Watch the players, but remember to see the people

Bump in the night - A grandmother's tale: “Don’t be afraid of things that go bump in the night.” I caught a photo of senior basketball player Mel McCloy of Cape bumping shoulders with Polytech senior Kaylee Williams Jan. 30 at the Big House. I’ve known Mel since first grade, and she is competitive without a hint of a mean streak. She’s a four-sport athlete – field hockey, basketball, tennis and dancing – and she’s also the Cape drum major. I once caught her eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from atop her directing platform while the band played on. Mel is cool like that. And she’s been accepted to Princeton. Kaylee Williams has that same nice kid look about her, so I went to head field hockey and lacrosse coach and Polytech Guidance Counselor Lynn Richardson to see if I had stumbled upon a parallelogram of photojournalism, a Venn diagram of student athletes who shared a sameness while maintaining differences. “She’s a great kid and quality person,” coach Richardson wrote back. “Your instincts are good.” Kaylee is a three-sport athlete – first-team all-conference in volleyball, and also plays basketball and lacrosse – and also a member of the National Honor Society. Kaylee hopes to play volleyball in college, and she’s been accepted at Delaware, Eastern Kentucky, Moravian, Shippensburg, East Stroudsburg and Eastern University. Fans follow the ball inside the game, but seeing the players takes you to a different level of insight and appreciation.  

Rocky Top - Cape softball head coach Shannon Timmons, along with Lisa Williams and Allison Sullivan of Beacon, spent the weekend of Jan. 12-13 at the University of Tennessee, training with one of the top programs in the Southeast Conference and the only program coached by a husband-and-wife team, Ralph and Karen Weekly. Pitching coach Marty McDaniel and hitting coach India Chiles were part of the clinic, and later players came in and demonstrated what was covered in the clinic. Cape is coming off an 8-10 season and returns several stellar players, including cousins Ryleigh Elliott and Raegan Jackson. 

Collick and Candy - Coach Bill Collick was honored at the recent DIFCA banquet for achieving 100 wins in high school. Bill was named coach of the Gold squad while Dan Ritter of Howard is the Blue coach for the 63rd annual Blue-Gold All-Star football game in June. Caesar Rodney coach Dan Candeloro was named Division I Coach of the Year, while Dave Hearn won the award for Division II. I was speaking to football coaches Bill Collick and Mike Tkach in the high school office and Tkach said, “Shamu was very deserving of the award.” I jumped in the tank, “Was that a SeaWorld reference?” They were talking about a different overpowering force. Candeloro was a 300-pound defensive tackle when he played at Delaware State. Candy, now svelte like a sea snake, shakes your hand, guy to guy, and you know you’ve got a tiger shark at the end of your arm. William Penn coach Bruce Reynolds had a go-to joke when emceeing banquets, “Your momma’s so fat she was baptized at SeaWorld.” Try that at the next “Me Too” march.  

Billy Joe - Billy Joe, out of Coatesville High, was a fullback for the Jets team that beat the Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III in 1969. Ten years later, Billy and his Super Bowl ring walked into the Cape football banquet and everyone was quite impressed. I sat next to Doug Williams (winning quarterback for Redskins Super Bowl XXII) in the Ravens press box for an entire game – two times. I called him coach and he called me, “Hey, what’s up?” But that gigantic ring on his big left hand was major bling. Personally, I’d put it inside a locked case because rings are not my thing.      

Snippets - It’s been two years since the passing of Tommy Coveleski. We all pause to remember the power of nice that characterized the life of such a gentle soul who saw goodness inside the rest of us and helped us see it as well. Sonja Friend-Uhl, former Cape and William and Mary middle distance star runner, set an American Masters national 45-49 age group record in the indoor mile Jan. 28, running 4:59 at the Birmingham Crossplex. Sonja also ran 62 seconds in the open 400. Congrats to 182-pound Sussex Central wrestler Michael Wright. He beat Dakota Kerr of Smyrna 2-1 in the final bout of the night to secure a 25-24 team win over the Eagles. Tony DeFazio, former Philly Electric guy who is now plugged into the scoreboard at Cape girls’ basketball games, removed his 1960 Eagles NFL Championship game ticket stubs from under glass, held them in his hand, then put them back. “I could feel it. We’re going to win,” Tony said. Yo, Tone! Go, Eagles! Go on now, git!