Academy Park’s Badmus honored at team banquet
Phil Wahl earned football All-Delco honors playing offensive guard and linebacker at Sharon Hill High in 1965.
He joined the Marines not long after graduation and died in Vietnam Nov. 9, 1967. Ed Frescoln and many of his other teammates, family, and friends gathered at his gravesite at Arlington Cemetery in Upper Darby to celebrate Veterans Day 2017 and commemorate the 50th anniversary of Wahl’s passing.
Recently, Frescoln attended Academy Park High’s football team banquet and presented the Phil Wahl Memorial Award to Knights senior linebacker Azeez Badmus, who was honored for his “leadership, scholarship, and dedication, determination, and courage,” qualities for which Wahl’s teammates still remember their late friend.
“We’ve been doing this since 1967,” Frescoln, a running back for Sharon Hill High when Wahl was one of his blockers, said. “I’ve tried to keep in touch with as many of the previous winners as I can, including the first one (Robert Boyce, Sharon Hill High Class of 1968).”
Badmus came to this country from Nigeria in 2011.
“I played soccer there,” he said. “When I came here, there really wasn’t a soccer team I could play for, so I went over to play for the (Sharon Hill) Ramblers (football team).
“I was a little afraid at first because I wasn’t used to getting hit like that when I played soccer.”
By his third year of playing a new sport, he was good enough to be selected to compete in the Delco Boys Football League AllStar Game. At Academy Park, he helped the Knights earn a Del Val League championship and a district title.
“I understand (Wahl) wasn’t very big, like me,” Badmus said. “I know he worked hard for everything, and it’s an honor to receive an award named for someone who did the things he did in the service.
“I’ve tried to work hard seven days a week lifting, making sure I eat right, things like that. I want to win at anything I do. If we’re lifting, I want to outlift you. If we’re arguing, I want to win the argument. I know no one is perfect, so if the coaches talk to me about missing a tackle or something that went wrong in a game, I try to learn from that and make sure doesn’t happen again.”
Badmus’ older brother, Abeeb, played at Interboro High and Wesley College. After graduation in June, Badmus plans to enroll at Wesley, where he will play football and study exercise science.
“He’s a terrific person and a very good football player,” Academy Park head coach Jason Vosheski said of Badmus. “He led our team in tackles the past two seasons, due in large part because he fears nothing. He’s a tremendous tackler.
“He puts extra time into his craft to make himself a better player. By doing that, he sets a tremendous example for the younger players. He’s not blessed with the size of some of the other players or their speed. He more than makes up for that with his tenacious outlook on football and how it he works to be better than everyone else. He has that same attitude when it comes to the classroom (3.0 GPA) as well.”
The Sports Legends of Delaware County Museum on Iven Road in Radnor is holding a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mickey Vernon, the Marcus Hook native who won two American League batting titles during his major-league baseball career (1939-60).
There also will be Black History Month features during February at the Museum, which has produced a poster saluting a number of Delaware County’s finest black athletes. The first 10 people to visit the museum Saturday, Feb. 17, will receive a print of the poster that is suitable for framing.
The museum is open from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturdays.
Sculptor Jennifer Frudakis-Petry, who is preparing a statue of Radnor High graduate Emlen Tunnell that will be dedicated outside the museum site in June, was commissioned by the New Jersey CRDA and the Pop Lloyd Committee to do a bas-relief of the history of Negro League Baseball. It originally was placed at Sand Castle Stadium in Atlantic City. When the stadium was closed, the work was relocated to Stockton University and can be presently viewed at Stockton’s athletic department.
To see the 16 significant personalities/events depicted, scroll to the bottom of this month’s page on the Sports Legends of Delaware County website at www.sportslegendsofdelawarecounty.com.
To find out about Delaware County’s contribution to Negro League Baseball, go to the same website and view Brad Nau’s video on Hilldale Park entitled “Champions Walked Here.”
The Aston Sports Hall of Fame is making plans for its 19th annual awards dinner, which will be held Thursday, March 22, at Kings Mill.
Tickets are $35, and information can be obtained by calling 610-675-6674 or sending an email to 19lock57@gmail.com.
The Delaware County Athletes Hall of Fame’s 2018 awards dinner will take place Sunday, April 22, at Concordville Inn. Social hour begins at 4 p.m., with dinner served at 5 o’clock.
Among those joining the Hall of Fame are basketball players Clarence Armstrong, Bill Carr, and John O’Reilly; football players Tim Chambers, Dan Connor, and John Esher; multisport athletes Dave Kasarsky, Rachael Becker-DeCecco and Joe Piela; track and field athletes Bo Smart and Jim Tuppeny (deceased); lacrosse players Jenn Cook and Kerri Whitaker; Olympians R. Norris Williams (deceased), Daniel Barrow (deceased), and William Hermann (deceased); body builder Cynthia Anast; and soccer player Sinead Farrelly.
Tickets are $45 or $40 for those who have paid membership dues by March 1. Tickets for children 10 and under are priced at $15. The deadline for table/group reservations (10/12 per table) is April 7, and the deadline for ticket sales is April 12.
The Hall of Fame also is accepting nominations for its Andrew W. MacMurtrie, Robert “Bob” Finucane Memorial Achievement, and Humanitarian awards.
The MacMurtrie Award is given to a sports-oriented individual who has voluntarily promoted, aided, assisted and/or contributed time to youth organizations in the county without compensation.
The Finucane Award is presented to a former Delaware County athlete or sports-oriented individual who has aspired to the top of his or her profession.
The Humanitarian Award goes to athletes or sports-oriented persons who have aided, assisted, or contributed to humanitarian or charitable agencies.
A brief summary of a nominee’s credentials can be sent to Patricia Mescanti delcohalloffame@gmail. com. Additional information about the awards or ticket reservations can be obtained by calling 610-7937931.