People in Sports

Sports Editor Emeritus

Email Fredman at fredman@capegazette.com

‘Stay there’ and ‘short time’ are wrestling commands...

Dave Frederick
13 hours ago
Stay there! Stay there! The coach exhorts, “Stay there! Short time!” The wrestler is on top, the...

Bad Bunny and Snoop Dogg are funny names surrounding...

Dave Frederick
4 days ago
Bad Bunny and Snoop Dogg - Where do little melons go in the summertime? John Cougar’s Mellencamp. I...

Young athletes bring magic moments to sports...

Dave Frederick
1 week ago
Sportsmanship and graciousness - I spoke to Lake Forest’s Jerusalem Howard two years ago and just...

Brokaw twins ran and swam for Cape; now they’re...

Dave Frederick
1 week ago
Hey, Ricky - Ricky Brokaw was a swimmer and cross country runner at Cape, graduating in 2016. His...

I’m a sportswriter, not a sociologist, but I do have...

Dave Frederick
2 weeks ago
Talk too much - “You talk too much, you worry me to death. You talk too much, you even worry my pet...

Truckin’ Triathlon: Wawa to the bay to the Cape campus

Dave Frederick
2 weeks ago
Blue Ice - Truck Cab Triathlon - There are three venues where I like to park and reflect while...

Track generates numbers, but not much funny happens

Dave Frederick
3 weeks ago
Henlopen track championships - Dover won the boys’ title and Sussex Academy claimed the girls’...

Halfway House of Hope: A sports showcase of promise...

Dave Frederick
3 weeks ago
Halfway house - The Fred Thomas gym is artistically cool, cozy and comfortable, but it doesn’t...

Cape wrestlers place third at Grapple at the Brook 

Dave Frederick
4 weeks ago
Grapple at the Brook - The Cape wrestlers, the traveling people of Viking sports, placed third of...

Swimming in the stream of consciousness, showing up...

Dave Frederick
1 month ago
Streaming the scene - Late-afternoon middle school sports is its own scene outside the lines. It's...

Real competition features best on best

Dave Frederick
1 month ago
Friars Club - I have a good friend, Chuck Chinici, who used to be the AD at Malvern Prep in Malvern...

Personal bests and milestones in the sports landscape

Dave Frederick
1 month ago
Raven flies high - “Air” Jordan Welch, a Sussex Tech senior high jumper, took the top off the event...

Pups and pop-pops are ready for banner year in 2026

Dave Frederick
1 month ago
Just some kid - One-mile walkers and 5K runners mesh at the end of their endeavors. This little guy...

Well-coached players don’t do dumb stuff

Dave Frederick
1 month ago
Don’t do dumb stuff - Forty years ago, I wrote that the Cape boys’ lacrosse team was the best- and...

The spiritually secure hit harder than heathens

Dave Frederick
1 month ago
Sunday morning coming down - On a Sunday morning in Lewes 50 years ago, the Fred house front-door...

Governor’s Cup gets prime placement in Cape...

Dave Frederick
1 month ago
In My Room - “Do my dreaming and my scheming. Lie awake and pray. Do my crying and my sighing...

The whammy is bad, but the double whammy is worse

Dave Frederick
1 month ago
The whammy - Two extended arms with fingers on both hands wiggling coming from a sports person is...

Great athletes snap wherever they matriculate

Dave Frederick
1 month ago
The Warrior - A song by American rock band Scandal (1984) reached No. 1 in Canada. The band was...

Cute person wins Ugly Sweater 5K

Dave Frederick
2 months ago
Redemption Song - Flor Duerr of Dover was rocking it Saturday morning at the Redemption City Ugly...

I rarely read, except for T-shirts and tattoos

Dave Frederick
2 months ago
Run for Dad - I’m a writer more than a reader, yet I read T-shirts and tattoos. The subjects are...

Remember when I was young and so were you?

Dave Frederick
2 months ago
Remember me? Thousands of photos were already taken at Flag Alley Saturday morning at a turnaround...

Sports memories are often when we were at our best 

Dave Frederick
2 months ago
Life coach - I received a wonderful surprise home visit from Linwood Downing and Lance White...

Connections lead back to the Atlantic City Steel Pier

Dave Frederick
2 months ago
Pumpkin Pie 5K - The Pumpkin Pie 5K is always a great race the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It’s...

Turkey soup: connections for which to be thankful

Dave Frederick
2 months ago
Turkey soup - Risking my sharp, satirical and sardonic edge, I've been writing more “Turkey Soup...

Ivy alumni are an entangled web of athletes

Dave Frederick
2 months ago
Yale Lockdowns - “Fredman, I just read that a young man named Brenner Short has committed to play...

Staying silent at football games is a tall order

Dave Frederick
2 months ago
Sounds of silence - It’s a tall order to ask a crowd of 50,000 rabid fans – many of whom have been...

Alphas and boomers stride and collide 

Dave Frederick
2 months ago
Boomers and bouncers - Allen “Chattahoochee” Jackson, 57, straight outta Milton, representing...

Fall colors captured at cross country races and in...

Dave Frederick
3 months ago
Tapestry - A cross country race through the flora and fauna of fall foliage ambulates like a...

Lady bugs and lessons of sportsmanship at XC...

Dave Frederick
3 months ago
Cape Guy - You know the Capital One Bank Guy? Well, after the Sesame Street by the Sea Fred...

