Fleming named Matt Davis Award winner
Chris Fleming, a graduate of Upper Moreland High, was named winner of the Matt Davis Award at Misericordia University’s recent Matt Davis Men’s Lacrosse Alumni Game.
The game is played in memory of Davis, a Garnet Valley All-Delco who played lacrosse at Misericordia. The former teacher and coach in the Garnet Valley School District died in March
2012 at the age of 28. The award recognizes a player who “is a loving, caring teammate and a true gentleman at all times …”
Fleming, who scored
36 goals and added 16 assists for Misericorida during the 2018 season, was selected for the award because he exhibited all the traits Davis possessed in inspiring his teammates and future Misericordia players on and off the field.
Part of the inscription on the plaque reads “(Davis) was dedicated, committed and always worked hard on and off the field, a true teammate that made others better just by being around him …”
Misericordia head coach Jim Ricardo joined Davis’ parents, Jim and Beckie Davis, in making the presentation to Fleming at the conclusion of the Alumni Game. ••• John Grozak, a graduate of St. James High, and Springfield High’s Mike Scioscia, who recently retired as manager of the Anaheim Angels, both played in the Delco Senior Babe Ruth Baseball League under manager Rich Merchant.
Grozak and Scioscia, who are California residents, keep in touch with Merchant, who recently heard from Grozak about the situation centering around serious fires near where the two live.
“I’m safe,” Grozak said. “Mike was evacuated at 1 a.m. It took firemen three hours to fend off the flames. Homes within a quarter mile of Mike’s were burned. He was very lucky.”
••• Springfield High honored the four individuals who made up its Athletics Hall of Fame’s Class of 2018 last month.
Joining the Hall of Fame were William Faulkner (Class of 1956), James Hardy (Class of
1986), Jackie Eastman Grenier (Class of 2007), and Aly Adams (Class of
2008).
Faulkner played football, basketball, and baseball and was recognized as Springfield’s
1956 male athlete of the year. He was recognized by the Delco Coaches Association with its outstanding athlete Award for baseball. He attended Pennsylvania Military College and Villanova University before becoming a high school teacher and administrator.
Hardy was a threeyear basketball starter for the Cougars, earning All-Delco honors. He was a four-year varsity player at Drexel University.
Grenier played soccer, basketball, and lacrosse during her four years at Springfield. She helped the Cougars win three district lacrosse championships and was named Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year by the Daily Times in 2007. She played at Penn State University and works as a physical therapist.
Adams played volleyball and lacrosse, earning All-Delco honors in both sports, and was Springfield’s female athlete of the year in 2008. She also played at Penn State, was an assistant coach at Garnet Valley High, and resides in North Carolina, where she is a physical education teacher.
•••
The Delmont CYO Football Officials Association held its year-end awards dinner and old timers’ night earlier this month.
Matt Cull accepted the Bob Smith Memorial Award, which goes to an individual judged by the association’s board of directors as having made great improvement in his officiating.
Jim Duffy received the President’s Award for his contributions to Delmont from Edgar Zayas, the association president.
Among the old timers saluted was retired NFL line judge Bill Reynolds, who helped found the Delmont organization 58 years ago. In addition to working a number of playoff games during his NFL career, Reynolds, retired athletics director at Paxon Hollow Middle School, officiated Super Bowl XVII, in which the Washington Redskins defeated the Miami Dolphins.
•••
The University of North Carolina defeated Maryland, 2-0, to win the NCAA Division I field hockey championship in a game played in Louisville, Kentucky, Sunday afternoon.
Megan DuVernois, a graduate of Gwynedd Mercy Academy, and freshman Erin Matson of Unionville scored the goals for the Tar Heels (23-0), who earned their seventh national championship under head coach Karen Shelton. Shelton, a Marple Newtown High and West Chester University graduate, was named college player of the year three times in leading the Golden Rams to three national titles and was selected Athlete of the Millennium in field hockey by the Daily Times in 1999.
Among the other members of the North Carolina team were junior Ali Rushton and sophomore Courtnie Williamson, both of whom earned All-Delco honors at Episcopal Academy.
Maryland had advanced to the title match with a 1-0 overtime decision over Princeton University Friday.
A week earlier, Princeton defeated Harvard, 2-1, to qualify for the semifinals. Julianna Tornetta, an AllDelco from Agnes Irwin, scored Princeton’s first goal in that game on a penalty stroke and made a behind-the-back pass to Maddie Bacskai (Episcopal Academy AllDelco) for the winning goal with five minutes to play.
•••
The Delaware County Athletes Hall of Fame reminds those who received ballots for the
2019 Hall of Fame election that the ballots must be returned by Dec. 1.
The Hall’s 2019 awards dinner will be held Sunday, April 14 at the Concordville Inn.