A fitting tribute: Soccer tournament named after gym teacher Pete Levasseur

Pete Levasseur got a call early on Saturday, Oct. 8, from one of his colleagues with the Sanford Soccer Association. The association’s annual Columbus Day tournament was about to begin at Shaw’s Field, and already there was an angry crowd there that needed to be calmed down.

If the tournament was going to start on the right foot and be a success, then Levasseur needed to give the crowd a pep talk about sportsmanship. It’s something he had done frequently throughout the 40-plus years he has been involved in the local soccer association.

Levasseur lives near Shaw’s Field, so his trip there was a short one. As he walked up Shaw Road, he tried to think of what he was going to say to the parents and players who were worked up about who-knows-what. When he arrived on the field, he kept his head down as he made his way through the crowd. Eventually, he stopped and looked up.

He didn’t see an angry crowd. Instead, he saw an excited one. And he saw something else too: a banner that read, “Pete Levasseur Fall Classic.”

The Sanford Soccer Association had officially named its annual tournament – a tradition in the community for 39 years – after him.

On Tuesday, Levasseur told me his first thought that morning was, “Oh, my gosh! A happy crowd!” No speech about sportsmanship was necessary. But then Levasseur had to switch gears. He had to respond to the honor that the happy crowd was bestowing on him.

“I was shocked,” Levasseur told me. “I was humbled. I was almost in tears.”

Levasseur may have been surprised, but no one who knows him should be. He has been a respected and beloved figure in local athletics since he and his wife moved to Sanford from Connecticut in 1977. That’s when he accepted the position of health and physical education teacher at Sanford Middle School. He knew he wanted the job when he saw the Memorial Gym, located between the middle school and junior on Main Street. It’s a great facility, he said on Tuesday.

Levasseur retired from the Sanford School Department in 2018. He spent some time substitute-teaching ... and then returned to the classroom and gym full-time in 2019. He missed the kids and colleagues. He is again the gym and health teacher at Sanford Middle School, which is now located at the former high school.

In 1980, Levasseur worked with other members of the community – my father, Gary Sullivan, among them – to establish the Sanford Soccer Association. During the first season or two, teams played in the outfield of the Little League park on Roberts Street in Sanford. A year or two later, Richard Shaw donated his large, expansive field to the association, and games have been played there ever since.

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The association owns the field – a great advantage, Levasseur said, because other soccer organizations in other communities play either on town or school properties, which can often lead to assorted issues and challenges. Not so at Shaw’s Field.

“We can always play on it,” Levasseur said.

The annual tournament – forevermore the Pete Levasseur Fall Classic – is a fundraiser for the soccer association, one for which the community has always shown tremendous support. Funds raised help to maintain the field, buy equipment and uniforms, train referees, and other aspects of local soccer life. According to Kevin Eaton, the vice president of the association’s board, the tournament earlier this month raised $62,000 - $46,000 in fees from participating teams and $16,000 at the concession stand.

The tournament draws teams from all over Maine, as well as New Hampshire and Massachusetts, according to Levasseur. One year, a team from Canada even competed. Any team that has the means to make the trip can compete in the tournament.

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In an email earlier this week, Eaton said he approached Mike Fraser, the soccer field’s commissioner, and discussed changing the name of the tournament to honor Levasseur.

“We can’t think of a better person to name this after,” Eaton said. “Pete continues to be very involved in making sure kids can play soccer – not only in Sanford, but all over the state. That has always been his goal – and something that has become the association’s main mission because of Pete.”

If you’ve ever found yourself on Shaw’s Field on a Saturday, then you know the Sanford Soccer Association is one of the most popular and successful organizations in town. I played soccer there for a few years as a kid and coached there when it was my daughter’s turn to kick the ball around. At both times in my life – and in the lives of so many others – Pete Levasseur was a welcome, positive, supportive and enthusiastic presence at Shaw's Field. He remains so to this day.

And, thanks to the annual fall classic that now bears his name, he will remain so for decades to come.

Shawn P. Sullivan is an award-winning columnist and is a reporter for the York County Coast Star. He can be reached at ssullivan@seacoastonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Sanford, Maine soccer tournament named after gym teacher Pete Levasseur