COACH RETIRING - Back in 1975 Cape football coach Bill Muelheisen pulled me aside from practice and sent me over to meet Frank Coveleski, saying, “He is Coach! The rest of us just wear hats and whistles.”
Coach George Glenn is effectively retiring this month as a teacher/coach after 41 years in the business. Coach Glenn was the force behind the Salesianum program for 21 years playing the best people they could find and amassing a winning percentage around .750 - or is that the time?
Coach Glenn and Brian Donahue came to Cape in 1993, taking over a program that went 12-37 over the previous five years. Over the next eight years - four under Glenn and four under Donahue - Cape strung together eight consecutive winning seasons with a record of 57-23, including two state tournament appearances. In the six years since the Sallies connection stepped off the sidelines, Cape has accumulated six straight losing seasons and a record of 14-46.
The 11 years sandwiching Glenn and Donahue is a combined 26-83-1 with seven different head coaches. Now, I don’t know what any of that means, not having any weighted grades in Advanced Placement Statistics, but I do know if I had to go head-to-head with coach Glenn on the football chalkboard with my life on the line, I would be a Pop Tart.
Glenn is the smartest and most charismatic football guy I was ever around. Charisma in coaching comes in many styles - Glenn’s voice and words seemed to make a player’s heart vibrate, but I will say coach Glenn is the most imitated coaching character in the history of Delaware scholastic football and I have never met a former player of his who didn’t love the man and carry his life lessons every day.
Speaking for all the parents whose sons played for coach Glenn: “Thanks, coach, for teaching them football and how to accept the responsibility of being men.”
FLASHING BACK - I am proud to say my son, Tom, was a Glenn-coached quarterback during his first two years at Cape. Then there was J.D. Maull and Kai Maull and, off the top of my head, Theron Pavlik, Johnny Howard and Joey Cahill. And during the eight-year run there were running backs like Keavney Watson, Chris Pagano, Carl Floyd, Tykee Perry, Deshawn James, O.J. Wilson, Derrick Wilson, Shawn Bradham, Elijah Worthy and Tim Cannon - I’m doing this off the top of my head - lineman like Matt Graviet, Larry Oliver, Brad Travis, Trip DelCampo, Ben Evick and a host of other great ones.
The question is always on the table: “Does talent run in cycles?” And I like this quote: “You can’t win without talent but not everyone can win with it.”
FRONT RUNNERS ARE OUT - I watched the Phillies game Sunday, an agonizing pitch at a time, while on the other television it was the Ravens getting blown up by the Browns. Then there was my laptop locked on espn.com and the Met’s game where I could watch every out and every batter count with computer generated baseballs heading into the field for outs.
The last time I felt such adrenaline watching a professional sporting event was the playoff in 1980. I was at my brother’s house when the Phillies were behind Nolan Ryan 5-2 in an elimination game and came back to beat him. I stood on the 10th floor of Temple University’s Johnson Hall on North Broad Street in 1964 watching the Connie Mack lights and listening to the radio as the Phillies lost 10 in a row. Chico Ruiz of Cincinnati stole home to win one of those games.
As a little kid I lived two blocks from Connie Mack. I knew Ashburn meant something when I was four years old and he was a Wiz Kid. The great thing about this 2007 team is they are all such likable people, although I would like to choke Adam Eaton. I saw three Phillies caps late Sunday - two in Food Lion and another on a trail walker. The National league is wide open - keep Eaton on the bench!
SNIPPETS – On Sunday, Sept. 30, the No. 18 ranked University of Delaware field hockey team fell in a heartbreaker to No. 13 Old Dominion 1-0 on a last-minute goal during the Colonial Athletic Association match at Rullo Stadium. Goalie Nikki Rhoades posted five saves for the Hens.
Delaware State football upset Hampton University, winners of the last three MEAC conference titles, 24-17 last Saturday and next plays Thursday night at home against Bethune Cookman. The game will be telecast on the ESPNU network with kickoff at 7:30 p.m.
The University of Delaware, after beating up on Monmouth University, will deal with Ricky Santos of New Hampshire this Saturday on the road. The Wildcats lost at Richmond last week 45-38 and lost their opener 41-24 to James Madison. This is the first “real” test for a talented Delaware team this season.
There were 12 NFL games played last Sunday and I only picked two winners and they were Dallas and Indy. The Ravens and Eagles and so many other teams went into the tank. How bad are the Ravens and Eagles? Philly is 1-3 and will have to close 9-3 to win 10 games and it could happen. And what is up with the Steelers losing to Arizona. If I see Bliztburgh on a matching test I’m picking Iron City as the correct answer.
The Dover running club (Tri-Sports Road Runners) is having its largest fundraising event of the year on Oct. 7. It is a USATF certified half-marathon and relay which is flat, fast and runs through Amish country west of Wyoming and Dover. It benefits the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. The website is TriSportsEvents.com and the event is called the Delaware Capital City Half-Marathon. There are still plenty of openings so grab a partner and be a player.
Pinched nerve bundles in my lower back are telling me my shin is on fire and my hip is popping in and out of place, but I keep walking because I know the false signals to my brain are deceptions and that I must keep trucking and not succumb to complaining.
