Page 2 w Glory Days Magazine w April 2, 2021
About The Cover
M
ost high school students are fortunate in that they never have to worry about a sick parent, or an injured sibling. Others find themselves in difficult positions and must be mature beyond their teenage years for the good of their family. Ray Weed is one such young man. He’s just a junior at Absegami High but for the past five years now has helped care for his older brother, Anthony Marquez, who was paralyzed in a trampoline park accident five years ago, when he was just 16. These days, Ray helps Anthony with everything from dressing him to combing his hair to coming into his room at 3 a.m. if Anthony is cold and needs an extra blanket. All that while also excelling in school and in football and wrestling. Check out Page 12 of this digital edition of Glory Days to read about one of the more impressive athletes in the CapeAtlantic League. Dave O’Sullivan, Publisher
GLORY DAYS General Contact Information Phone: 856-336-2600 Email: sully@acglorydays.com Publisher Dave O’Sullivan Email: sully@acglorydays.com @GDsullysays on Twitter Contributors Amy D’Adamo, graphic design Mark Trible, special football writer Larry Henry Jr., contributing writer Ben Hale, Social Media Volume 8, Issue 7. (Issue No. 156) 2021 Glory Days Magazine LLC, all rights reserved.
Story Idea? Email sully@acglorydays.com or direct message Sully on Twitter, @GDSullysays
April 2, 2021 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 5
headlines u PRESENTED BY BUNTING FAMILY PHARMACY u u Let’s take this outside
With the coronavirus pandemic playing havoc on high school sports schedules this school year, certain sports have come across unique opportunities that they never have before. Wrestling, normally a winter sport, is being held in March and April this year, and some unseasonably warm weather in late March allowed some schools to schedule outdoor dual meets. Lower Cape May and Middle Township set up a mat on the tennis courts for an outdoor meet, and Washington Township welcomed Ocean City into Tom Brown Field, where the Minutemen normally play football, on the final weekend of March. The wrestlers and coaches loved the whole atmosphere, and nobody loved it more than Ocean City senior heavyweight Matt Christy, who scored the winning points for the first time in his career. His pin allowed the Red raiders to walk off with a 42-37 win over Washington Township after trailing 33-0 halfway through the match. Christy leaped into the air in celebration after the win.
u Girl power
We’ve seen an influx of girls competing in wrestling the past couple of years, and this year the CapeAtlantic League has several representatives at the upcoming regionals, including Riley Lerner of Cedar Creek, who drew the No. 2 seed at 114 pounds, and Mainland’s Amirah Giorgianni, the No. 3 seed at 161. Holy Spirit made some history this week as Alexandria Graffius, a freshman, made her debut during a dual meet, marking the first time a girl ever wrestled for the Spartans.
and spring sports, which has caused a bit of a dilemma for Mainland junior Bella Canesi (pictured). She’s one of South Jersey’s top softball players and the Mustangs began practice this week with games starting in late April, but she’s also the best player on Mainland’s volleyball u 2 sports, 1 season? Girls volleyball was put into the extra season team, and that season will run into late April. this year, the one squeezed between winter She’ll be very busy until the middle of June!
