 1985.
He moved to Kennebunk in 1987 and began working as the outdoor track throwing coach for Kennebunk High School alongside coach Ron Hankle and served as the assistant varsity football coach.
“I wanted to coach so I could transfer my experience to my students,” he said.
In 1992, he turned to his other passion, downhill skiing. Sunday River named him Ski Professional of the Year for Sunday River’s “Learn to Ski” program.
Pelletier returned to Edward Little High School to coach from 1994 to 1998 and also mentored, Heather Bumps, a Bates College student and track athlete in 1995.
They were the last years he served as an assistant outdoor track coach.
Now 57, Pelletier doesn’t compete anymore, but continues to practice so he can “stay in tune” with the sport.
“It’s a sport that you don’t have to give up,” Pelletier said. “It can be a healthy, life-long sport.”
He said any athlete with a good arm can throw a javelin a few feet.
“To get it to 170 feet, it’s all in the technique,” he said. “It’s truly an art.”
He said throwing the javelin is like a performance.
“You get the javelin to float for 200 feet and you see the look on the spectators’ faces, that’s the enjoyable part,” he said.
His goal is to return to coaching so other athlete can reap the rewards of the sport.