People in Sports

Sports Editor Emeritus

Email Fredman at fredman@capegazette.com

A confabulous morning running down dreams of...

Dave Frederick
7 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...

7 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
7 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
7 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...

7 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

7 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...

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

Athletic scholarships are structured and shrouded in...

Dave Frederick
7 months ago
Take it to the House - The recent House v. NCAA settlement of a lawsuit effective for the 2025-26...

Holy goalie, Batman. The Riddler returns to guard...

7 months ago
The Riddler - Izzy Mekulski was a question mark last field hockey season as a first-year starter as...

Bernie Gallagher’s running resumé boggles the mind

8 months ago
Bernie’s bio - Bernie Gallagher, 84, walked the Seashore 5-Miler July 13, crossing the finish line...

Jules Woodall goes for 200th consecutive Ten Sisters...

8 months ago
Jules Woodall - Jules, 76, is a relentless runner, a tall guy and a nice guy. This Saturday, he...

Restrictive rules gave athletes more free time...

8 months ago
Rules of restrictions - The hot summer months used to be a cooling-off period for school-aged...

Roger Franks: Hall of fame swimmer, father of...

8 months ago
Roger Franks - I emceed the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame banquet in 1997. I remember introducing 70...

Emeritus man running a fade pattern across the...

Dave Frederick
8 months ago
Emeritus man - A retired guy who recognized me from a People in Sports column photo asked, “What...

If you bash a local Muppet, the matrix comes back to...

8 months ago
Muppet Matrix - “Muppets don’t bash other muppets,” that is the code at Sesame Street by the Sea...

Jungle Jim’s more tame than the Sports Complex that...

8 months ago
Jungle Jim’s - Do you remember the giant water slide at Jungle Jim’s called The Rampage? That thing...

Savannah Bananas run trophy to Lewes Beach for a bay...

Dave Frederick
8 months ago
Savannah Bananas - I made a joke about the podium being purchased from the Laurel Flea Market...

Slippery when wet: A sports life connected by song...

Dave Frederick
8 months ago
Vanilla Fudge - A slippery-when-wet Rehoboth Boardwalk with Sunday morning drizzle welcomed 353...

Athletes in action powered by play, not slowed by...

Dave Frederick
9 months ago
Mostly cloudy - I cover the sports of field hockey and girls’ lacrosse, both competitions governed...

Character is the essence of the athlete revealed in...

9 months ago
Championship connections - I took a photo of the Clampitts after graduation and didn’t drop one...

Contagious celebrations in a neurodiverse universe

9 months ago
Team Reese - Reese Cathcart is a Mariner sixth-grader who plays field hockey and lacrosse. The 18th...

The Sussex Guide: Tim Holton runs tethered to Joe...

9 months ago
Sussex Guide - Tim Holton is, among other things, a transplant to Sussex County from Brooklyn, N.Y...

Moronic moments: We came to get down so jump around

Dave Frederick
9 months ago
Moronic Moment - "Watch out, moron!” “No, you da Moron!” “Life is a highway. I wanna ride it all...

We are the champions, my friends; track athletes...

9 months ago
Two guys - There is no more athletic event on the track than the 110-meter high hurdles. It...

Runner is a two-time state champion, same event on...

Dave Frederick
9 months ago
Two-time state champion - Junior McKenzie Winward of Newark Charter School is the two-time DII...

Champions compete without fear of failure

9 months ago
Champions Stadium - Step on the track or inside the lines in any sport and you are a champion with...

State track championships are a two-day lesson in...

10 months ago
Security blanket - The two-day divisional track championships held May 9-10 at Dover High School...

Keep your shirt on, just change colors

10 months ago
Polashirt - It’s a Philly pronunciation from my childhood – short sleeves, no collar, usually with...

‘Smile for the camera’ not what finishing runners...

Dave Frederick
10 months ago
Smile on request - I don’t smile and I don’t take requests. But that's just me. Jackie Rams, a...

You can’t go home again, but home is where the heart is

10 months ago
Home is where the heart is - “You Can’t Go Home Again” is a novel by Thomas Wolfe that was...

Ice bag becomes swag for injured freshman Emmilyn...

10 months ago
Dislocated and mislocated - Emmilyn Swope has an effervescent personality. She is a freshman two-...

Cape’s three middle schools closing out year with 45...

10 months ago
Blood in the game - “I stand accused of the things I’ve said.” - BB King. When Cape had two middle...

