Brewer High School

Winslow Kent Herrick (nickname “Bub”) was a founding member of the first formal Track & Field Team at Brewer High School in the spring of 1916. Competitive, tough, composed and displaying exceptional leadership skills even as an underclassman, Herrick, a sophomore, was elected captain of the inaugural team; a role he would fulfill for the next three years. 

In Brewer’s first year of track & field, the Penobscot Valley League set one date for a track meet to be held at the University of Maine.  Fourteen Brewer men competed in the PVL Track Meet which included teams from Orono, Bucksport and Old Town.  Brewer qualified men in each of the 13 events winning points in all events except the 100 yd. dash and discus. In fact, Brewer won 7 out of 13 events with Herrick winning the mile and the half-mile events. He was the most successful of the Brewer athletes at the meet having won his two events.  As a result of Brewer’s outstanding performance, four Brewer men were entered in the University of Maine Interscholastic Track Meet the following week. This was the biggest meet in Maine in those days as the Maine Principals’ Association did not sanction state track & field meets until 1959.  At the University of Maine Interscholastics, Herrick won the mile race in 4:43.2 and placed second in the half mile. Brewer’s fourth place finish was due entirely to Herrick’s successes and his teammate’s first place in the two-mile and third place in the mile. Herrick’s gold and silver-medal winning runs, launched Herrick into running prominence.  His school record in the mile stood for ten years.  

With Herrick’s victories and the team’s successes, track & field at Brewer High School had come into its own in 1916 and rivaled the popularity of baseball and football at the school. Living during World War I and the Spanish Flu pandemic, Herrick and his teammates endured their fair share of adversity on and off the track.  

Running on tracks made of cinder, digging foot holes with trowels before races in lieu of starting blocks (those didn’t become standard until the 1930’s) and wearing track shoes, that more resembled men’s dress shoes with nails protruding from the sole, were the norm. Starting as they did with a group of inexperienced men, no place to practice and under weather conditions which were far from favorable, the results from the first year of track were most gratifying.

In addition to track, Herrick was a three-year member of the football team as right guard. 

Although there was no cross-country team while Herrick attended Brewer High School, (Brewer cross country began in 1925), Herrick made his cross-country debut as a freshman at the University of Maine. Herrick’s toughness on the trails was evident and his outstanding performances on the cross-country trail helped UMaine secure state championship titles in 1919 and 1920. Herrick’s improvement in cross country in college was impressive. His twelfth place finish at the New England Cross Country Championships propelled UMaine to a second place finish his sophomore year.  He placed ninth his junior year (team placed third) and his sixth place finish (top finisher for Maine) secured the Black Bears in winning the 1921 New England Cross Country Championship title his senior year. 

In addition to running cross country all four years at the University, Herrick also ran and lettered all four years in track & field. Even as a freshman, he was often up with the leaders pushing them the entire race. Herrick won a big race for Maine, the mile, in the meet against Holy Cross, his freshman year. He placed fourth in that event in the New England collegiate meet and he continued to be one of the most gifted and decorated runners for UMaine during his college days. While winning the mile in the 1922 Maine Collegiate Championship, Herrick set the UMaine school record in the event (4:25.00), a record which stood for 16 years. Described in the Maine Campus newspaper as even tempered, a good fighter and a great leader, it is no surprise Herrick was captain of both the cross country and track teams his senior year.  

At UMaine Herrick served on the Executive Committee of the Track Club whose mission was to create interest in track and to recruit high school students for the UMaine track team. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. During the long Maine winters, he also took part in the university’s competitions in snowshoe racing and skiing! Herrick represented Brewer High School well as an athlete and as a campus-involved student.  Herrick was a Sophomore Owl, a Junior Mask, a Senior Skull, Vice-President of the “M” Club and Vice President of the Athletic Association…all prestigious campus organizations to this day.

After graduating from UMaine in 1922 with a Bachelor of Science in economics, he returned to South Brewer and worked at the beloved family grocery store, SS Herrick & Son, located on the corner of Elm and Main Street, which he took over from his father in 1939 and managed for 27 years until his retirement in 1966.  Herrick was actively involved in the community throughout his life.  He was a former member of the Brewer City Council, the High School District Trustees, and past president of the Maine State Independent Grocers’ Association. He was both a Mason and a member of the Anah Temple Shrine for over 50 years.  

Herrick and his wife Mary Dooey had one son, John Herrick Sr, a 1953 graduate of Brewer High School who was twice crowned state mile champion and is still currently on the Brewer Outdoor Track Team’s Top 20 All-Time List. Winslow Herrick has three grandsons, all accomplished downhill skiers, perhaps a trait they inherited from their grandfather’s snowshoeing and skiing achievements at the University of Maine! Mr. Herrick passed away in 1977 at the age of 78. 

Winslow Herrick, the most accomplished Brewer runner of his era, is truly the Godfather of Brewer Track & Field. It is with great honor that he is inducted into the Brewer Athletic Hall of Fame.  

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE INDUCTION PRESENTATION VIDEO OF WINSLOW HERRICK

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH ON BEHALF OF WINSLOW HERRICK

MEMORIES OF WINSLOW HERRICK VIDEO AS TOLD BY DAVE FARLEY

Accepting the Hall of Fame Induction Award on behalf of Winslow Herrick are his grandsons (L-R): Mark Herrick, Matt Herrick and John Herrick Jr.