Power of love propels Smyrna; Cape's love train has left station

I noticed something really good going on at a Smyrna basketball game two years ago and wrote about it. These people are unified and cool and seem to like each other, and they’re all about Smyrna. So I have backed down from my water tower and prison jokes. Smyrna now has close to 1,200 students in grades 9 through 12 and when the new 2,100-capacity gym is completed the school will have three working gyms. There had been plans for a natatorium but that turned into a big multipurpose room, which runs activities around the clock and is home to the Little Wrestlers program and other activities. High school Principal Tony Saligo greeted me as “Fredman” last Saturday, March 7, at the basketball game - we had met earlier this year at a football game and he offered to take me on a school tour. But I must admit at that point the only tour I was interested in was the new Wawa on Route 13. I asked Tony how they did the three-gym thing when Cape was set to demolish a gym the community most certainly needs. “We just like each other,” Tony said, offering nothing else, and he didn’t have to. Cape has become a 24/7 cat fight district with school board members even going racial calling out “white people” and a paranoid professional staff bolstered by a cadre of cracked individuals obsessed with politics but not much interested in hanging out with students. The beauty of the ocean and Inland Bays and the amber hues of the great marsh produce a deep sea of grouchy people? How does that happen?

KYLE WHITE - Kyle White, the dad, ran on my track teams from 1983-85 and helped Cape Henlopen win two indoor state titles in 1984 and 1985. Kyle was the guy who could run 4:30 in the mile, 2:00 in the half and 50 flat in the quarter on close to no training. He was truly gifted. His son, Kyle, one of the greatest point guards ever to play at Cape, is lighting it up for the Lightning of Goldey-Beacom College in Wilmington, leading the basketball team to its first Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) postseason victory as an NCAA Division II member. Kyle scored 25 in a win over Holy Family, and he was named CACC Player of the Week. Goldey lost to Bloomfield College 78-76 in the semifinals of the CACC tournament. White scored 20 points and was named to the second team all-conference squad.

PAT KELLY –Former Indian River head boys basketball coach Pat Kelly took his 31-0 Springstead basketball team into the Florida 4A State finals where his “Hoosiers” story came to an end. Springstead had beaten tournament favorite Pensacola in the semifinals. Springstead lost to Cocoa Beach in the final game after leading by 13 in the second half. The Eagles of Springstead, who were trying to become the first North Suncoast program to win a state basketball title (boys or girls) since 1964, finished 31-1.

SNIPPETS - Cape’s lacrosse girls took to the turf field at Legends Stadium Wednesday, March 4, but not before shoveling some snow, which seemed a distant memory after a weekend of near 80-degree weather.

The DIBCA Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2009 is: Nate Cloud, player, veteran category; Dexter Boney, player; Delino DeShields, player; Sue Manelski Kampert, player; Terence Stansbury, player; Lou Bender, coach; and Al Cartwright, friend of basketball. The induction ceremonies will be held at a luncheon from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 21, at the Bob Carpenter Center at the University of Delaware.