Page 6 w Glory Days Magazine w April 2, 2021
‘This year wasn’t a fluke’ Coach Bell believes EHT boys hoops has staying power at the top of CAL By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer he song “Mickey” by Toni Basil hit the charts in 1981 and became one of the biggest one-hit wonders of all time. You’re probably singing the lines right now — “hey, Mickey, you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey!” “Baby Got Back” by Sir-Mix-a-Lot in 1992; “Barbie Girl” by Aqua in 1997, both big-time one-hit wonders. Don’t put the Egg Harbor Township boys basketball team in that one-hit wonder conversation after the Eagles posted an eye-popping 14-1 record in the abbreviated 2021 season. Coach Cameron Bell believes his team has staying power, and he’s probably right. The Eagles will return their top three guards — D.J. Germann, Isaiah Glenn and Carlos Lopez — next year, and they happen to be the team’s leading scorers. Bell is really high on Glenn, who can be a big-time 3-point shooter and also finds ways to get to the rim and the free-throw line, and Lopez, a junior, eclipsed 1,000 career points in the season finale. Coach Bell just completed his fifth season at the helm after taking over for George McNally, a very successful coach in his own right, and Bell said he thinks this program is right on track for big things. He came in with a five-year plan and has stuck to it, and it’s producing results. The Eagles were below .500 in Bell’s first four seasons, but began showing signs of turning things around last season, when after a threegame losing streak to close out January, EHT went 6-3 in February, then beat Toms River North and Williamstown in the state playoffs before fall-
state of the program
T
Glory Days photo/Sully
Next season the Egg Harbor Township boys basketball team returns its top three scorers, including playmaker Isaiah Glenn, who was a key part of this year’s team that posted a 14-1 record. ing 57-55 in a gut-wrencher to Cherry Hill East in the South Jersey Group 4 semifinals. This year, the Eagles won the CapeAtlantic League North division and their only loss came in mid-February to Holy Spirit on the road — sandwiching that loss was a five-game winning streak to start the season and a ninegamer to close things out. The signature win came in the season finale,
when EHT beat St. Joseph Academy, one of the top teams in all of South Jersey, 66-60. “Really, the five-year plan is pretty much where I thought it would be. We were a little ahead of schedule two years ago when we got the No. 8 seed in the playoffs, that was the year we lost at home to (No. 9) Atlantic City. That was kind of about where I thought we’d be by that point, and last year I
expected us to have that great run in the playoffs — I just expected us to be a little better during the regular season. We were a little young so we hit some bumps in the road, but when the playoffs came, I knew what we had, I knew the talent we had and I knew how hard the guys were working,” said Bell, who is a history teacher at the school.
See EHT, page 9
Page 8 w Glory Days Magazine w April 2, 2021
April 2, 2021 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 9 Junior guard Carlos Lopez already is a 1,000-point scorer, hitting the milestone in the final game of this season.
EHT, from page 6 “We’ve been building. I know the majority of the kids in this town and I have for a long time between the recreation programs, the travel teams, the school teams — so I knew all the talent that was coming up in a school district this large. So we’re kind of right on track to where I would have anticipated us to be by year No. 5.” Bell said his biggest challenge early on was convincing really good players to stay at EHT when there are top-flight parochial programs such as Holy Spirit, St. Joseph Academy and St. Augustine Prep just a stone’s throw away. A big keep for Bell, he said, was former forward Isaih Walsh. “The biggest challenge (early on) was just keeping guys in our district. It really started with my first year with Isaih Walsh, who everybody wanted. Getting him to come here as a freshman was big for us. The younger guys who were under him, who looked up to him, said to themselves, ‘if he’s staying home maybe this is a place we can go,’” Bell said. “And he started seeing success, and the next class featured J.J. Germann, Rahim Muhammad and Ethan Dodd, which I knew was going to be the lynchpin class for us along with the guys who were there when I took over. (Jordan) Sweeney was a sophomore my first year, Michael Dodd was a sophomore that year, and the following year Carlos Lopez transferred back home to EHT (from Williamstown). Then we had guys like D.J. (Germann), Christian Rando and we have (sophomore guard Jay-Nelly) Reyes, who didn’t play a lot this year but he’s a guy who can play. “We want guys to stay home. We have a great academic school — EHT is one of the top academic schools around here, and we’re also pretty good at sports as well.” Bell said the key for he and his staff when it came to building a successful program was communication — with the players, with the parents, among the coaching staff. Everybody has to be on the same page, he said. “The biggest thing I learned in Year One had nothing to do with Xs and Os, it was all about communication and being open. Communicating with the players, communicating with the parents and getting everybody on board and in-
Glory Days photo/Sully
