Tony Hamlin of the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame often hears the same reaction when he gives someone the call, the one that tells them they’re going to be inducted:

“That was so long ago,” they say. “I didn’t think anyone still remembered.”

On Wednesday, the Hall announced the names of its second class – 29 strong – who will be honored Aug. 23 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. They will join last year’s inaugural class of 22.

Edward “Bo” McFarland and Bob Warner are included in this year’s class. McFarland was a standout at Scarborough High in the mid-1960s and later at Bowdoin College. Warner starred at Thornton Academy in the early 1970s and later at the University of Maine.

Both men live in Massachusetts but were at the announcement of the 2015 class at the Portland Expo.

As an assistant basketball coach at Bowdoin College, McFarland spends a lot of time in Maine during the winter.

“Maine will always be home for me,” said McFarland. “It’s an honor to be an inductee.”

Both McFarland and Warner elevated their high school programs. McFarland led Scarborough to the regional semifinals, where it lost to Winthrop, the eventual state champion, and its standout Denis Clark, another 2015 inductee.

Warner led the Golden Trojans to the 1972 Western Maine final, where they lost to Westbrook.

McFarland, a guard, scored 1,356 points at Bowdoin and still holds the career scoring average record at 21.9 points per game. In 1968, he scored a career-high 42 points against a Brandeis University team coached by K.C. Jones, the former Boston Celtics player and coach. McFarland was also a standout baseball player for the Polar Bears.

Warner set career rebounding records at Maine and became a 1,000-point scorer.

Hamlin, chairman of the hall’s selection committee, said the first two classes of inductees make for an impressive group of Maine basketball greats. Players aren’t eligible until 20 years after their playing career.

“To be one of the top 50, that’s a heck of a statement,” said Hamlin.

Warner said, “When you consider the thousands of players who have dribbled a basketball in Maine and to be in the first two classes, that’s quite an honor.”

Warner played professionally in Europe for a year, then was a graduate assistant coach at Boston University under Rick Pitino. One of his responsibilities was recruiting in the Midwest.

“I recruited in Indiana, Hoosiers territory, and I discovered that the passion Maine has for high school basketball is just as strong. Playing at Thornton Academy, I remember packed gyms at South Portland and Westbrook.”

Joining McFarland and Warner as inductees from southern Maine are coaches Art Dyer of Medomak Valley and Westbrook; Gene Hunter (posthumously) of Morse and South Portland; players Maureen Burchill Cooper, Deering and USM; Nick Scaccia, Sanford and Colgate; Ray Bishop and Ed Marchetti of Morse; and referee Jack Coyne (posthumously) of Scarborough.

Other inductees are Clark, Gary Towle, Cony; Wayne Champeon, Greenville and the University of Maine; Dan Drinon (posthumously) of Bangor, Ted Shiro, Waterville; Peter Kelley, Caribou and Harvard; Emily Ellis, Mt. View and the University of Maine; Marcie Lane Schulenburg, Cony and UNH; Steve Condon, Presque Isle and the University of Maine; Paul Fortin (posthumously) of Lewiston; Keith Mahaney, University of Maine; Liz Coffin, Ashland High School and the University of Maine; John Norris, Bangor and the University of Maine; John Edes, Ellsworth and Colby; Peter Webb, the Maine commissioner of basketball; coaches, Roger Reed, Bangor; Bruce MacGregor, Husson; Dwight Littlefield, Valley; Dick Barstow, Central Aroostook and Presque Isle; and Dick Meader, Thomas College and the University of Maine at Farmington.

Tom Chard can be contacted at 791-6419 or at:

tchard@pressherald.com

Twitter: TomChardPPH