Vezmar of Milford barefoots Hospice Hotfoot 5K

Hotfoot Hospice - David Vezmar, 45, lives in Milford, so it wasn’t much of a jaunt for him to hotfoot it over to the starting line for the 11th annual Delaware Hospice 5K Run and Memorial Walk June 26. Some of the roads around the Delaware Hospice Center had just received a fresh coat of black pitch, which had been curing in the 95-degree summer sun all day long. Vezmar runs barefooted, and unless his neurotransmitters have a blockage, that had to hurt like hot sand on the dogs of Amish tourists. Beebe nurse Brittany Betts, a 2011 Cape grad who played field hockey and lacrosse, won her very first overall women’s race title in 25:21. Brittany just stays fit and has a lovable personality. At 26, I still call her a funny kid. Gerard Jones, 44, of Milford was the overall winner of the race, which attracted 117 runners and another 30 walkers. The Hospice 5K begins a string of five races and one biathlon over seven days. 

Rollover Beethoven - Fourth of July weekend 20 years ago coming back from Philly around 1 a.m., I was a passenger in my own 1992 4Runner being driven by high school buddy Joe McCann. A car with a teenage girl and a dog on board ran a red light at Route 299 and Route 13, and struck us like a torpedo off the port bow-wow. The 4Runner went over and over, again and again. I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, but instinctively employed the trolley car death grip on the rubber handle over my right shoulder. Football training kicked in and I fought against pressure. Glass was flying in slow motion, and a piece of windshield smacked me in the face. My right rear flank went out the window and came back inside. It felt like I had been shot. When the wild ride stopped, Joe and I sprinted from the car to the side of the road and dove into a roadside ditch. The paramedics packaged me. I remember one saying, “Careful, he’s a big one!” On the ride to the hospital, one asked, “What’s your name?” I couldn’t decide. He asked, “Do you know what day it is?” I had no idea. And then he asked, ”What’s your Social Security number?” I responded, “That’s the next logical question?” I gave him 10 digits and he said, “Good, good.” I asked, “How do you know I’m right?” Later that morning, I was sitting at the keyboard writing this column. My fingertips were purple, there was a hematoma on my right shin the size of a pickleball, scratches all over like I had been attacked by an ocelot, and embedded glass that would pop to the surface over several months. There was a bear claw injury on my back that took months to heal, but it hurt so good because it was proof I had survived and was alive. I thank those paramedics every day for keeping me in the game.

Going Lenny Welch - Cape, Eastern Baptist and Harvard law graduate Bryan Stevenson is tolerating fame and notoriety to advance his causes for equal justice. Recently, a local runner, Mike Richardson, a retired coach and teacher from Allentown, Pa., who spends six months in Florida, dropped the name Lenny Welch (now 81) as a member of his homeowners’ group. “‘Since I Fell For You’ ... that Lenny Welch?” I asked. “Yes,” Mike said. “How do you know that?” It’s because I heard Bryan Stevenson sing it at a Cape theater production in 1976 at the high school on Savannah Road. Bryan, a smart and gifted student, a stellar athlete, a singer and orator, graduated from Harvard and headed to Alabama to start the Equal Justice Initiative. The courage of convictions is beyond bravery. Leaders like Bryan swim in a sea of tranquility, on a personal mission to do what is right. But honestly, I’d just like to hear him sing again. 

Snippets - Alia Marshall was Player of the Year for lacrosse and field hockey for the 2018 school year. She will play field hockey at Northwestern. Jacki Coveleski was Player of the Year in field hockey and lacrosse her senior year at Cape 2011-12. She played field hockey at Delaware. Tiara Duffy was Player of the Year in field hockey in 2013. Tiara played softball at South Carolina. Meg Bartley was Player of the Year in lacrosse in 2011. She was a walk-on lacrosse player at Virginia Tech. Shemik Thompson, Cape’s newly named head coach of boys’ basketball, will meet with all prospective players and their families Monday, July 1, in the Cape theater. This is an open meeting if you’d like to drop by to see what’s up or to say welcome home to the Meek Man. And remember, in the Sussex County sports network, if you hear a rumor, chase it. Don’t worry about verification. Go on now, git!