Hands across the generations, the connectedness of community

Hank and Luke - Hank and Luke D’Ambrogi, Cape lacrosse players, were mildly surprised when walking off the field after Saturday’s win over DMA to be greeted by their Bethel preschool teacher Lanelle Hearn, who was perched in the press box during the game. “I felt like a celebrity at the game,” 86-year-old Lanelle said. Both Hank and Luke are ornery boys now, can’t imagine when they were 5, but both said, “It’s so good to see you.” If I saw Sister Euphemia, my first-grade teacher from St. Columba, appear from a post-game crowd, I would duck, knowing she was coming to knock the smirk off my face.

Sesame Street by the Sea - I’ve know Holly Wilson Smith since she was a cross country runner at Lake Forest High School. Before Saturday’s Long & Foster 5K, I heard Holly issue a greeting, “Hello, Grandpa.” And because she wasn’t looking at me, I thought I should snap the photo because I look out for my fellow Grandpas in the wild. Dave Wilson is a former member of the Rehoboth Beach Patrol from the 1950s. Holly met her husband Brandon on the beach patrol – they were stand partners on the very first day – and Fredman the Photog is an RBP vet. Allyson Wilson Priano, Holly’s sister, is married to Jimmy Priano, former Cape soccer player and swimmer. Just some cool connections across the generational divide.

Dog tired - Karen Eller, 40, drives from Newark on weekends to run in beach races. “My 17-year-old dog died, and I promised him I would run the miles he can’t,” Eller said after the Masser 5-Miler. “I’ve improved from last to almost last, and dropped 55 pounds in the last year and a half. I’m halfway to my goal of dropping 100 pounds.” She ran 1:05.7, a 13-minute pace, which is seriously uptempo if you ever tried to walk five miles at that pace.  

Bart Starr passes - Legendary quarterback from the Vince Lombardi era of the Green Bay Packers, Bart Starr, passed away May 26, in Birmingham, Ala., at the age of 85. Starr quarterbacked NFL championship teams in 1961, 1962, 1965 and 1966 in the pre-Super Bowl era and in the first two Green Bay Super Bowls in 1967 and 1968. A local connection is that tight end John Hilton caught Starr's final TD pass on Dec. 6, 1970, in the fourth quarter of the Packers game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, won by the Packers 20-12. It went for 65 yards. John Hilton was an All-American at Richmond and was the father of John Hilton, who taught physics at Cape before becoming a teacher at Delaware Tech. Oddly enough, Bart Starr had a younger brother named Hilton who died at 11 from a tetanus infection three days after stepping on a dog bone while walking barefoot. Starr’s second son Bret died in 1988 from cardiac arrest after taking cocaine. John Hilton, who played for the Steelers, Packers, Vikings and Lions, passed away Feb. 2, 2017.

Yes, it’s funny - A coach should never ask a football player who is laughing inside his helmet during a game, “Do you think this is funny?” Back in 1965, it was Temple at Bucknell in the battle for the Little Brown Shoe. Tight end Tom Mitchell caught five first-half touchdowns against the Owls’ specially designed defense. Mitchell’s last touchdown, his shoe was clipped and came off, so he ran the last 20 yards backward into the end zone. Mitchell played 10 seasons in the NFL (1968-77) for the Colts and 49ers. He was nicknamed “the Crocodile” after pouring a pitcher of beer onto the head of author George Plimpton. Mitchell passed away from cancer on July 16, 2017. He was the father-in-law of Greg Schiano, former head coach of Rutgers and the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Snippets - Cape girls’ lacrosse and field hockey teams don’t reload, they reconfigure. Both programs are in good shape for their next seasons. The top bracket in the DIAA baseball tournament is Henlopen-heavy entering Tuesday’s quarterfinals. Sussex Tech plays at unbeaten Appoquinimink, while Cape is at Dover. The bottom bracket games are at Frawley Stadium with Caravel playing Delaware Military at 4 p.m., followed by Wilmington Friends versus Salesianum at 7 p.m. Semis are played at Frawley Thursday, May 30. Cape has great chemistry and good pitching, and they don’t have to face Dover ace Dominic Velasquez Tuesday. Congrats to Cabrini University lacrosse for winning the Division III lacrosse national championship with a 16-12 win over Amherst. Go on now, git!