Back when everybody knew everybody else

MRS. HANLEY - I am old school but a generation short of the storied period of a Lewes lost to the pages of old yearbooks and oral histories. That was back in idyllic times when everyone in town actually did know everyone else and a walk down the sidewalk or night at a football game was a meeting of real friends who cared for one another.

Julia Hanley was married to coach Don Hanley and on Jan. 17, she passed away at the age of 87 surrounded by family, all of whom I know. There are the Smith grandchildren - Kim, Cody, Christy and Kelly, and the Warrens - Jacki and Jen, and daughters Connie and husband Charlie Smith and Marylou and husband Wayne Warren.

Many years ago at a little game “down to Millsboro” my wife asked “Is there anything I can do to help you?” and I suggested going into the bleachers and finding out why everyone sitting there was related to several other people and players.

Mrs Hanley - she always said call me Julia, not wanting to be my grandmother, was a person who “got it” with a great sense of humor. She would always say to me “You are so bad,” and have a smile on her face. We’d talk about fun stuff related to sports and local issues about teachers and schools and how her grandchildren were doing. Her husband, Don, is one of the legends of Legends Stadium and for those with local knowledge Julie Hanley is right there beside him same as it ever was.

GIANT FAN - If I ever find myself on any type of wagon I am jumping free. But in my deepest sports fantasies I always imagined myself as a New York Giant linebacker playing in a game like the NFC championship at Green Bay.

Last Sunday, basking in the radiant heat of my cast-iron woodstove, I was into it like no game I’ve watched in a long time. Eli “showed up” and so did no practice Palxico and no one saw that coming. The Brett Farve and Packers versus Patriots and Tom Brady storylines were just too cute. There was coach Tom Coughlin with that pinched, frostbitten face, and if ever there was a guy I’d like to see ruin the dreams of “The Hoody” Bill Belichick it is the edgy Coughlin.

FREDMAN INTERRUPTED - I am the man so relaxed that what I’m saying or doing can’t be that important and I think that is a correct assumption. I lead the world in “but into my conversations” as the person I’m talking to and the ”third person in” form a new union and I become odd man out, but not to worry, there is the IPOD. And what is proper IPOD etiquette? Let’s say if a person is working out but you want to slow that down with some innocuous conversation. I find that most people come up and just stand there until you hit pause, and if your pocket starts to vibrate they want you to answer the phone because that’s what they do and, anyway, they want to know who is looking for you.

And people who walk fast on the job - what is that all about? I mean how important is arriving at your work station to begin a task no one cares if you finish.

This is Sussex County and it’s all about pacing and embracing interruptions. I called my friend, Richard Perez of Lewes Body Works, last week after my wife locked two sets of keys in her car saying, ”I thought you couldn’t do that” and I said, ”you’re right, but the key has to be in the ignition not on the seat otherwise “how do it know?”
Richard said “he was swamped and busy.” I told him I didn’t care, he could consider his bell rung and hung up. Twenty minutes later he called me from my own driveway to tell me the car door was open. I went out and we talked for 30 minutes. That is Sussex County at its finest and, by the way, don’t call him unless you have earned capital in his memory bank.

SNIPPETS - I still don’t understand why the Little Big House has to come down when there is a local sports community crying out for an indoor space to play. I have heard all the reasons and I don’t like any of them. A big old gym you can’t hurt is just what the community needs. A person who could broker a deal to save the Little Big House would be a community hero.

Special Fred props to Nick Kmetz of Indian River for coming out for wrestling as a senior to help his team. A star quarterback not afraid to put his rep on the line, I find that courageous and refreshing.