volved, and making them feel like they were all a part of the program. I wanted us to feel like we were all in this together, and that’s one area I’ve really focused on and gotten a lot better at. I want the players to know that as much as it’s my team, it’s more their team and we’ll go as far as they commit. And as long as we’re all on the same page, we can get where we want to go together,” Bell said. “It’s fantastic having the freshman and junior varsity running the same stuff. The language I speak at the varsity level trickles down; it’s the same language being spoken by everyone, so when a guy comes from freshman or JV to me, I don’t have to spend that extra time trying to get them up to speed. It’s great having everybody on the same page. It’s that idea of having a vertical program, and everything feeds up to the varsity.” Some in South Jersey may still see EHT as a .500 program but that doesn’t bother Bell. He’s never been lacking in confidence, and he’s eager to show everybody just how good Eagles basketball can be. He believes the 2021 season was just the appetizer. “As far as confidence goes, I’ve never lacked that. But I’m quiet, I don’t say much. I let the score and the players speak for themselves, but (having success) is a validation of sorts. When you first come in you take a few lumps here and there, and people talk. I don’t pay much attention to it, but we’re all human so we hear it. Especially in this town — I live in this town, I grew up in this town and I know pretty much everyone in this town, so even if people don’t say things directly to me, I hear it. I always believe in my system and what I do. I never question my basketball knowledge, but I’ve been getting better at commu-
From Feb. 1, 2020, to the end of this season, EHT has gone 22-5, including a run to last year’s sectional semifinal and a Cape-Atlantic League North division title in 2021
nicating my vision to everyone, the players and the parents and the community,” he said. “I’m beyond excited (for the future). This year wasn’t a fluke. It wasn’t a one-and-done for us. I truly believe that we’re in contention — if not the front-runner — for a Group 4 state title next year. We bring back our top three scorers next year and we have young guys who people don’t really know about but who have been working and biding their time. I’m really excited for the next few years. This isn’t a one-and-done. I have a plan. We started with the five-year plan, and I have another five-year plan that comes in right after that, and then beyond that as well. There is some talent at the lower levels, even all the way down to third and fourth grade, I see all these kids.” “My mindset was to just come out there and play hard, play as a team and run through our sets. We played a lot of good defense and we just played really hard. We gave it all we had. This was a real good win for us, especially it being my last game,” senior J.J. Germann said after the win over St. Joe. “In past years we may have had some bad seasons, but this year we’re 14-1 and this is a really good win for us. The coaches have changed up some things and our younger guys got a little bit older and matured more.” “This means everything for the program. We were 13-1 but everybody was saying how our schedule was light and that we weren’t beating good teams. This really shows we can play with anyone and we’re one of the best teams in the CAL. Going into next season (EHT) is going to be one of the top teams, without a doubt. With guys like Isaiah Glenn, Carlos and D.J., they’re going to be really good,” fellow senior Ethan Dodd added after that win. “This feels great. It’s an awesome way to finish my career. I’ll miss playing here, it was an awesome experience just getting that adrenaline rush every time we played a game, playing in front of the home crowd — even though we didn’t get to much this year — I’ll miss it. I’ll miss it all. “The future for these guys is a state Group 4 title, I’m telling you that right now. This is a special group.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
Page 10 w Glory Days Magazine w April 2, 2021
A championship career Paul Baruffi reflects on nearly 20 years of coaching Ocean City girls basketball Glory Days Magazine publisher Dave O’Sullivan recently had a phone conversation with Paul Baruffi, who started his coaching career back in 1987 at Vineland High and who has been the skipper for the Ocean City girls basketball program since the 20012002 season. He stepped down after the 2021 season, finishing his career with more than 400 wins, a state championship and seven sectional titles in 19 seasons. Here’s what he had to say about his long and distinguished career: Sully: What would you say has been the biggest difference between the late 80s and early 90s to today? Baruffi: Early on, I was coaching boys, so that was different. I had never coached any girls sport until I coached the freshmen (at Ocean City). I would say the difference between the two is the girls are a little bit more willing to listen — maybe sometimes to a fault. But I think basketball is basketball, and the fundamentals of the game are the same no matter what era you go back to. I’d say across the board, athletically, just because of the training and so forth, players are probably stronger and bigger in general. Sully: Did you ever think you’d be coaching this long? Baruffi: No. Honestly, when I first took over, I knew I wanted to try to build a program and see what I could do, and then it just sort of evolved into me staying. Every year a new group came in and I would say, ‘OK, I can do it another year.’ You just continue to do it, and before you know it 20 years have gone by. It’s really incredible that it’s gone by that fast. I never put an amount on the years I would coach, it just kind of happened. Sully: Is there any one particular team of yours that stands out? Baruffi: I don’t know if I can really zero in on one in particular. In every section of time when I had
