ATU 714 Driver Walks with UMaine Basketball Player Friend on His Senior Night

Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 714 member Donna Loving has held a number of different jobs throughout her career, but she particularly enjoys her current position driving University of Maine students to and from the campus in Orono.

Originally from Indiana, Loving once worked for AT&T where she was a shop steward and member of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). When she had children, she became a stay-at-home mom and later took a job as a school bus driver and joined the Teamsters. It was a convenient arrangement because she could drive her kids to school, work in the cafeteria for the day and then drive them home. Then seven and a half years ago her driving experience helped land her a job driving for the City of Bangor’s Community Connector and she immediately joined the union there.

A lifelong basketball fan, Loving was thrilled when she realized some of her passengers were Black Bears basketball players.

“Two weeks after I started doing it, I was like ‘Oh my God! The basketball players! I was like, 'why haven’t I done this before?” said Loving.

She soon befriended the players who rode her bus and they bonded over their mutual love of the game. She attended nearly all their home games last season and caught all of their away games on ESPN 2. Loving and the players also connected on Instagram, where they often talked basketball.

“I would send them encouraging notes before the game and after the game. I would wrap it up with ‘well, that was a great win,’ or, like the last game, I was like ‘well, that didn’t go so well,’” Loving said laughing. “But I always commented to them.”

Last fall, Black Bears forward Adam Cisse, who is originally from the Bronx, was recruited to join the team as a graduate student after graduating from Manhattan College.  Loving first met Cisse while driving him to and from his job at the local recreation center. Cisse and his teammates loved seeing Loving at their games and would often wave to her as she watched at her usual spot on the bleachers near the cameras.

“It was kind of like, ‘Mom, are you here? Are you watching? That’s kind of like how I feel with the students — kind of like a step-mom,” said Loving. “He doesn’t have any family around here so there’s nobody that they really know who shows up to the games. They get so thrilled that someone is going to see them.”

Loving said she has also befriended a number of international students who ride the bus because they don’t have vehicles or licenses in the US. She also likes to attend their events like UMaine’s international dance festival and its Culturefest, which features international foods and cultural exhibits.

In late February, Cisse sent Loving a text inviting her to accompany him to Senior Night, the last home game of the year when all of the seniors on the team are recognized. 

“Hey Donna, senior night is Tuesday and I was wondering if you would like to walk me out before the game,” he wrote. “You supported us the whole season and I appreciated that so much. You always texted me after games on what you thought and I was wondering if you would do this for me.”

“He’s such a sweetheart,” said Loving. “I was like ‘I’d love to!’ And he was like ‘Thank you so much!’”

So Loving accompanied Cisse to the game. She was particularly struck by how much he towered over her at six foot ten.

“In the bus I’m kind of elevated so he would sit down. I knew he was tall, but until I stood next to him I was like ‘oh my gosh! You are so tall,’” said Loving chuckling.

"Donna is a great human being," said Cisse, "and I’m blessed to have been able to meet someone like that."

Meanwhile, Cisse says he's waiting for the NCAA to approve a waiver to let him play another year while he  continues his studies at UMaine.