Cape ballers from 50 years ago receive Hall of Fame...

Dave Frederick
10 months ago
Flashback 50 - The 1975 Cape state championship boys’ basketball team of coach Ralph Baird and...

Walk forcibly and carry a short stick; linemen for...

Dave Frederick
10 months ago
Linemen with long poles - Fred Thomas long pole defensemen Colin Callaway got his chance to clear...

Runners ride the wind around the bend

Dave Frederick
11 months ago
Ride the wind - “C’mon on the rising wind, we’re going up around the bend.” - John Fogarty, 1970...

Lawyer Bill Schab is a pro bono girls’ lacrosse...

Dave Frederick
11 months ago
Schab and Stahl - Sounds like a law firm, not a lacrosse coach and his granddaughters. Lawyer Bill...

Lizzie and Jamie witness Ovechkin’s record-breaking...

Dave Frederick
11 months ago
The question, “Where you at?” is grammatically incorrect but succinct and digitally friendly. High...

Mason on the mound in Toronto inspires a Sussex...

Dave Frederick
11 months ago
Mason Fluharty - By George, he made it to the major league mound. Mason Fluharty, Toronto Blue Jays...

Reading stadium signs and plaques and making...

Dave Frederick
11 months ago
Centrowitz connections - Matt Centrowitz won an Olympic gold medal in the 1,500 meters at the 2016...

Remembering people at their best and knowing where...

Dave Frederick
11 months ago
Interior decorator - I don’t have the talent to coordinate colors in a room or on my body. I’m not...

Time to name Cape’s wrestling room ‘Matty Dome’ to...

Dave Frederick
11 months ago
Rastling room - Wrestling rooms across America have a dens-to-dungeons quality with the aroma of...

Running down the past: 43-year-old record is in the...

Dave Frederick
11 months ago
Running for the record - I was the Cape track coach in 1982. On a Friday night in May at the Dover...

Players and coaches are on a first-name basis

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Name game - Beacon Principal Kathleen Sheehan is in the West Chester University Sports Hall of Fame...

The spirit of coaches past can be found in the eyes...

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Windows to the soul - Searching for departed grandparents, just look into the eyes of the...

Young guns in fighting chairs for state wrestling...

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Smart coaches - Most wrestling coaches rock shirts and ties, perhaps a sports jacket, maybe even a...

Attention, damsels, all lacrosse games are canceled

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Country Road - “Country road takes me home where my games are postponed. I'm a damsel and all my...

Autocorrect is the subliminal mind of artificial...

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Magic Max - Anyone who has watched Cape senior Max Meadows wrestle in tournaments will understand...

Buffy and Barney – a story that circles back 25...

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Male menopause - Alpha males and teammates beyond prime-time sports playing days share sentimental...

Funny valentines and inspirational stories of toughness

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Funny Valentines - Kevin and Laurie Milnes have been married for 43 years. A t the Valentine’s Day...

Gymnasiums are longhouses of human interaction

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Long house - A gym where games are played is a community version of the Quaker meeting house, just...

Sliding, scooting and going belly down: the world of...

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
“Boot Scoot Boogie” - A month ago, I was lying on a table waiting for a contizone injection in my...

Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Track guy - Bob Paulen, 88, was on the Cape track Feb. 3, not expecting a high school quad...

Broad Street boomer stopping in Belltown celebrating...

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Robber Barons - Take Black history away from this old Broad Street boomer and you are stealing part...

Digital bits and fragments are all over sportscape

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Good Vibrations - With digital bits and fragments of information all over the sportscape, there is...

Family and friends surround the culture of sports

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Arm bars - Two young girls, arms locked, skipped past my camera during Saturday’s Cape at...

Taking care of fitness every day

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Taking care of fitness - The first time I saw 27-year-old rookie Ichiro Suzuki was like every time...

A busman’s holiday taking my camera to a middle...

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Rastling relatives - I am the grandfather of Mikey, who was a wrestler for Cape, and I’ve been...

Sports officials always have the last word

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Clarify but don’t question - Coach Chris Mattioni, a 30-year veteran who’s always composed but...

Connecting the dot matrix of sports histories

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Yell it and spell - My cellphone rang at the end of the Houston Texans’ victory over the Los...

The Sounds of Silence honored Sweetness Walter Payton

Dave Frederick
1 year ago
Sweet Silence - Jeff Pearlman wrote the definitive biography of the late Chicago Bears running back...