Q&A
a group of girls from their freshman year to their senior year, there were special times that we had. I will say that the team during Grace Sacco’s senior year (2016-2017), when we went 30-2 and went to states, that year they really went through a stretch where they played some great basketball. That team accomplished a lot in winning 30 games. Sully: How tough is it to leave? Like you said, there’s always a new group coming up and you want to coach those freshmen and sophomores coming up, but at some point you just have to say, ‘OK, this is the year,’ right? Baruffi: Yeah, and it was tough. I waited until the end to tell them on a Monday, and we actually played really well that (previous) Saturday against Egg Harbor Township. But I had made up my mind probably a month before that and was preparing to do it. The day I had to tell them, I was dreading that. I have no doubt that the group coming back can do great things. Most of the team is younger with a lot of ability. It was tough, and the toughest player to tell was Marin Panico because she’s been a threeyear player for me and will be a senior coming back. I actually talked to her individually about some things. It was hard to tell all of them because, let’s
face it, I’ve had great kids. Take away the basketball and I’ve had good people, and this group was no different. I think it was a group that has a lot of ability and can do some good things. I know if I had them all summer we could have success, but at some point, it’s time. For me, it was time and I just had to get myself to the point where I could do it and say it to them. There were a lot of emotions with it. There’s always going to be that player coming up where you say, ‘wow, I can really do something with them.’ Then you turn around and you’re 56 years old and you’ve been coaching for 30-plus years, and it just becomes time. Sully: How did you win all those games and championships? Some of your teams were filled with field hockey players, soccer players, track stars. You didn’t have a ton of girls who just played basketball all year long. Baruffi: I just always thought it was important to have athletes. Those sports you’re talking about, those teams were all winners, so those players knew how to win. I like the fact that kids get to play other sports. I think we way over-do one sport in many
See Baruffi, page 11
April 2, 2021 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 11 Baruffi, from page 10 cases, and I think that’s how kids get hurt. A lot of the girls I’ve had who were multi-sport athletes just relaxed more when they played basketball because it wasn’t their main sport. They weren’t worried about impressing a college coach and they didn’t have undo pressure on them. I think there’s too much of that, I think it’s over-done. If you look at my teams throughout the years, we had girls who were basketball players. Grace (Sacco) was a basketball player, and some of them played other sports. Nancy White was a basketball player, but she played field hockey. They kind of did it in reverse. Julia Duggan was a basketball player, Kelly Brady. So I went through four-year periods where I had those kinds of girls who were basketball players first, but I also had a lot of soccer and field hockey girls around them who were really good athletes. My theory was, in the summer, especially, if they were going to play soccer or training for field hockey — go ahead, (skip basketball) because you’re training and you’re getting a workout. If I had to give any advice to a coach out there who cares to take my advice, it would be let those players do the other sports and let them take a break from just one sport. In the long run, it helps them out. Sully: Was there any coach who kind of had your number, or was so tough to match wits with?
Baruffi: Probably John Leahy from Middle Township. I’ve become good friends with a lot of coaches and we go at it pretty hard when we’re coaching against each other, but in the end we’ve become friendly. John sent me a nice text and I texted him back and said I think we both make each other better. I think we both knew what each other was going to do, and our kids are really similar, just tough, hard-nosed kids. John would have one basketball player surrounded by a bunch of athletes, similar to what we would have. Overall, throughout the years, we had some really good matchups. Sully: Who is the best player you ever coached against? Was there anybody close to (2020 Mainland graduate and Oregon freshman) Kylee Watson? Baruffi: Back when I first started coaching, in my first year we played Willingboro in the quarterfinals of states and they had a girl named Crystal Langhorne, who went on to play for the University of Maryland and the WNBA (with the Seattle Storm). We went up 6-0 — I’ll never forget this — their coach called a timeout and basically reamed his team out. They ended up beating us 90-30. Langhorne played on the top of a diamond-and-one press, and this girl was phenomenal. She’s one of the top players, besides Kylee, that I’ve ever coached against. Sully: What has been the most rewarding part about your career?
