Maurice Toothaker

“Track, what’s that?”

Maurice Toothaker, who ran during the late 1930s, arguably had as much raw talent as any runner in Maine history. The fact that this farm boy from Phillips was capable of running 20 miles even before he was in high school is proof enough. He and his twin brother Malcolm probably won more races than any pair of brothers ever did, while Maurice went on to win the New England’s and the Nationals in interscholastic cross country.

The Toothaker Twins, as they were often known in high school running, were born in East Madrid and grew up on a farm 10 miles from the village of Phillips. Maurice and his brother rose early each morning at 3:30 and milked six cows by hand before heading off to school.

Even before he was in high school, Maurice remembers his interest in running. "The mailbox was a quarter of a mile from the house, and I'd run over and get the mail. And a few times I'd run from my farm out to town here. That was 10 miles." Few people in town ever heard of anyone running that far. Then one time someone said to him, "Why don't you run back. too?" He did, and more than once. Running "just kind of came natural," said Toothaker.

Maurice Toothaker, who went by the name "Monty," remembers early in high school he was asked if he wanted to be in a track meet. He remembers responding, "What are you talking about, a track meet. That's how much we knew about it."

Toothaker said that Paul Whittemore, the school principal and track coach, had always told his runners, "Run the way you feel."

"We used to run a couple or three half miles, then run a quarter of a mile, then some dashes," said Toothaker. "In high school we never missed a day of training. In the winter we used baseball shoes on the ice, and it went pretty good."

In track Monty ran the mile and half mile. He won the state meet mile all four years and broke the state record three straight years. His best mile was 4:46, and best half was 2:09. Many of these races were run in basketball sneakers. He notes that many tracks back then were 1/5 mile ovals.

Malcolm, who was a 6-foot-2 (several inches taller than his twin brother) and weighed 165 pounds, was a well-rounded athlete and scored in many events in track. In one meet he won the 400, 800, high jump, long jump and discus for 24 points.

Although Monty, who was 5-foot-8 and 135 pounds, could beat his taller brother in the mile, he points out, "The funny thing, my brother could beat me in the quarter mile."

Monty's first big win was the state meet at Orono in cross country. Back then all schools, big and small, were run together in cross country. He set a course record that year, his sophomore year. He went on to win in his junior and senior years while Malcolm took second each time. Monty broke the course record again in his final year.

About the only competition that the Toothakers had in cross country was a runner from Caribou named Emery Plourde. Here, Plourde describes the state cross country meet in 1938. "Coach Harry Richardson had said, ‘Emery, take an early lead and go for the record.’ That I did, but shortly after the first hill in the Orono woods, two runners came on either side of me. I tried to increase my lead by a few yards, but they stayed there without seeming effort then passed me by about five yards. I sure was puzzled. They had the same running style and looked enough alike to be twins.

"When we emerged from the woods at the two mile mark, my coach was waiting with a stop watch in hand. He gave me the time and at that point, which was 30 seconds under the state record. I kept thinking that the pace was too fast for these fellows, that they would fade before the finish. They never did. They ran faster, almost out of sight. I finished well under the state record, but third. Catching up with them after the race for congratulations, I learned they were the Toothaker twins from Phillips High."

One January Phillips and Cape Elizabeth teamed up in a meet against the UMaine freshman and for only the second time in 11 years, the freshmen, under Coach Chester Jenkins, were beaten. Monty scored 18 points, including a win in the mile followed by his brother; he was second in the 1,000. Malcolm took second in the 600.

Toothaker said that he won more races "on the tail end" than by starting out fast in the beginning. He believed in an even pace throughout and it always seemed to work for him. He used his come-from-behind tactics successfully in the New England’s in his senior year. "When we came on to the football field, I passed them all," he remembers. He ran in the New England’s only in his senior year, breaking the course record by 16 seconds at South Park in Providence, R.I. Monty was clocked in 12:49, winning by six seconds.

His brother took 5th in 13:16. Phillips placed 9th in the event. The town, which had raised money to send the team to R.I., celebrated the fine showing by having a community supper when they returned, sending them off to the nationals. "If it wasn't for the town's people we could never have gone."

The 13th annual National Interscholastic Cross Country Championship was held exactly two weeks after the New England’s and on Thanksgiving Day, at its traditional site, Branch Brook Park in Newark, N.J. That day 33 schools and 152 runners participated.

The prep school runners and high schoolers were run together, apparently to save time so that people could get home and clean up after the '38 hurricane. "We always started slow. We ran about as far as from here to my neighbor's house and we had to just about make a U-turn. The flags were just about 10 feet apart. And they had people (officials) standing right there, and we had a number on the front and one on the back. If you cut the flag you'd get disqualified. And there were 200 guys trying to go through a 10 foot opening, and I didn't dare cut the flag. When I got out of that crowd I looked ahead and these two guys were a good quarter of a mile ahead. I started sprinting right then, and I actually sprinted the whole race."

Toothaker led up until 150 yards from the finish when two 20-year-olds from Seton Hall passed him. But that didn't matter. He still won the high school division easily. Malcolm finished in a respectable 10th place.

The order of finish among the 33 teams was Norristown, Thomas Jefferson, Kearny High, Overlook, Union, Barringer, Bayonne, and Phillips. Yes, Phillips, the tiny high school with less than 100 students, had placed 7th in the country. There was some celebrating to do back in Phillips.

"The fastest race I ever ran was at the University of Maine in 1938,” said Toothaker. "I went two miles and six-tenths in 12 minutes and 22 seconds. The last race I ran for Phillips High School I got beat." It was a half mile race where he placed second.

In 1939, Monty decided to try the Portland Boys Club Five Miler on Patriot's Day in April. When word got out that he'd entered, Toothaker was favored to win among the field of 25. Runners included the defending champ and course record-holder, Clarence Portas, of Portland. Toothaker won easily on this rainy day to shatter the course record by 29 seconds in 26:48. His closest pursuer was Tom Packard, 150 yards back.

Although Toothaker's running days pretty much ended after high school, he did enter several track meets overseas while serving in the army. After WWII ended, when he was still finishing up his three years in the army, he ran in seven track meets in Nurnberg, Germany where he'd been stationed. He ran the mile and two mile and advanced as far the meet preceding the Mediterranean Championship. Toothaker's best two-mile was 9:50. But after returning home he never again ran in competition.

Toothaker spent his life harvesting timber and today lives about a mile from the village and right next door to his brother. It was not surprising that when a local annual road race was started several years ago, Toothaker was asked to be the honorary starter. What better person was there to be part of the Paul Whittemore 5-K in Phillips.