In September 1975 on a horrendously stormy night I stood in a Lewes building on Sussex Drive known as The Annex.
I was an assistant football coach of a Cape team that had several players who looked like they could play in the NFL. Athletes like Purnell Ayers, John Bishop, Tyrone Gibbs, Thurmond Batson and Vaughn Trammel. Every adult with a voice that night was talking weather and wind direction and debated whether this was a storm or a squall, the beginning of a front or the back of a quick mover out to sea.
I thought it was so cool to live someplace near oceans and bays where so many ordinary people had weather theories. In my Philly neighborhood I never heard a single person ever reference wind direction for any reason, nor did we talk of heat versus fork lightning.
We didn’t play that night against Dover - just too much electricity in the sky - but I learned a valuable lesson. People who live here have no shortage of weather theories, but pretty much remain in the dark even with the lights turned on.
TROPICAL PUNCH - Hurricanes that fizzle are hardly worth the hoarding of Nutter Butters or drinking from the bathtub. A full slate of weekend games beginning with Friday night high school football games and Saturday afternoon field hockey threaten to be impacted by whatever Hurricane Hannah is called by the time remnants affect or do not affect our lovely coastal environment.
Listen closely for all the theories and realize in high school sports thunder and lighting are treated as the same thing, the theory being any time you hear the rumblings of thunder, lightning is close enough to fry your butt. The rule is that all contests are suspended for 30 minutes following the most recent atmospheric disturbance. Wet and nasty are not reasons to postpone a football game played on artificial turf.
SCARY COMPARISON - Not since I was compared to Andy Sipowicz from the show “NYPD Blue” have I been more afraid to look into my own mirror.
Dennis Diehl sent me an email which began: “I should have emailed you before this but I consider you to the Buddy Walk as Jerry Lewis is to his telethon. The Buddy Walk is on Oct. 11 and I am hoping you are available again as the emcee.”
Appropriately, my grammar checker prefers “as Jerry Lewis are to his telethon” because anyone with a head that big can’t represent a single person. And don’t give me the steroid medication argument because I’ve seen other aging compatriots who have gotten shorter while their head for some inexplicable reasons grows to an abnormal size.
If you are the Franklin Planner Itinerary person you may be a school administrator, so do your cross reference, single day to entire month page flip and write down this information from Dennis Diehl:
“The Buddy Up party is on Friday night at Crabbers Cove from 5 to 8 p.m. The Buddy Walk is on Saturday at 9 a.m. followed by the Buddy Blast at the Bandstand with awards and recognition until about 11:30 a.m. We have added the Buddy Hop from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Rehoboth Beach Fire Hall (you might help by getting local school kids to attend). The Buddi Gras dinner will be Saturday night at Mariachi’s from 6 to 8 p.m. We discontinued the Sunday morning breakfast.”
MAKE IT - TAKE IT - “Trenton Makes the World Takes” still blazes in neon on the side of the bridge connecting Trenton to Morrisville, Pa. A 65-year-old man, Fran Pinchot, now a major player on the World Series of Poker tour, was the best playground “make it - take it” basketball player I ever had the pleasure to pass to before stepping out of the way. Franny’s favorite words were, “Give me the ball,” and I once saw him run the table scoring 11 straight baskets as winners kept the court.
Pinchot was helped by the fact that everyone was afraid to guard him because he just seemed scary. He coached basketball at Trenton Central for 30 years during the time that Holland Moore of Lewes was the school’s track coach.
Do athletes still play “make it - take it” playground basketball with winners keeping the court? I think not, which is why a certain hardness and improvisation has left the game.
Note: The world’s foremost authority on blue crabs from plankton to players - Dr. Chuck Epifanio of the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies by way of Trenton is also an authority on Fran Pinchot of the playground so if Chuck starts talking about science just say “Fran Pinchot” and watch his eyes light up. Every town has its heroes.
BIG JAKE - Jacob Mitchell, a 6-foot-5 tight end who transferred to Indian River from Sussex Tech for his senior season, will miss the Cape game as he rehabs from a dislocated elbow sustained in a scrimmage against Caesar Rodney. Jacob, who wore Cape out on the basketball court the last two seasons, is being recruited for football by Delaware and just about everyone on Delaware’s schedule. Jake is a good old Laurel boy who laughs about picking watermelons on Pop Pop’s 80-acre farm, beans in the field, and 11 cows that are now 9 because two are in the freezer, not entering under their own power. Mitchell should be back in action by game three.
SNIPPETS - The Cape Crusader fall program for youth basketball will begin Saturday, Sept. 20, for boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 13.
Practice will be two times a week. Check out the ad in the Cape Gazette for all contact information. Basically, when it comes to basketball, if you show up once a year in November for school tryouts don’t expect to be no real player. Makes sense to me!
The Sussex County Dart League is seeking players for the current season that runs every Tuesday from October to April. The league, composed of 16 teams, plays at different restaurants and bars in Lewes and Rehoboth.
Anyone interested should just leave a note on the kitchen counter explaining your decision to the rest of the family and call Charles Gouert, league president, at 302-381-2833.
Tyler Townsend was named MVP of the Virginia baseball summer league (wooden bats) which ended Aug. 9. Playing for Winchester, Townsend, a rising junior at FIU, led the VBL with a .387 batting average and .500 on-base percentage and finished second with a .739 slugging percentage. He was also first in runs (40), third in RBIs (36), second in home runs (12), first in total bases (105) and third in walks (29).
In addition to DH, Townsend also played 15 games at first base and three in the outfield. Basically, for those of us who have been watching Tyler since Little League, that boy can just flat out hit a baseball.
Pack foul-weather gear in your car and an emergency igloo just in case you have to wait out a 30-minute weather delay.
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Sports Editor Emeritus
Email Fredman at fredman@capegazette.com
