Fred Apt

Inducted Fall 2023

Coach Fred Apt transitioned from a sports-loving Fryeburg Academy Raider fan to a Fryeburg Academy Coach in 1998.Having been an athlete throughout his childhood on the baseball field and in hockey rinks and continuing his passion for playing competitive softball in his younger adult life, it was only a natural fit that he took on the coaching role. During Coach Apt's 23 coaching career years at FA, he had an impressive overall record of 248-40 combined on the softball field and the ice rink.  He made 12 appearances in the Western Maine Conference league championships, six Western Maine regional championships, and four Maine State championships. 

Fred's boys hockey team earned the first and only ice hockey championship in 2004. The team won three straight one-goal playoff games and claimed its first Western Maine Class B title. In post-season play, they first defeated Marancook 2-3 in double overtime, then defending champions Cape Elizabeth 2-1. Traveling to Lewiston to play in the Class B state championship game, the Raiders defeated Orono 7-4. 

Fred's softball teams from 1998-2013 went 166-56. In the final seven years of that span, his teams posted a 130-10 record, winning five straight Western Maine Class B titles from 2008-2012 and State Championships in 2008, 2009, and 2011. In 2014, Fred retired, but his passion and love for coaching called him back. He returned after only a year away from the program and remained at the helm from 2015 to 2021. Fred captured his 200th win in 2017 with a 4-1 victory against Sacopee Valley. The Conway Daily Sun quoted, “My first win ever as a coach was Gray-New Gloucester, and my last was Gray-New Gloucester; that's pretty wild. I wish it hadn't been the last win” (in the regional finals). 

When announcing his final retirement in 2021, Coach Apt shared with the Conway Daily Sun about how he would like to be remembered by his players; “I hope I'm remembered as someone who cared about them, was fair to them, and helped them in any way I could in softball and in life. Many kids will always say on social media and I'll get emails – ‘You helped us. You taught us life lessons.' And like I said before, a lot of the stuff that we do, it's about life lessons, not about softball, but it'll play into it; they all play into each other.”

Fred leaves a legacy as one of the all-time winningest coaches and state title holders in the school's rich sporting history.