career highlights u 429 wins; 300 games above .500 u Seven South Jersey Group 3 titles and one state championship u Six league championships u Went 26-5 in 2012/2013 and won the Group 3 state title u Went 30-2 in 2016/2017 u Won multiple state playoff games in 15 of 19 seasons Baruffi: Just the friendships. I got a phone call from my high school football coach, John Pierantozzi, who was my defensive coach at Vineland. My first coaching job was in Millville and I coached with Tony Surace, who was a longtime baseball and football coach there, and he called me. A lot of the friendships I’ve developed is something I really value. And just watching the players develop and go on to have successful lives, that’s all part of it. Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
Page 12 w Glory Days Magazine w April 2, 2021
VIC’S SUBS COVER STORY
Brotherly love
Star football player and wrestler Ray Weed competes for much more than just the Absegami logo By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer restling can be a brutal sport. It pushes you to mental and physical exhaustion, and there are bouts when you are simply overmatched. When a guy has a forearm dug into your throat and it feels like he might just snap your knee in half as he’s got you staring up at the ceiling tiles going for the pin. In moments like that, it would be easy to give up. To throw in the towel. Take the pin, tip your cap and go get ’em next time. Or just quit the sport altogether. Surely there are more fun ways for teenagers to spend their time than grappling on a mat all afternoon after
W
a full load of course work in the classroom. Absegami junior Ray Weed will never give up. He’ll never give in to the pain, or the exhaustion. The mental anguish that comes from pushing his body to the limit all year long as one of South Jersey’s top athletes in football and wrestling. Weed has all the motivation he’ll ever need every night when he walks in the door of his Galloway home. The scuffs on the frame of the front door, and the ramp leading up to it, tell the story. Those marks come from Weed’s brother, Anthony Marquez, trying to maneuver his wheelchair in and out of the front door. This should be the prime of Anthony’s life — about to turn 21 years old on April 6. But his life didn’t turn out the way he, or anyone
else, could have expected. Anthony was an active kid and competitive cheerleader during his high school days at Egg Harbor Township, but in November of 2016, when he was just 16 years old, Anthony suffered an injury that would change his life forever. He was at a trampoline park with friends on a Friday night when, after going airborne, he noticed a young girl beneath him and tried to alter his flight path so that he wouldn’t land on her. Instead, he landed awkwardly and broke his neck — the C4 and C5 vertebrae, specifically, and was left paralyzed from the chest down.
See Ray, page 13
April 2, 2021 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 13 Ray, from page 12 “I got hurt at a trampoline park. A little girl ran under me and I saw her and tried to push her out of the way while I was in the air, but when I landed, I landed wrong and broke my neck. It was a pretty crazy day,” Anthony said. “Right away, I knew. I was laying there and I couldn’t feel my legs. I could still feel my arms, so I grabbed my best friend, who I was there with, and told her she had to go get help. She thought I was joking because I used to play around in cheer practice all the time and act like I was hurt. She thought I was playing around but I was like, ‘no, you really have to go get help.’ And they took me to Cooper Hospital. “I was more worried about keeping everyone calm. I knew I would be able to handle all the emotions of that crazy day and crazy night, so I was just trying to make sure everyone else wasn’t panicking. The second it happened, I knew not to move my neck. I started singing a song to try to get my mind off of it so I wouldn’t panic. That’s the first thing I thought to do to get my mind off the situation,” he continued. “I am a diagnosed C-4/C-5 quadriplegic, so my spinal cord is completely severed. When I first got hurt, I didn’t know what any of that meant. I wasn’t even thinking about whether I would walk again at that time. I didn’t know what the extent of the injury was. I knew I couldn’t move right then and there, but I didn’t know it was going to be forever. I didn’t know anything, and my mom and everybody else had the same
“I feel like I want to do the best I can in every sport so that, in a way, he can live through me. He went to the regional tournament (two years ago) and he was one of the first people I walked up to after I won my semifinal match over the No. 1 seed to go to the finals. He’s been a motivation for me, to have him live through me and have him find happiness in sports through me. That’s a good feeling after a win.” Ray Weed Absegami QB and wrestler (on his brother, Anthony Marquez, who was paralyzed from the chest down after a 2016 trampoline park spinal cord injury) thoughts — they didn’t realize how serious it was.” Ray was in middle school at the time, just hanging out at home with his younger sister, Savannah. When he first heard the news, he didn’t think it was as serious as it turned out to be. “Initially, I was playing Madden in my room, just chilling out on a Friday night,” Ray said. “My little sister ran into my room and said, ‘get yourself together, we have to go to the hospital. I think Anthony broke his neck.’ In the hospital, I didn’t think it was that serious, me being 13 years old. I thought he was going to be fine but as you go through the process, more and more you realize there was something seriously wrong and he might not be able to walk again. The reality starts hitting you and it starts to become more real.” The past five years have shaped Ray in a way that he could not have predicted back in middle school. Having a
brother in a wheelchair has forced Ray to grow up in a hurry and become much more mature than the average high school boy. He has to help his brother get dressed, do his hair, brush his teeth — all those little daily tasks that most of us take for granted. If Anthony gets too hot or too cold in his bed at night, it’s Ray he calls on the phone in the next room over to come help him. “He physically helps a lot. I just started traveling with a caretaker, but until now when I’ve wanted to travel, (Ray) has been the caretaker,” Anthony said. “He does everything, from transferring me into bed when I need to go to bed, putting on a catheter; he helps me get up, get dressed, brush my teeth, do my hair — he does all of that. Sometimes I’ll get too hot or too cold and it will be three in the morning, and I’ll call him (from the next room over) and he’ll get up and do whatever I ask before going back to bed.”
