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‘The students’ lives are in my hands’

March 9, 2018

Head on a swivel - I am always scouting out stories. It comes from writing a column for the last 36 years. Mike Brown, 59, a father of four and grandfather of eight, works for Allied Universal, a security company, a subcontractor for Temple University. Mike grew up in Philly and went to the Parkway School – no walls –think of it as every day is a different field trip – then lived in Clarksville, Tenn., before moving back to Philly. Mike works at the new Temple Sports Complex at North Broad and Girard Avenue. Admission to games is free, but you don’t just walk in to hang out, as it is a venue to watch college athletics. “The students’ lives are in my hands, and I take my job seriously,” Mike said. “When I see the players up on campus, I always say hello and ask how they are doing.” Most security types work on a tough look, but Mike is the congenial, friendly guy who learns everyone’s name because he honestly cares. “Mike is great,” said my granddaughter Anna, adding, “I just love him.” I missed the first Temple game this year and Mike asked Anna, “Where’s Fredman? I was looking forward to seeing him,” adding, “I check him out on Facebook all the time.” Amazingly, there are people from the sports establishment in Delaware who still don’t know who I am because they just don’t really care. Philly and the Cape Region share that trait of wanting to know who people are, what they do and who are their relatives. 

That’s the ticket - Cape softball is a tough ticket. The Vikings haven’t won a state tournament game in a decade. Caravel has 11 state championships; Milford and Sussex Central have each won three titles, Laurel two, and Polytech and Caesar Rodney each have one state championship. Cape won at least one tournament game from 2004 to 2007, including losing the state title game to Caravel on Memorial Day 2004 at Sports at the Beach 1-0 behind an Aisha Paige one-hitter. Cape freshman Kristin Lingo collected Cape’s only hit. I remember coach Bill Cordrey, a Vietnam vet, wearing a flag pin on Memorial Day. We talked afterward how the Hollywood story is often not the sports story. The Cape mission each season is to get to the tournament and then win a game. The Vikings under coach Jeff Evans were 14-4 in 2016 and had stalwart pitcher Riley Shields and catcher Sydney Ostroski along with a power grid of home-run hitters that included Raegan Jackson, Hannah Jones, Jordyn Virden and Kaeli O’Neill-Willey. The Vikings then lost a first-round Saturday home game to Red Lion 14-5. Last season, Beacon Middle was 0-7 and Mariner was 1-6. It’s hard to assess what any of it means; perhaps the elusive answer lies along the flyways and byways of travel ball.

Piety and notoriety - Bryan Stevenson has been my friend for 40 years. Neither of us has changed all that much. He was a nicer and smarter person in 1977, and he can still beat me in the 400 meters. Bryan was on stage at the Oscars March 4, part of 10 people honored during a “Stand Up for What You Believe In” musical number. He wasn’t identified and didn’t speak, but more fame, in the form of a movie, is heading his way, and Bryan, who graduated from Harvard Law then moved to Alabama to set up the Equal Justice Initiative, will endure whatever it takes in the name of justice, even people telling him how wonderful he is, which I’m sure he finds very uncomfortable. Bryan and Dave Chappelle, bookends in the same photo, are smart guys who are using different means of getting the message across. 

Snippets - Cape boys’ lacrosse, a state finalist last year, has lost defenders Billy Ott and Ian Zolper to shoulder injuries, while starting attacker Greg Boyce has elected to run spring track. Zolper may be back. Chloe Schaeffer, a starting attacker for the girls’ lacrosse team, will miss the season after some pretty intricate ankle surgery just last week. The girls have a play day scrimmage Saturday, March 10, at DE Turf. A total of 28 teams will participate. Cape will scrimmage three Maryland teams, including Mt. Hebron, Oakdale and Georgetown Visitation. The other 24 teams are all from Delaware. The boys will host a five-team play day that includes Malvern Prep, Garnet Valley, Severna Park and Ridgewood, N.J. Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to break the four-minute mile by clocking 3:59.4 on May 6,1954, passed away March 3 at the age of 88. Bannister was 25 years old when he broke the barrier and later in December of that same year he retired from running to concentrate on his profession of being a neurologist. Amazing the decisions people make. Go on now, git!

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