Hanover, NH – It’s eight months before strong legs run so that weak legs may someday walk, but plans for the 59th Annual Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl are well underway with the announcement of the Head Coaches for the two Shrine Teams. Mike Beliveau from Souhegan High School will serve as Head Coach for New Hampshire while Mike Norman of Rutland High School will lead the Vermont Shrine team.
The summer classic brings together the finest high school football players in New Hampshire and Vermont in a game where the real winners are the children in the Shrine Hospitals. The 2012 game will be played Saturday, August 4 on Dartmouth College’s Memorial Field.
In announcing the Head Coaches, Wayne Shepard, the game’s General Chairman, said "We welcome both Coach Beliveau and Norman to our elite team for 2012. The Board of Governors appreciates the selfless time and commitment that this position requires as they prepare their teams for another challenging game."
Both coaches have been a part of the Shrine Bowl before. Coach Beliveau was Head Coach for New Hampshire in 2000 and was involved in the highest scoring game in Shrine Bowl history. His team scored 40 points, while Vermont scored 47.
On the Vermont side, Coach Norman is no stranger either to the Shrine Bowl having been Head Coach for Vermont in 1998 and 2001. His ’98 Vermont team was a 21-13 winner and his ’01 squad fell 21-0.
Coach Beliveau graduated from Bridgewater State where he played four years of varsity baseball. He came to New Hampshire in 1987 as Recreation Director for the town of Amherst and as assistant football coach at Milford High School. He became an assistant coach Souhegan in 1992 and took over as Head Coach in 1995. In the last 14 years, his teams have been involved in 10 state championship finals and have won four state titles.
Coach Norman has a bachelor’s degree and masters in education from Norwich University. He began his coaching career in 1987 at Dartmouth as an assistant under Buddy Teevens. He returned to Norwich in 1988 for a five year stint as an assistant and offensive coordinator. He took over the reigns as head coach at Rutland in 1994 and over a span of 18 seasons has had seven state championships. Today he is both Head Coach of football and Athletic Director for Rutland.
Over 200 players from Vermont and New Hampshire, all graduating high school seniors, have been nominated by their respective head coaches. Screening committees, chaired by the two head coaches, will select the two 36-man teams. The two teams will be announced in February.
Formal practice for the summer classic will begin July 26 at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, NH.
The Shrine Game has raised over 4.5 million for the Shrine Hospitals in 58 years. The hospitals which benefit from the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl are the Shrine Children’s Hospitals in Springfield, Mass. and Montreal, Que. and the Shrine Burns Institute in Boston.
The game is sponsored by Bektash Shrine Center of Concord, Cairo Shrine Center of Rutland and Mt. Sinai Center of Montpelier.