Johnny comes marching home to Hall of Fame

Break me, shake me - Johnny Coveleski, the athlete/coach also known as Gino, made the 2017 Delaware Sports Hall of Fame ballot in a year that I did not, so I’m struggling to be magnanimous here and happy that my intense all-day-long friend of 40 years received enough mail-in votes to secure induction as a member of the Class of 2017. I was a rookie on the Rehoboth Beach Patrol in the summer of 1976 when section Lieutenant “Gino” tried to break me during a 75-minute surf-and-sand workout, but I was into Navy sea lion workouts before they were cool. After a small group of us finished, John looked at his brother Tommy, who was looking approvingly at me before gazing placidly out to sea. Johnny asked me in a snarly tone, “What the hell is wrong with my brother?” to which I answered, “A better question is, what the hell is wrong with you?” Fast forward to a football field at Caesar Rodney about 1984, Jeff Lawton of Cape circles the right end on a 21 sweep to secure the conference championship for coach Rob Schroeder’s Vikings. Afterward in the end zone, coach Johnny invites me over to his house to join other “friends,” most CR and some Cape. I decline, saying, “I can’t come and hang in your kitchen. I’m just too happy you lost. It just wouldn’t be right.” Johnny is the oldest son of legendary coach Frank Coveleski, already a Hall of Fame member, who is loved locally by everyone. The son who spent a career taking bites out of his Cape alma mater in football and lacrosse gets to walk into the Hall to tell his story. True friends will be there to support John, who really is not a bad guy once you get to know him.

Funny in a tragic way - Halls of fame proliferate in the landscape sometimes, inducting people who haven’t gotten out of their 20s. That’s odd, if you ask me. What person not yet 30 needs to be enshrined in an I-95 rest stop room no one ever walks into? But I also know “deceased people” who made a ballot but didn’t get enough votes for induction, and after a few years they are dropped from the ballot and declared officially really really deceased. I mean, how do you explain that to a family, and the answer is “You can’t” without sounding like a member of the clueless caucus of compassionate we don’t care givers.

Light up the scoreboard - I was that guy taking photos at a play day girls’ soccer scrimmage March 21 featuring powerhouse Middletown versus emerging Cape. The scoreboard was operational - what will they think of next - but by rule, scores are not kept at play day scrimmages, especially when the home team is behind 7-0. If I were coaching, I’d send a message to the press box: “Tell the digital dingo flying the $200,000 space shuttle to kill those numbers. I’m in a self-image crisis down here.” Middletown featured striker Alyssa Poarch, who just got called up to the U.S. Under 19 training camp and will attempt to qualify for the U20 women’s World Cup to be held in France this summer. The Cavaliers were 13-0-2 last season, losing in the state semifinals to Caesar Rodney 2-1.     

Healthy choices - Wednesday late morning at a Wawa in New Castle, I made a healthy, albeit boring choice of combination fruit chunks when the soft voice of trainer Chris Antonio, aka Broccoli Boy, whispered over my shoulder, “Good decision, Fredman.” It’s Delaware, so we friends meet in Wawas all over the state. Up at the counter, I was behind an equally old and large Afro American version of myself who had chosen grapes, cheese and crackers. I was about to say, “What’s us two guys doing eating like disciplined skinny people? You know it can’t last,” but before I could drop my clever quip into his wheelhouse, he grabbed a giant chocolate-covered peanut butter Easter egg and placed it over his healthy snack. “That’s the way we do it,” I said to the cashier who was trying to figure out why only the people with no energy buy 5-hour energy drinks.    

Snippets - The four days of the NCAA Sweet 16 hold the best basketball of the year. Unfortunately, most of us have real lives that require us to get up off the recliner in the bonus room. Caravel is at Cape baseball this Saturday at noon. Temperatures are expected to be in the 70s. It doesn’t get any better than that. The 23rd annual April Fools Prediction Challenge is set for Sunday, March 26, at the Cape Henlopen State Park fishing pier. Makes sense to me, and I’ll be there. Go on now, git!