“Being 13 years old and knowing your brother can’t walk — it teaches you how to grow up pretty quickly,” Ray added. “In a way, I believe everything happens for a reason. This has shaped him into who he is today and it’s shaped me into who I am today. It’s been a big part of our lives, but it’s also been a big motivation. He never knew the last time he was going to go to a cheer practice. So every football practice, every wrestling practice, every match or football game — this could be your last snap or your last match, so go out there and go as hard as you can. And me having four surgeries so far in high school, that’s been my motivation.” Ray Weed became a household name almost as soon as he started at Absegami, as he became the Braves’ starting quarterback as a freshman. In three seasons he’s thrown for nearly 2,000 yards and 22 touchdowns, and as a freshman 160-pound wrestler he won a district title and advanced through regions to Boardwalk Hall and the NJSIAA state championships. He missed last year due to an injury, one of four surgeries he’s had to endure throughout his high school career. But no matter how many surgeries it takes, Ray will do it because he knows his athletic career won’t last forever, and he wants to keep seeing the joy on his brother’s face when he performs on the field or on the mat. “I feel like I want to do the best I can in every sport so that, in a way, he can live through me. He went to the region-
See Ray, page 15
April 2, 2021 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 15 Ray, from page 13 al tournament (two years ago) and he was one of the first people I walked up to after I won my semifinal match over the No. 1 seed to go to the finals. He’s been a motivation for me, to have him live through me and have him find happiness in sports through me. That’s a good feeling after a win,” Ray said. “When he was initially put into therapy the one thing he wanted was for me to play this song called ‘AllTime Low’ (by Jon Bellion) for him because it was a song he listened to all the time before he got hurt. So now before football games, or when I’m on deck in wrestling, that’s one of the last songs I put on for some extra motivation so I can focus on the purpose of what I’m doing, and what I’m doing it for. It gives me extra motivation. My parents spent tons of money on hospital bills so if I can go out there and get a football or wrestling scholarship and go to college for free so they don’t have to stress about anything is definitely a motivation. “I think our relationship has grown a lot and gotten a lot stronger throughout this whole process. We were close (before) but I was also that 13-year-old brother to a high school kid. But during everything that has gone on he’s been home a lot — and I’m not a kid who goes out a lot — so we’ve gotten to spend a lot of time together and we realize we’re lucky enough to be in each other’s lives,” he continued. “He doesn’t give up, so I try to put that toward everything I do. That’s how I try to live my life — you never know what’s going to happen, so keep pushing. Just do everything like it’s the last time you’re going to do it.” Anthony knows how much Ray does for him on a daily basis, and that’s why he’s adamant about telling his younger brother to go out with his friends, enjoy his high school days and don’t worry about his brother in a wheel chair. “If he wants to go hang out with his friends, go do it — whatever he gets himself into, my parents might want him to stay home and be with the family but I reel them in and say, ‘you never know if this is going to be his last time being able to do that. Let him do whatever he wants to do.’ He’s a great kid, a great athlete and a great brother. He deserves to do things he wants to do. I know he doesn’t have to do all the things he does for me, but he does them. So, I feel like he should take a break sometimes and go do what he wants. I always remind my parents about that when they get on him, that he does do a lot for me,” Anthony said. “Sometimes I feel like a burden. I hate asking for help, and that’s how I was before I got hurt. But they help me out of love, and I would have done the same if the situation was switched around. I think about (how things would have been different if I didn’t go to the trampoline park that day), but I try not to think about it too much. I like to keep myself busy. The way I look at things is it could be a whole
Glory Days file photo/Sully
Ray Weed, now a junior at Absegami, showed some serious promise on the wrestling mat as a freshman when he advanced all the way to the NJSIAA Championships at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. lot worse. I’m happy to be alive. A lot of people wonder why I’m so good about everything, and it’s because I get the opportunity to see Ray wrestle and Savvy, my little sister, will be going to the cheerleading world championships this year, so I’ll be able to watch that. Stuff like that is what I live for.” Anthony has a remarkably positive attitude for someone who has been through so much and still faces limitations every day in terms of the things he can do. But his drive and determination aren’t limited. He’s in the process of building his own house in Hammonton and has a budding career as a photographer, as phone technology allows him to control all aspects of a camera from his wheelchair. He also stays busy with motivational speeches at various high schools and hospitals throughout South Jersey. “Sometimes in life your initial plan might not be your final plan. You might be going straight and then
