Vaughn Trammel selected for Delaware Afro American Sports Hall of Fame

Cuzzie - Vaughn Trammel, a 1976 Cape graduate and multi-sport raw athlete built for speed and power, will be inducted into the Delaware Afro American Sports Hall of Fame Saturday, April 16, at the Modern Maturity Center in Dover. Sussex County athletes also being inducted include Andre Mathews (basketball), Emma Trammel (basketball) and William West (football). There will be no tickets sold at the door. The Sussex County contact for tickets is Clemon Jordan at 302-539-5050. Vaughn goes into the hall of fame as a track athlete. He was a sprinter, most comfortable leading off a relay. Vaughn was on three Cape state championship track teams, the first two coached by Tom Hickman, while I became his coach in 1975-76 for football (assistant to Bill Muehleisen) and was Vaughn’s head track coach in the spring. Vaughn also ran for Cape on a mile relay that competed at the Philadelphia Spectrum in 1976. Vaughn grew up in Belltown and roamed the hallways of Cape in the ’70s when power athletes from all the sports lifted the new school district (1969) into athletic prominence. 

Sports medicine - Vaughn Trammel pulled a quad muscle leading off the 4-by-200 relay in April 1976 in a dual meet against Milford. His muscles were well defined when bam, there was a dent dead center in his quadriceps. I brought Vaughn to the only physical therapist in town, Jerry Frampton, who worked with geriatric patients in the old part of the Beebe building. “My goodness, I’ve never seen such muscle development in a patient. Then again, most of my patients are 80 years old. How did you know to bring him here?” “I have no idea why I know what I know or where I found a doc to write a referral. Who would have guessed the guy sitting on the wall of the Bethel cemetery across from the IGA was an orthopaedic surgeon?”

Chancler Johnson - Five years, five sports and four buildings ago, I first saw Chancler Johnson play soccer for Mariner Middle School. And then he played basketball and lacrosse. He chose Sussex Tech for school and sports, but midway through his junior year, he returned to Cape. Last spring, he played varsity lacrosse for the Vikings followed by football this fall, where he was a hard-nosed running back and defensive back. And then he popped up on the Milford basketball team. He is an old-school point guard, muscular and explosive. He gets penetration and finds open big guys with bounce passes. Chancler was in the middle of a Bucs comeback Tuesday night, scoring two consecutive baskets, the second off a steal. The storybook finish did not happen, but there’s still lacrosse season.  

Root for the home team - Milford boys’ basketball pulled within a point of Cape late in the fourth quarter Tuesday night after a Chancler Johnson steal and score, and the crowd came to their collective feet clapping and cheering. My grandson James, standing next to my blue chair, commenced clapping. “I see what’s up here, Milford guy,” I said to him. “I cheer the same for both teams,” he said. “No, you have on a Milford mask and Milford shorts; you are a Milford guy.” The next night at the closely contested wrestling match, Milford 285-pounder Jayden Morton, a heavy underdog, caught Lucas Ruppert and threw him to his back. The ref was on his stomach scooting from side to side ready to slap the mat. A photo showed Dan McPike, a former Cape quarterback and coach, yelling at the ref, “Punch him out.” Dan is a Milford teacher married to Andrea, the Milford field hockey coach. Dan assures me he is a Cape guy, but the photo tells a different story.  

Snippets - I don’t even fake fish, so no need for a surf tag, plus 17,000 people with vehicle access to a beach doesn’t seem like a peaceful way to spend an afternoon while watching a leashed retriever chase a tennis ball into the ocean. Cape girls’ basketball beat Milford 81-7 Tuesday night. This is not a sportsmanship issue, it’s a can’t-put-the-ball-in-the-basket issue. Talk amongst yourselves. Go on now, git!