Rich Miller, diving coach at the University of Maine from 1972-85, is among the Class of 2022 inductees to the Maine Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame.
Frank Marston, a seven-time NCAA Division III All-American diver at Bowdoin College, and Sean McLellan, an All-American swimmer at Hebron Academy and Denison University, will be inducted as well.
Scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 9, in Portland, the induction ceremony also will recognize Scott Bowie, a member of the hall of fame’s Class of 2020, who was unable to attend the ceremony with his class.
Diving both 1 and 3 meters at Bowdoin, Marston was named 1991 NCAA Division III Diver of the Year. In fourth place after the preliminaries of the 3-meter competition at the NCAA nationals, Marston moved to the top of the field in the finals to win the gold medal. He finished third in the 1-meter competition.
During his Polar Bear career, Marston won the 3-meter New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association title each of his four years and the 1-meter crown three years.
Marston’s 1992 Bowdoin 1-meter 11 dive total of 506.80 points and his 3-meter 11 dive 582.25 points remain Polar Bear records.
Marston won the 1988 Maine Principals’ Association Interscholastic 1-meter title for Portland’s Deering High.
McLellan won six individual titles racing for Hebron Academy at the MPA State Championships in 1981, ’82 and ’83. In addition, he collected three National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association All-American distinctions and two Honorable Mention recognitions.
The former Auburn Y and Lewiston Y swimmer earned Prep School All-American honors in 1981, ’82 and ’83 while competing for Hebron.
In 1983, McLellan set a state record, a meet record and a UMaine pool record with his 21.65 50-yard free interscholastic win. It was 30 years later, in 2013, that McLellan’s state record was eclipsed. He added a second victory at the ’83 meet with a 47.61-second 100-yard free.
At Denison University in Ohio, McLellan continued garnering All-American awards when in 1984 he earned NCAA Division III All-American in both the 50-yard free (21.02) and the 100-yard free (46.50).
Miller coached Black Bear male divers to 12 New England Intercollegiate Association individual first place finishes and the Black Bear women to four gold medals.
In 1985 at the Eastern Seaboard Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Championships, Kevin Martin, one of Miller’s divers, won the 3-meter title in a record performance.
Under Miller’s coaching, five women qualified for the NCAA nationals and four men earned the honor. Three women earned NCAA All-American awards.
Prior to the Black Bear women’s swimming and diving program joining the NCAA, three of Miller’s divers qualified for the Association of Athletic Competition for Women (AIAW) Nationals.
To strengthen the sport of diving, Miller started the Black Bear Diving Club. Included among the club’s achievements are a national champion, seven high school All Americans, six New England champions and nine MPA interscholastic diving champions.
Three of Miller’s Black Bear divers — Martin, Kevin Wright and Roy Warren — have been inducted into the Maine Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame.
In 2000, the UMaine Swimming and Diving program established the Rich Miller Diving Award.
