Born in Brookline, Mass., Ed Rice grew up in Bangor, Maine and
graduated from Bangor High School in 1966. He holds a B.A. from
Northeastern University and an M.Ed. from the University of Southern Maine.


Formerly a reporter for several daily newspapers, Rice has
served as the editor of the Weekly Journal in Brewer, Maine and the
Winchester Town Crier in Winchester, Mass. He has been a theater
critic and arts commentator for the Portland Press Herald, Maine
Sunday Telegram, Maine Times and Maine Public Broadcasting
System's "Maine Things Considered" on radio.


Rice has taught journalism and communication studies at the
University of Maine at Orono and Doane College in Crete, Nebraska.
He has also taught high school English and coached cross country.


In February of 2000 he wrote the biographical profile of Louis
Sockalexis which annually appears in the Cleveland Indians
Media Guide and on the team's web site pages. Rice also
spearheaded the nomination drive that led to the induction of both
Louis and Andrew Sockalexis into the national American Indian
Athletic Hall of Fame in Lawrence, Kansas in April of 2000. His
nomination, as well, led to the induction of Andrew Sockalexis,
second cousin of Louis, into the Maine Running Hall of Fame in 1990.
He has written an as-yet unpublished biography of Olympic
marathon runner Andrew Sockalexis.


An avid long distance runner who has run and completed 25
marathons (including 8 Boston Marathons), Rice created Bangor's
popular Terry Fox 5-K Run in 1982 and has continued to direct the
charity event for over 20 years, a tribute run which has raised over
$70,000 for breast cancer research at Eastern Maine Medical Center
in Bangor. In 1997 he ran across the State of Massachusetts (162
miles in 7 days) in support of a friend, the late Ginny DelVecchio who
was dying of ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, and a research fund he co-created
at Mass General Hospital to find a cure for this insidious disease.

In December of 2005, The Angel Fund released a book edited by Rice
entitled If They Could Only Hear Me, a collection of 30 personal essays
(including one by Rice) that describe the many ways people have taken up
the fight against ALS. All proceeds from the sale of the book benefit The
Angel Fund and its support of the ALS research wing at Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston. Co-founded by Rice, The Angel Fund raises
money research to find a cure for ALS, known widely as Lou Gehrig’s
disease.

This drawing of Sockalexis running the bases in a headdress was published in a May 4, 1897 edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the only publication still in existence from those where the line drawings were first exhibited.

Line drawing clean-up & enhancement, web site graphics
and design by KellyPc WebMasterK Designs

The photo of the author, courtesy of Olan Mills.