New legends cover gamut of teaching, coaching and journalism

With a combined 70 years teaching, 40 years coaching and another 70 years taking sports photos and writing the stories about them, Dave “Fredman” Frederick and Dan Cook have dedicated more than a century of work to the Cape Henlopen School District.

In return, the district recently named them legends, part of an elite group memorialized at the high school’s Legends Stadium. The two officially will be honored this fall during a football game.

Frederick’s sports career began in southern Bucks County where his talent for basketball and football earned him MVP honors in both sports his senior year at Bishop Egan High School. That same year, 1963, his football team won the Philadelphia Catholic League title. His basketball team was runner-up to the title in 1964. To this day, Frederick is the only athlete to receive MVP in both sports – an honor helping earn him a spot in the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.

With an athletic scholarship in basketball, the 6-foot-3-inch Frederick attended Temple University where he eventually switched to football until a knee injury ended his playing career.

In 1975, Frederick got a job at Cape High and moved his young family to Lewes – wife Susan, son Dave and daughter Carrie. Twins boys, Jack and Tom, were born a year later.

He was hired as a special education teacher, eventually teaching Problems of Democracy, psychology, geography and just about anything else offered in the social studies department, he said.

Frederick, affectionately known as Coach Fred and later as Fredman, began his Cape coaching career as assistant football coach in 1975 and 1976 and head boys track coach from 1976 to 1985.

“I never applied to be head track coach,” he said. “I remember hearing that the school board named me head coach and the late Frank Coveleski told me, ‘You’ll do fine.’”

At the time, a sign placed on the front lawn of Cape High regaled the 1971-73 track state championships honoring Coach Tom Hickman gave Fredman pause.

“I thought, ‘Oh man, I’m in so much trouble,’” he said.

Two Division II track state championships later, in addition to a 1977 cross country championship, two state indoor titles in 1984 and 1985 and three Henlopen Conference track titles make Fredman one of the winningest coaches in Cape High history. His track teams accumulated an impressive 85-13 record during his 10-year career.

But Fredman’s 34 years as a sports columnist, first for the Whale and later the Cape Gazette, have also made an impact. With his self-depricating style and keen sense of humor, he has gained a loyal following of readers who look forward to his biweekly columns.

He fondly recalls his introduction to sports writing. Bucks County Courier sportswriter Dick Dougherty mentored Fredman, teaching him the tricks of the trade. He remembers his visits to the lively newsroom and the clacking of typewriters at the sports desk.

“I always thought there was something cool about that,” he said.

Not much had changed when he walked into the Midway office of The Whale in 1982. “The typewriters were still clacking,” he said.

With a rough draft of a column written on a yellow legal pad, Fredman said he told future Cape Gazette publisher Dennis Forney that the paper needed someone to write about local sports. “And that’s you, right?” Forney asked. Fredman said yes.

“The column ran, and it’s been running ever since,” he said.

Coaching and writing accolades aside, Fredman said he is most proud of the family legacy he helped build by moving to Lewes in 1975 not knowing a soul.

Decades later, it is his grandchildren who are achieving top sports honors that his children once achieved.

“My mission was to become the community teacher/coach that people know,” he said. “Then it became like a family thing. We qualify as a Cape sports family if anyone does.”

When tennis ruled
Dan Cook’s legacy began in 1981 when the 1972 Cape High graduate moved back to the area, bringing with him several years of teaching and coaching experience.

Cook graduated in 1977 from University of Delaware where he played college tennis for three years. He went on to play semi-pro tournaments and even won a few for doubles. Cook had taught six years in Wilmington and coached tennis at Sanford prep school in Hockessin when Cape hired him as a special education teacher for the Sussex Consortium. Switching to the high school, he taught special education and health before teaching physical education – the position he held until he retired in spring 2016.

Working at the high school also helped shape his future. He met and worked with his future wife, Sherri, and the two are parents to Franc and James, both Cape High grads.

Cook was quickly named head boys’ tennis coach. Starting in 1982, he coached them to three conference championships and four tournament wins. He coached girls’ tennis from 1987 to 1991 earning a conference championship, conference tournament win and state championship trophy in 1991. “Winning the state championship in 1991 was definitely a highlight,” he said.

A host of coach of the year accolades followed, among them six from the Henlopen Conference, two for the state of Delaware and two from national tennis groups.

He taught tennis at Rehoboth Beach Country Club for 11 years and ran his very own Dan Cook’s Junior Tennis Camp at Cape Henlopen High School in the early 1990s.

Cook also coached girls’ basketball, earning 1985 Henlopen coach of the year and a 1986 Henlopen conference championship. In between, he was assistant football coach for five years.

A self-taught photographer, Cook began taking photos in the beach resort during the early 1980s, moving past photographing sunbathing beauties to action-packed sports events.

“I’ve never taken a class. I learned on the job,” he said.

His sports photos routinely win annual Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association awards, including first- and second-place honors at the 2016 awards ceremony.

“My biggest honor is to have the athletes enjoy my stuff and say, ‘Coach Cook, that’s a great picture,’” he said.

His lens has captured athletes scoring state championship goals and celebrating the sweet smell of success. With a keen eye, he focuses on a perfect lay-up and can freeze every droplet of water during a record-breaking swim.

Cook said he first heard he had been nominated to be a legend when a student congratulated him in the high school hallway. The Coveleski family texted him with congratulations after Cook was officially named a legend.

“It’s very special to me because I went through Cape as a student and then came back to finish my career as a teacher,” he said.

Seeing his name alongside the other legends is a great honor, he said.

“I had a few of the current recognized legends for class when I was growing up. I became great friends with them when I came back to Cape to teach,” Cook said. “I will always be a Viking. If you cut me, I’ll always bleed Columbia blue and gold. It’s a great feeling to know that future generations will see that I had an impact as a coach and a teacher at Cape Henlopen High School.”