Afro American Sports Hall of Fame inducts 12 new members
More than 500 people showed up April 15 at the Modern Maturity Center in Dover for the 24th annual Delaware Afro American Sports Hall of Fame Induction Banquet.
Twelve new inductees were honored: Jim Alderman, Ron Allen, Len Chasnov, Carmen Hardcastle, Michael Harris, Charles Hope, Rod Milstead, Darin Park, Devin Park, Tamara Stoner, Marcus Trammell and Adolphus Ward.
Looking through the program at a short history that includes 250 inductees, there are athletes associated with more mainstream sports like football, basketball, baseball, softball, wrestling, and track and field, but the word coach continually jumps out, along with non-mainstream sports like bowling, boxing, horseshoes, cheerleading, tennis, swimming, weightlifting, karate, horse racing and volleyball.
Many past inductees come back each year to support the hall of fame, including Seaford’s Norman Poole, who was inducted in 2016 as a sports statistician. The affable Poole is part of Seaford’s storied past, including coaches Ben Sirman, Ron Dickerson, Len Chasnov, Dave Baker, Ron Kaiser, Tom Pegelow, Ted Shepherd, John Hollis and others.
The room was rich with stories and deep in traditions. In a small state like Delaware, sports people are connected in myriad ways.
Abby Alderman spoke for three minutes on behalf of her late father Jim Alderman. There were tables of former athletes there to support Alderman's induction, including many from the 1979 state championship team, such as fellow hall of fame members Tim Gray and Jay Maull along with teammates Vince Daniels, Ralph Karl, Bill Lorah, Jeff Hood, Bob Adair, Chip Sheets, CJ Bailey, Bob McVey, Rick Aydelotte and coaching comrades Dan Cook, Bill Collick, Dave Frederick and Bud Hitchens.
Each inductee represented a diversified sports history, and yet all spoke of the future and the importance of instilling in young people the life lessons of hard work and dedication to goals, and the rewards of being a good teammate.
