Meet on the street: Friends sharing an ocean breeze

Muppet Alex - Alex Pires and I are age contemporaries. We are not alpha dogs, more like Parliament-Funkadelic Atomic Dogs, “Bow-wow-wow-yippie-yo-yippie-yeah.” We are meet-on-the-street friends, a shared respect riding an ocean breeze. Alex is the guy behind the 10 Sisters races in Dewey over the last 17 years. On Aug. 17, there was a rare Alex sighting before the race. Two years ago he showed up and ran most of them. “I’m here to support the people raising funds for breast cancer,” he said. I said, “Cool, I’m here to take photos.” Not like “stand still let me snap your photo,” more like “fluid motion, capture-the-soul photos with the Rehoboth Bay as a backdrop.” Alex is the Highway One guy, lawyer guy, bank guy, movie maker, concert organizer, but on a Saturday morning, we were just two fellas in the mist of Dewey Beach, standing on Dagsworthy Avenue waiting for a foot race to commence. 

Cuteness is disarming - I stopped by Eastern Shore Lacrosse Club tryouts by year of graduation Aug. 18 just to snap a few photos and chat up some unguarded coaches and athletes. I caught Ally Diehl and Mairead Rishko leaving Champions Stadium and said, “Stop, a rare photo op!” They know me. They smiled. Then we resumed our Sunday, their afternoon certain to include the word beach, mine more like beached. But what struck me after watching the younger players going through drills and skills stations was how competitively tough they are. I’m never surprised by young people, but sometimes I’m amazed and occasionally I’m lost in a maze, which is why I left my blue chair in the middle of a Rehoboth sidewalk.

Makes me stronger - You know the cliche, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” I was wondering what sporting event at the highest level I could survive at this stage of my life. I know like most men I’m a lot tougher in fantasy than I actually am in reality. How about playing goalie in the NHL for just one period? Catch a baseball for just an inning in a Major League Baseball game. Perhaps run back the opening kickoff in an NFL regular-season game. A quarter in an NBA game would cost you every ligament in your lower body plus losing all your teeth and one eyeball from errant elbows. But you know, watching from a safe distance, I think I’d be pretty good. 

Trail mix - I coached Cape cross country in 1977. We ran Gills Neck Road, threw in some New Road. There were loops to the beach and running the open road at Cape Henlopen State Park. And once in awhile we’d get a ride to Rehoboth and run the Boardwalk. But now with the extensive trail system, there are all kinds of cool places to run. But 50 high school kids moving down a trail at 4 p.m. sends a message to walk/run/bike defensively when facing a demographic with an above-average distractibility rating. When driving near trail crossovers, I always slow like a school bus rolling over train tracks. Then I look both ways. It is a shared responsibility. Proceed with prudence, as we mariners like to say. 

Hundred Year Club - Today, Aug. 23 is my son Dave’s 49th birthday. He was a first-grader in Boots Conaway’s class in 1975, my first year teaching at Cape. Now, in 2019, six Freds have gone from zero to 119 years of Cape teaching over three generations; Fredman, Susan, Dave, Carrie, Jack and Anna. I suggested a photo, maybe a posting on Cape’s website, perhaps recognition on the district-wide in-service day. My family looked at me like I had early onset lameness disorder. No one skipped more in-service days than I did; I retired that trophy. I didn’t give Cape a chance to reject the idea, which would have been poetic justice. Dave is the longest-serving Cape administrator at the building level, which is a good/bad sign, like what happened to the rest of the people?

Snippets - Gary Cimaglisis is the newly named executive director of DIAA. It’s pronounced Gary, the old-fashioned way. Donna Polk is the coordinator of interscholastic athletics. I’m the guy with the blue chair, that’s how they know me. Cape rising senior lacrosse player Sawyer Walker has committed to Winthrop University to play Division I lacrosse. Cape’s Jo Jo Kirby, a rising senior football and basketball player, is leaving Cape and moving to Virginia. Coach J.D. Maull received the news Wednesday. Robert Mitchell is a 6-foot-4, 310-pound lineman for the North Carolina Central Eagles. NCC plays at Towson Saturday, Sept. 7, if you want to catch a game. Robert’s grandfather was Robert Hopkins. His dad is Robert Mitchell Jr. They are related to the Hopkins family through the mom’s side. Lovey Hopkins is the mom to Deborah Williams, Elaine Seay, Annette Satchell and Jerrilyn Holmes, and Vaughn Hopkins. Robert and Lovey Hopkins are two of 15 siblings from their generation. You don’t need ancestry.com to know not to yell at a player from Sussex County unless you want the wrath of a thousand generations coming down on your head. Go on now, git!