have to take a right, but you really just have to adapt and make the most of it. That’s why I have the word ‘adaptability’ tattooed on my arm — because that’s what you have to do. Sometimes in life, things don’t go as planned. You might run into a situation where you’re paralyzed from the chest down and you have to figure it out and overcome that situation. That’s what I try to tell people,” Anthony said. “The thing I love right now is just watching (Ray and Savannah) grow into adults. He’ll be going to college and I can’t wait for that, and seeing him succeed in sports has been amazing. That’s what I’m looking forward to now, and the same thing with my sister. She’s younger, but I’m sure she’ll grow into a phenomenal person — that’s that I’m waiting for now. That’s what I’m excited for.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
Page 17 w Glory Days Magazine w April 2, 2021
ON CAMPUS
A LOOK AT COLLEGE ATHLETICS
The Bucs start here ACCC baseball is the talk of the town after blistering 8-0 start! By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer or years, when it came to junior college baseball in South Jersey, all we heard about was Rowan College of South Jersey-Cumberland, formerly known as Cumberland County College. And rightfully so. Head coach Keith Gorman transformed the Dukes into a regional and national powerhouse, even winning a junior college Division III national title before taking the head coaching job at Barton College in North Carolina. But all of a sudden there’s another program that is captivating baseball fans in the area, and it’s a story nobody really saw coming. For most of coach Rod Velardi’s 10 years at the helm at Atlantic Cape Community College, the Buccaneers were one of those teams Cumberland would beat up on during a run to another Region XIX championship. This season, everything is topsy turvy, as ACCC already has two wins over the defending national champion Dukes, who won their title in 2019. (There was no juco world series in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic). And — don’t look now — but the Bucs are off to a torrid 8-0 start that has featured everything from offensive explosions during blowouts to thrilling come-from-behind victories. One of those was a 6-5, 11-inning walk-off win over Cumberland that had the Bucs sitting at 4-0. One of the biggest reasons for the turnaround has been ACCC’s offense. A team that in years past struggled to score runs has been on fire in 2021, scoring five or more runs in all but one of its eight victories, and racking up double-digit runs in half its games. On March 26, ACCC beat Salem Community College 12-3 in the first game of a doubleheader, then came from behind three different times in the nightcap to win, 11-9. First baseman Logan Petty had five
F
Glory Days photo/Sully
The Atlantic Cape Community College baseball team has jumped out to a perfect 8-0 start this season, including two wins over defending national champion Cumberland. hits on the day, including a two-run double in the first game and a game-tying, 2-run homer late in the second game. “That just speaks a lot about this team. We don’t ever give up. You saw that on Sunday in an 11-inning game against Cumberland. In the top of the 11th they came in and scored one, we came in and tied it and one of our guys in the bottom of the lineup (Nate Goodrich) came through with a walk-off hit. That really shows the heart of this team. We’re not going to give up and we have a lot of teams looking at us like, ‘wow, they are actually coming to play this year,’” Petty said. “We started out a little iffy, but we never give up. But we do all this in practice, even in practice we’re giving that energy, and it’s all about the energy. ACCC is not really well known, but with us doing what we’re doing, this should bring some eyes to this program,” added third baseman Angel Murray, an Egg Harbor Township High graduate who also had a big day at the plate against Salem. “It feels amaz-
ing. ACCC never started off like this, and this is the team that’s doing it. We’ve been down in a couple games, but we come back. We have the right guys and we’re 6-0. It’s been a great start for us. This is special. These guys, I love them. We come in and practice hard and when we’re in a game and we get down, we never give up.” Velardi, who was an all-state pitcher in high school at Toms River South and who coached at Egg Harbor Township High School for several years, said when he first took over at ACCC the Bucs fielded teams consisting of guys who may have been decent players in high school and just figured they would go out for the team since they were attending the college anyway. These days, Velardi and his staff, which includes veteran baseball guys such as Jeff Ball and Bert Rosica, are winning recruiting battles with various other South Jersey community colleges.