Showed up for a single photo and a XC race broke out

Dave Frederick
3 months ago
Cross purposes - I showed up at Cape Tuesday afternoon to grab a photo of Logan Crotty for...

Happy is the heart of the long distance runner with...

Dave Frederick
3 months ago
Happy at last - Let’s face it, some body types are better suited for distance running and others...

Mortal muppets nestled inside the sock drawer of...

Dave Frederick
3 months ago
Marauding middle schoolers - A scheduled middle school cross country meet Oct. 29 at Killens Pond...

Shiny, happy people laughing at Sea Witch 5K

Dave Frederick
3 months ago
Happy Together! Beautiful spirits and smiling faces. I don't know if I’ve ever been that happy on a...

Come get these sports memories

Dave Frederick
3 months ago
We Are the Champions! I lifted the following paragraph from Jay Futcher’s obituary, which appears...

The world of school sports is full of surprise and...

Dave Frederick
3 months ago
Captain Marvel - Forty-five years a sports reporter, and I still feel great surprise and wonderment...

There are no dead heats in cross country races

Dave Frederick
4 months ago
Dead heat - I was heading to JV field hockey when I saw there was a middle school cross country...

Every athlete teaches life lessons

4 months ago
Harrington Harrier - Matt Sparacino, representing Races2Run in a Seashore Striders racing event,...

Coaches are the unsung heroes of middle school 

Dave Frederick
4 months ago
National Coaches Day - Like most fans, I didn’t know Monday was National Coaches Day. That was...

Cape and family are one and the same after 50 years...

Dave Frederick
4 months ago
Cape and family - Susan, Davey and I left Lewes Saturday for a 10 a.m. JV field hockey game between...

Blocker doctors double team at Midway Chiropractic

Dave Frederick
4 months ago
Blocker doctors - Dr. Trip DelCampo of Midway Chiropractic has welcomed Dr. Devin Miller into his...

Sports fans are the snap dragons in the stands

Dave Frederick
4 months ago
Lightning and liftgating - A Thursday night field hockey game was delayed. I sat on the bumper of...

Sharp as a leather ball, facing down pressure free...

Dave Frederick
4 months ago
Dogfish Dash - If Cape had chosen Dogfish as a mascot 55 years ago instead of Vikings, then...

Three Cape lacrosse girls commit to Delaware

4 months ago
Yo, Chief! Cosmic connections running through a Philly house cat named Chief. Delaware associate...

Wisecracks and jokes inside sports stories. You...

Dave Frederick
4 months ago
Wisecracker - I stood at the podium for the girls’ state championship lacrosse banquet at the Lewes...

Touchdown Jesus sees the entire field at Notre Dame

Dave Frederick
5 months ago
Touchdown Jesus - The 34-foot mural that resides in the distance of Notre Dame’s library lawn is...

Free and overpriced is my business plan for sports...

Dave Frederick
5 months ago
Free and overpriced - I often describe the photography part of my life as free and overpriced. That...

Positive people lead the way in sports, a culture...

Dave Frederick
5 months ago
Chattahoochie - Allen Jackson is a good kid. He is a fireman/first responder at Station 85 in...

Cool sometimes collides with fashionable in athletic...

5 months ago
Degraded retrograded Fredpop - I am a walking throwback living in modern times. I wear New Balance...

Local kids dot the landscape of college sports rosters

Dave Frederick
5 months ago
Lost in transition - The running season transitions from summer to fall with barely a wobble. The...

Don’t hijack Ronnie Mac, better to snag the Lewes...

Dave Frederick
5 months ago
Ronnie Mac - Why don’t you hurry back? Jim Murray (1938-2025) was an American professional football...

Black Girls Run chooses Outlet Liquors 5K for annual...

Dave Frederick
5 months ago
Chapter and verse - I am well versed in the sport of running. Just open the book to any chapter and...

Soul searching – a photographic memory keeps images...

Dave Frederick
5 months ago
Soul searching - I move about in a world of fit people pursuing healthy lifestyles. In 2016, I was...

Sports rules and regulations go from serious to silly

Dave Frederick
5 months ago
Knick-Knacker - Caravel Academy softball coach Randy Johnson (School Lane - Cape kid) was suspended...

A confabulous morning running down dreams of...

Dave Frederick
6 months ago
Confabulation - I chose the word to describe old coaches kicking around sports stories and shared...

Runners’ shirts are a tidal wave of messages, none...

6 months ago
A sea of shirts - I photograph running races. The T-shirts flowing past my camera are a tidal wave...

Pets and throw rugs account for most orthopaedic...

Dave Frederick
6 months ago
El Hombre Blanco - Martin Rodriguez jokingly calls me “Mi Amigo Blanco.” I call Martin “Mi Amigo...

Wasabi and Westminster talked up at Race for the Paws

Dave Frederick
6 months ago
Wazzup Wasabi - The Wazzup Bud Lite commercials first aired in 1999. The routine was created by...

Sitting inside the circle of shade at Champions...

6 months ago
Slim Shady - I sat in a chair inside a circle of shade cast by the Darby Klopp Girl Scouts scoring...

Slimline sneakers now trending with the style set

6 months ago
Slim sneakers - I have photographed and written about so many foot traffic races over five decades...

Bob Barnes always remembered the kids he coached and...

6 months ago
Bob Barnes - Little League coach Bob Barnes died July 8. He was a longtime Lewes Board of Public...