The University of Maine women’s basketball team is honoring a longtime donor and supporter of the program and the university by wearing a patch on their uniforms.
The Bears’ uniforms have a small black patch with the letters “BB” on it in memory of Barbara Bodwell, who died in October at the age of 89.
“They have always been very loyal supporters. Barbara and Russ [Bodwell] were some of the first people I met when we came to Maine,” coach Richard Barron said of the couple. “I have tremendous respect for them. They have done so much at Maine.”
Barbara Bodwell established the Bodwell Center for Service and Volunteerism on the UMaine campus and along with Russell earned the Stillwater Presidential Award from the University of Maine in 2010.
Barron said the Bodwells also have funded the Bodwell Conference Room for UMaine’s College of Engineering and Bodwell Lounge in the Collins Center for the Arts.
“It was a sad day when we lost her, but I’m very happy that we were able to do it with the patch,” said Barron, who explained the Bodwells have supported women’s basketball with the Cindy Blodgett Fund, an endowment used to defray student-atheltes’ expenses while taking summer classes.
“It can be whatever we need toward books and things like that,” Barron said. “It’s a gift that they’ve continued to endow, so the proceeds off that are something that we can use on an annual basis. It’s great that we have that resource.”
