Remembering people at their best and knowing where they landed

Interior decorator - I don’t have the talent to coordinate colors in a room or on my body. I’m not an ensemble guy or motif guy. My home office is clean and ordered to my standards, but it gets away from me, evolving into stuff stashed all over the place. On my last birthday, Susan gifted me a reordered and freshly painted office. Seashore Striders handyman services of Tim Bamforth did the work. And for some reason after covering Cape wrestling for 50 years from the dungeon to the loft and now the room, I have taken an interest in seeing the names of wrestlers on the walls. Below are the Cape guys placing top three going back 52 years. State champs: Willie Vann, 1973; Tyrone Gibbs, 1975 and 1976; Randy Johnson, 1977; Perry Walls, 1978; Charles Turner, 1980; Jon Lobiondo, 1989; Jon Lobiondo, 1990; Jared Hill, 1991; Matt Graviet, 1999; Brian Riggin, 2006: Thomas Ott, 2012, 2013, 2014; Aaron Mattioni, 2014; Anthony Caruso, 2016 and 2019; Cory Lawson, 2016 and 2017; Andre Currie, 2020; Luke Bender, 2021; Mikey Frederick, 2022; Lucas Ruppert, 2022; Luke Bender, 2023; CJ Fritchman, 2023; Austin Guerrieri, 2024; Nick Walker, 2025; Patrick Donahue, 2025. Second-place finishers: Joe Gibbs, 1971; Tyrone Gibbs, 1974; Tyrone Gray, 1981; Andy Nowakowski, 1990; Baron Vincent, 1991; Eric Beamon, 1997; Bobby Hopkins, 2005; Jason Flannery, 2009; Justin Lopez, 2014; Nick Carroll, 2014; Ja’Von Currie, 2015; Zach Flores, 2017; Anthony Caruso, 2017 and 2018; Chris Handlin, 2019; Billy Ott, 2019; CJ Fritchman, 2021 and 2022; Jackson Handlin, 2021; Lucas Ruppert, 2021; Dalton Deevey, 2021; Carson Kammerer, 2022; Alex Taylor, 2022; Nick Walker, 2023; Andrew Schaen, 2023; Alex Taylor, 2023; Nick Walker, 2024; Patrick Donahue, 2024. Third-place finishers: Joe Gibbs, 1973; Jon Doney, 1976; Kurt Brown, 1981; Tyrone Gray, 1983; Chad Epifanio, 1986; Jared Hill, 1992; David Barlow, 1997; Kyle Hopkins, 2002; Andy Bradley, 2003; Travis Dorman, 2005; Kyle Kaminski, 2008; Chris Young, 2011; Sam Mohr, 2011 and 2012; Thomas Ott, 2011; Justin Lopez, 2012; Elliott Young, 2014; Emerson Fajardo, 2015; Vinnie Diego, 2016 and 2017; Joel Torres, 2016; Mikey Frederick, 2020 and 2021; Luke Bender, 2020; Finbar Rishko, 2020; Alex Taylor, 2021; Holt Baker, 2023; Blake Walker, 2025. Perpetual-style plaques are fun and just require adding name plates each year for each state placer. Now it's back to my lane where some have advised me to stay. 

Nobody told me - Top-of-the-line Alabama-born sportswriter Rick Bragg published a collection of his columns in a book titled “Somebody Told Me.” The title was a response to the question, “How do you know or find out about so much stuff?” Braggs answer: “Somebody told me.” The last 15 years with the burgeoning world of social media and streaming services and cellphone cameras, it's more like "Nobody told me” because your silly superfluous giant camera, high-resolution self is not required in an instamatic moment. Macy Steinwedel scored her 100th career goal Monday in a 19-1 win over Polytech. It came on her fifth goal of the game. I could have been gunning for goal No. 100 if I had been given a heads up. I saw a nice group shot across the field of Macy with the banner surrounded by teammates. I waited for Macy after the game because I just knew I had to get the photo of Macy and her banner made by coach Leigh earlier that day. It reminded me of 2017 when Cailey Thornburg scored her 100th career goal at Smyrna – she had six goals in an 18-2 win – and there was no banner, no nothing. I had a kid write 100 on a piece of notebook paper, a flashback to the iconic photo of Wilt Chamberlain after scoring 100 points against the Knicks in March 1962. 

All I’m Asking - “Where are you now?” - Clint Black, 1990. I see names of former champion-level athletes or state championships banners on the walls of gyms and I’m beyond wonderment, thinking “where are they now?” because mostly I’m the guy who actually knows. And that is where the real stories lie alongside families and communities, with schools and sports being a big part of life’s journey.  

Snippets - Anna Stancofski was a volunteer field hockey coach last fall. This spring, she helps out with lacrosse. Anna told me she missed the last play day because she was sitting for more than six hours taking the MCATS (Medical College Admission Test) as part of the medical school application process. I call Anna “Dust Bunny,” which goes back to the first time I saw her dominate a field hockey game as a defender for Beacon playing at Millsboro on a dry, clumpy, dusty field in the fall of 2015. Beacon won 1-0 en route to a 10-0 season. There were about 10 athletes on the 2015 Beacon soccer team that went on to play college sports, not necessarily soccer, but also baseball, lacrosse and volleyball, including Jake Gelof (Dodgers) and Luke Johnson (Nationals). Go on now, git!