Tom Hickman now a member of Legends Stadium
Grapple to the Brook champions - The Cape wrestling team crowned five individual bracket- busting champions, including Germaine Sunkett at 120 pounds; Garrett Smith, 138; Justin Lopez, 145; Sammy Mohr, 152, and Tommy Ott, heavyweight, to win the Grapple to the Brook Invitational Wrestling Tournament Jan. 14 over host Springbrook High School 234-170. Reservoir High School placed third. Sunkett won his first tournament, upsetting all the higher seeds to nail down the title. Tadeo Gonzalez, 160, placed second. “Overall, great tournament,” said coach Chris Mattioni. “We are wrestling well right now. We have a tough week ahead with Milford [Wednesday, Jan. 18] and Smyrna [Friday, Jan. 20]. I like the progress we are making, and it should be an exciting finish to the year.” Freshman J.J. Currie, 132, had his best outing, placing third, as did Austin Smith at 126. Andre Flowers, 171, and Spencer Brittingham, heavyweight, placed fourth. Nick Carroll placed sixth.
Triple play - Track athlete Paige Morris of the University of Delaware is the quintessential student-athlete and high-character person. She went to Beacon Middle School then Sussex Tech before Delaware. Her mom, Lisa Morris, teaches at Beacon while her dad, Martin Waples, is a former Cape athlete. Paige won the triple jump at the New York Gotham Cup Meet at the New York City Armory Friday, Jan. 13, jumping 38-feet-8-inches, just an inch off Delaware's school record. She works at the Nike Outlet in the summer and, according to manager Teri Burton, comes to work every day with a smile on her face.
Mission accomplished! - Tom Hickman, the father of Cape track who coached his team to state titles in 1971-72-73-75, an American war hero who won the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts during five combat campaigns as a forward observer, where his 1944 daily life expectancy was like so 47 seconds ago at any moment, turned 90 Jan. 14. Last Thursday night at the Cape school board meeting, Hickman was approved/included/inducted/canonized - not sure what the word is - but he is now a member of Legends Stadium. A plaque will be purchased and a ceremony will follow. I'm thinking of having a Stealth bomber fly over Slaughter Neck on the way to Legends Stadium as a symbolic gesture to the man and community that helped bring the Cape district together before most people's times but not mine. A special thanks to Dr. Kevin Carson and the Cape school board for allowing this fast-tracking in time for Coach Hickman's 90th birthday. See you all at the ceremony.
Who are real Delaware athletes - Is Joe Flacco a real Delaware athlete or just a Jersey guy who played two years at Delaware? How about Katelyn Falgowski, 22, who played for Saint Mark's and UNC and the United States Olympic Team but is from Pennsylvania--is she real Delaware? How about Devon Still, who played at Howard, is from Wilmington and earned first team All-American honors at Penn State? I like Jermyll Jarmon of Indian River as the most authentic and best athletic Delaware person because in a year with so many accomplished athletes, he ran and threw for 51 touchdowns, played safety and is one of the best high school infielders in the entire country. No one matches his athleticism or could do what he did, but I believe he could cross over and do any of the other sports.
Snippets - An informal gathering of friends of the late Warren “Coach B” Beideman will be held at 1 p.m., Saturday, Jan.21, at the Lewes Senior Center at Nassau. This will be a chance for friends to share remembrances and perhaps old pictures or simply step to the microphone to tell the rest of us how Coach B impacted their lives. Please come; it promises to be an uplifting experience like every single meeting with Coach B, whom we all miss already. There will be sub trays and pizza chased by water and soft drinks. If you're on a resolution diet, please bring your own fruit.
The Las Vegas odds by Monday morning, Jan. 16, had New England as 7.5-point favorites over Baltimore and San Francisco as 2.5 over the Giants. I've always been a Giants fan since I was mistaken for 1964 NFL first-round pick Tucker Frederickson during a check verification at a New York gas station in 1977. I was wearing a Giants golf shirt I had purchased at Gershwin's in Rehoboth. I signed an autograph and got out of there. Go on now, git!
