People in Sports

Sports Editor Emeritus

Email Fredman at fredman@capegazette.com

Every athlete teaches life lessons

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

Coaches are the unsung heroes of middle school 

Dave Frederick
5 days 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
1 week 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
1 week 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
2 weeks 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
2 weeks 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

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

Wisecracks and jokes inside sports stories. You...

Dave Frederick
3 weeks 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
4 weeks 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
1 month 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
1 month 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...

1 month 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
1 month 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
1 month 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
1 month 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
1 month 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
1 month ago
Knick-Knacker - Caravel Academy softball coach Randy Johnson (School Lane - Cape kid) was suspended...

A confabulous morning running down dreams of...

Dave Frederick
2 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...

2 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
2 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
2 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...

2 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

2 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...

2 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
2 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...

2 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

3 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...

3 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...

3 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...

3 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
3 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...

3 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...

3 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
3 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
3 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
4 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...

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

Contagious celebrations in a neurodiverse universe

4 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...

4 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
4 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...

4 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
4 months ago
Two-time state champion - Junior McKenzie Winward of Newark Charter School is the two-time DII...

Champions compete without fear of failure

4 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...

5 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

5 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
5 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

5 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...

5 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...

5 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
5 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
5 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
6 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
6 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
6 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
6 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
6 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
6 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
6 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
6 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
7 months ago
Name game - Beacon Principal Kathleen Sheehan is in the West Chester University Sports Hall of Fame...