54 - CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, June 9 - June 15, 1995
Sports & Outdoors
Seniors Tom Frederick, left, and twin brother Jack, right,
accept the Mike Snell Friendship Award from Carol Duggan,
mother of the late Mike Snell Both brothers were two sport
standouts for the Vikings in 1995, lettering in football and
lacrosse.
Two sport standout Ben
Evick received the Kevin
Kennedy Award, named after
the late football player Kevin
Kennedy who died in an auto-
mobile accident in 1974.
Seniors Tom Frederick and Becky Steuer were voted Cape
Henlopen High School's Moot Valuable Athletes during gradu-
ation ceremonies held last Tuesday evening, June 6. Steuer
was a standout track athlete for the Vikings, competing on
both the corss country and spring track and field team.
year to remember, one to forget for Cape's senior athletes
By Dave Frederick
Three years ago an Athletic Task Force
was formed after Cape Henlopen High
School had put together the worst cumula-
tive scholastic sports year in the 23-year
history of the school district.
There was an argument advanced from all
corners of the educational pinwheel that too
many losing seasons were affecting the
morale of the student body. Cape students
were embarrassed to wear school jackets
out in public. Graduates bragged about the
old days when Cape "walked the walk and
talked the talk."
The irony of the decline of Cape sports
was that the girls teams continued to be
strong, especially in the sports of field
hockey, basketball, softball, girls tennis and
track. Ironic because an anonymous com-
plaint (not conf'mned but suspected) would
bring Cape under Civil Rights scrutiny for
allegedly short-changing the girls sports
programs. After a successful sports year, the
• all-sports banquet was canceled because of
fears of perceived unfairness.
The graduating class of 1995 turned the
corner in returning Cape to the forefront of
scholastic sports, not only in the Henlopen
Conference but statewide. Both basketball
teams advanced to the state semifinals at the
University of Delaware's Bob Carpenter
Center. The boys basketball team defeated
Caesar Rodney three times over the course
of the season, including a dramatic overtime
victory on the hardwoods at Sussex Tech in
the quarterfinals of the state tournament.
The football team posted consecutive
winning seasons under George Glenn,
including a home record of 9-1. The true
sign of success was the disappointment felt
by the players after a 7-3 season.
"Take back a couple of plays and we're 9-
1 and in the tournament," Glenn said. "I felt
at the end of the season after convincing
victories over Dover, Sussex Tech and Sus-
sex Central that we were as good as any-
body."
Cross country, which has enjoyed incred-
ible success over the years under George
Pepper, had an off year in overall team per-
formance, but did boast number one girl
runner Becky Steuer. "When I was a fresh-
man I was a chubby little nerd," Becky said
a few days before graduation. "Running
turned my whole life around."
Wrestling coach Tyrone Gray was not
able to turn around a struggling program
and resigned at the end of the season. "It
was hard for me to coach athletes who did
not give a 100 percent commitment to
wrestling," Gray said. "Maybe someone
else can get this thing going."
A successful PeeWee program seems to
provide a natural feeder system for Cape,
but the truth is that the program's very sur-
vival is threatened." Currently, the high
school program is without a coach in a
small state whose major university is with-
out a team.
There are more track banners flying
above the court at Cape than any other
Continued on page 57
Let's change the way we present senior awards
STAND AND DELIVER - The sent the award. I don't mean for field, having that uncanny talent to Bayko's gifts basketball team that
senior awards ceremony and
pageantry of graduation are both
in the history books for the class
of 1995. Everyone involved with
organizing and presenting awards
deserves a debt of gratitude.
(Anyone who deserves a debt, I
have plenty of them to pass
around.) This was the first time in
the 26-year history of Cape Hen-
lopen that there was no end-of-
the-year all-sports banquet. The
reason is all tied up in the office of
Civil Rights and all that gender
equity nonsense. Any unem-
ployed sociology major knows
you can't legislate equality and
quite often rules of fairness are
written to protect lazy people. I
must propose a radical idea for the
presentation of annual awards,
which are a memorial to an hon-
ored Cape citizen. Awards such as
the Lois Cordrey, Mike Snell,
David Clifton and Kevin Kennedy
awards should be verbally
explained and presented by some-
one who knew the person in real
life or a former award winner.
PEOPLE IN SPORTS
Dave Frederick
These are spiritual moments for
the community and the purpose of
the award is to honor a memory
and carry it into the future within
the heart of a young person. I also
think that an award as significant
as Most Valuable Athlete for the
class be presented by the athletic
director because it is such a
crowning jewel of achievement
for the athlete and would be a hon-
or for the athletic director to pre-
these constructive recommenda-
tions to be construed as a cheap
shot, although I have been known
to hit after the whistle.
PATRIOT MISSILE - Watch-
ing athletes walk from the Cape
gymnasium graduation night, I
was a little emotional knowing
some kids who I have been watch-
ing play sports since before my
moustache turned gray I may nev-
er see play again. I caught the
moment when young Jack Lingo
drifted past the plaque outside the
gym in memorium to Kenny Lin-
go, Jack's great uncle. Kenny
Lingo, a former school board
member from Rehoboth, served
the Cape community from 1969 to
1976. Jack Lingo was a fearless
soccer goalie for Cape the last two
seasons. I always remember Jack
sliding onto the right foot of a full
speed striker without any regard to
protecting that trademark Lingo
smile, which is obviously a domi-
nant genetic trail Jack was also a
lethal weapon on the lacrosse
unload tons of force at the moment
of impact into the skull and
through the skeletal system of an
opponent. Jack is one of those all-
around athletic jocks who per-
formed in front of small crowds,
but always made his team several
notches (or nachos) better by his
sheer presence. He will not be
easily replaced.
SOLID AND STEADY - Three
sport athlete Katie Rickards will
be heading off to the University of
Delaware in September. Katie
was a starter in field hockey, bas-
ketball and softball. She is a local
product who has come up through
the ranks of the Cape system.
When programs weren't available
for girls she played on the boys
teams. Katie was a defensive stal-
wart this past season for coach
Ruth Skoglund's field hockey
team. "Katie is such a good ath-
lete and tough competitor that she
could play anywhere on the field,"
Skoglund said. Rickards was
Miss Versatility for Ralph
lost to Ursuline in the state semifi-
nals. And in softball, Katie started
at second base and did a great job.
Good solid career, Katie. Con-
gratulations.
COACH OF THE YEAR -
Back when I first came to Lewes
and Buck Thompson was the
sports editor of the local newspa-
per, Buck would pick an athlete
and coach of the year from the
Cape Henlopen School District. I
thought it might be nice to reinsti-
tute a Coach of the Year recipient.
This year's Coach of The Year in
the Cape District is... Are you
kidding me? There's no way I
would ever touch that category. I
have to work with these people.
And I don't want people bribing
me with pieces of cheese toast.
A SCRAPPLE REWARD -
Speaking of bribing, Cindi Burn-
ham, a Cape basketball player and
track athlete, graduated last week,
the last of the three Burnham chil-
Continued on page 57
