Biscuit Bobby Knox was a 1,000-yard rusher for Cape in 1985

Hard Knox - That’s a good way to describe the Cape running back that friends and teammates called Biscuit. Bobby Knox was one of the best running backs in the history of Cape – the ground shook when he ran. We are talking 1985, a 7-3 Cape team, with Rob Schroeder the head coach. I was an assistant, and I saw every play and every carry. A 1,000-yard rusher, Bobby liked to run left. He laughed when I wrote in a poem: “You could tell when Cape was going wide, cause Bobby ran with his head to the side.” I am so sorry Bobby left us Tuesday. For me, I have memories of young people at their best, and that’s where I keep them. 

Heat exhaustion or heat stroke? I sat in my air-conditioned home office in the evening after a day when it reached 100 degrees out in the open. Cape moved practices inside because heat exhaustion doesn’t make you tougher, and heat stroke can make you dead. I read the difference between the two when I was of sound mind and I’m still confused. Out in the wild, if you ignore the signs of heat exhaustion and move the dial to heat stroke, your brain will fry and you can die. And there is no getting acclimated to the heat, so the suggestion “practice in it because someday you may have to play in it” is 1965 phys ed class logic, like not drinking water builds character.  

Cat quick - Have you ever seen a cat run two miles? Has a cat ever run two miles unless fleeing a forest on fire? Most sports require cat quickness, lots of stopping and starting up again. And balls are chased, then settled, swatted, cradled or pushed along before flinging the ball at some cage protected by a cat-quick goalie or space-eating fat person. And so why do so many high school and college coaches continue to set fitness test benchmarks for times and distances that have nothing to do with the sport they coach? There is no transfer value involved. It’s like figuring out the difference between geometry and trigonometry or trying to find a calculus major with a sense of humor.

Snippets - Veronica D’Amico is an assistant field hockey coach at Tower Hill. She was a goalie for Cape, graduating in 2010. V Lo had nine shutouts her senior season, but unbeaten Cape lost to Sussex Tech in the semifinals 1-0 on a goal by Abby Atkins with three minutes left to play. Tess Bernheimer scored a goal for Drexel field hockey in an 8-2 win over visiting Rider. At the Aug. 23 Cape school board meeting, my granddaughter Anna was hired to teach at the Sussex Consortium, making her a third-generation Frederick teacher in the Cape district, totalling 115 years. My three cars are a combined 37 years old. Jimmy McDowell, son of Dave McDowell, was hired as a vice principal at Cape. I played high school football and basketball at Bishop Egan in the Philly Catholic League with Jimmy’s uncle Paul McDowell, and I was inducted into the Egan Sports Hall of Fame with another uncle, Eddie McDowell. Jimmy was in the Blue-Gold All-Star football game in 2007 along with Cody Smith, and their all-star buddy was Ginger Shaud. It not only takes a village to raise a child, but several stadiums, a few gyms and a beach. Leslie Fazio of Lewes and Sussex Tech is now a senior at Delaware State playing goalie on the soccer team. Leslie’s grandfather Bill Lofland was a catcher at Lewes High for Chris Short. Bill first told me that story when I met him in 1975. Tyre Maull, former Cape lineman, is now a senior at Stevenson University playing right tackle for the Mustangs. Robert Mitchell, a former Cape football and basketball player, is a sophomore offensive lineman for Lackawanna College. Devin Miller is a senior offensive tackle at Wesley. Brandon Nixon is a redshirt sophomore playing defensive tackle for Delaware, majoring in applied mathematics (I mention the major because he’s the first football guy I’ve ever known to choose that major – pretty incredible). Brent Reed, also a redshirt sophomore, is a tight end and an economics major at Delaware. Evidently Brandon and Brent couldn’t get into the parks and recreation program. Hayden Shockley (Milford) and Kaylie Truitt (Cape) are on the field hockey roster at Lynchburg College. Athletes who play four years of a college sport then leave forever without graduating have either been exploited by the college for their talent or there’s a backstory you are not hearing. Learn from your mistakes – it happens to the best of us – but don’t drag your mistakes through life. Go back and get the degree, whatever it takes. Go on now, git!