See Bucs, page 21
April 2, 2021 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 18 Bucs, from page 20 “We’re excited about that,” Velardi said. “Being here, this is my 11th year now, we’ve seen the transition from, ‘oh, ACCC has a baseball team?’ To, ‘you know what, I’m here at ACCC taking classes, I might as well play baseball,’ to guys transferring in because it didn’t work out somewhere else, to now finally we’re winning recruiting battles. Now we have kids reaching out to us, which is kind of a new thing for us.” Getting a guy like Petty has been huge, Rosica said. Petty brings with him the pedigree from Mainland High School, where he graduated in 2019. That’s a program that consistently competes for sectional championships and won an overall state title in 2014. Petty’s younger brother, Chase, currently is a senior at Mainland and the righty pitcher has been clocked as high as 100 miles-per-hour, and is
squarely on the radar of every Major League Baseball team. Logan Petty began his college career at Hood College in Maryland, but he suffered an injury and just didn’t feel that program was the right fit for him. “I graduated from Mainland in 2019, went to Hood, had an injury and that wasn’t the best fit for me. I actually transferred to RCGC (Rowan College Gloucester County) in the fall and got cut, but I came here and I said, ‘you know what? I’m going to show people. I’m going to put my name out there. My little brother is really making a name for himself, so I might as well do the same,’” Petty said. “I came into this program and saw a lot of kids who I thought could put the chemistry together, and put a good team together and win a lot of games. It’s a short season, so we have to win as many as we can. We want to get to Tennessee this year and get a chance to win the World Series. That’s what we’re going for. You take some of the kids from win-
ning high school programs, and some of their best players, and put them on this team and it’s all going to work out in end. Everybody on this team comes to play.” Luis Sauri was a standout at Buena Regional High and he’s now the Bucs’ shortstop. Right fielder Nate Goodrich played for a Cedar Creek team that made it to a sectional final two years ago. Murray, Alex Gallagher and Frank Moreta all played for a very good Egg Harbor Township program that also made a sectional finals appearance. And Sleiter Suriel, a Pleasantville graduate, helped lead Ocean City to the Atlantic County Baseball League title last summer. Not only do a lot of this year’s players come from winning cultures, Velardi said, but they really are taking ownership of the program, putting time in working on their home field at the Sandcastle in Atlantic City, pushing each other in practice to be better. The players understand they are beginning
to tap into something special, and that carries over into everything, including academics. “We push them and we demand a lot from them. We ask them to excel academically, we ask them to excel on the field, and with some kids if this isn’t their passion or their goal this can be a shock to them, what we’re asking of them,” Velardi said after that sweep of Salem. “This field was a mess today (from the previous day’s rain) and these guys were here at 7:30 in the morning taking buckets of water and dumping them over the fence. It was foggy out, 48 degrees, the wind was blowing — and we still had two games to play. But they understand that’s what is necessary if we’re going to come out here and try to win two ballgames. Other kids might not be so fired up about doing stuff like that.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullsays
snapshots
SEE ALL OF OUR IMAGES AT GLORYDAYSONLINE.SMUGMUG.COM