Adam Regan
| Fort Myers News-Press
Watch: Canterbury’s Gavin Knight, Danny Miller, Patrick Horan sign with colleges
Canterbury lacrosse player Gavin Knight signed with Saint Leo University lacrosse and Danny Miller signed with Flagler College soccer.
Adam Regan, AREGAN@NEWS-PRESS.COM
The COVID-19 pandemic claimed the lives of over 330,000 Americans in 2020 in addition to keeping people in their homes, and away from stores, restaurants and athletic fields. The pandemic’s effect on Southwest Florida’s sports scene was immense and factored heavily into The News-Press//Naples Daily News’ Top Sports Stories of 2020.
FHSAA cancels spring sports, delays start of fall sports amid pandemic
School districts in Lee, Collier and Hendry counties as well as Southwest Florida’s private high schools canceled their spring sports seasons in March, a whole month before the Florida High School Athletic Association followed suit after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the closing of schools for the rest of the 2019-20 school year.
The decision sent shockwaves through the community as the athletic careers of hundreds of seniors came to an abrupt close. Schools held virtual college signing day ceremonies for their student-athletes.
Before the shutdown, the Mariner High School boys soccer team, led by state player of the year Leo Perez, reached the Class 4A state championship game, where it lost a 4-3 heartbreaker to Miami Gulliver Prep. In wrestling, Riverdale’s Jesse Martinez and Jared Dinh, Palmetto Ridge’s Trillyon Fils-Aime and Golden Gate’s Andy Martinez won state championships.
Most teams returned to summer workouts in mid-June hoping to start fall sports on July 27. After a few emergency FHSAA Board of Directors meetings, the board voted to delay the start of practice to Aug. 24. While private schools in the area and LaBelle High opened their fall sports slates in early September, the Lee and Collier public schools opened two weeks later.
Over the course of the fall season, Southwest Florida Christian Academy, Golden Gate, Oasis, Immokalee and LaBelle dealt with COVID-19 issues that forced the cancellation of football and volleyball games.
Dunbar High was the last football team in Southwest Florida left standing as it reached a regional championship game for the second time in school history.
Several area athletes brought home individual state championships, including Fort Myers swimmer Olivia McMurray, South Fort Myers diver Brandon Shepherd, Bishop Verot swimmer Conor Cranfield and North Fort Myers bowler Brandon Rucker,
FGCU, FSW sports upended by COVID-19
The FGCU women’s basketball team won the ASUN regular-season title and was set to host the tournament championship game.
Instead, the coronavirus wiped out all of college basketball. The NCAA canceled the remainder of its winter and spring seasons on March 12 in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
FGCU was 30-3 and ranked No. 36 in the nation in the NCAA’s Ratings Percentage Index. The Eagles beat blueblood programs Notre Dame and Duke and started four seniors.
Both FSW basketball teams qualified for their respective National Junior College Athletic Association tournaments. However, the NJCAA announced the cancellations of their seasons.
Of the 75 athletes that originate from outside of the United States between FGCU and FSW, a good amount were stranded in Fort Myers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
More: ASUN cancels women’s hoops championship; NJCAA postpones tourney, affecting FSW basketbal
More: ‘I’m not OK’: Coronavirus pandemic strands FGCU, FSW international athletes in Fort Myers
Lee schools reach settlement with mother of Riverdale football player
The Lee County School Board approved a $950,000 settlement on Dec. 8 between the school district and the mother of a Riverdale High School football player who collapsed due to heat illness during a summer workout and died nearly two weeks later in 2017.
The agreement brought to an end a 16-month battle that started with a lawsuit filed by Laurie Giordano alleging the school board and Riverdale head coach James Delgado failed to provide for the safety and well-being of her son, Zachary Martin-Polsenberg, 16, during a June 29, 2017, workout when temperatures exceeded 90 degrees.
In addition to the $950,000, which was unanimously approved by the school board, the district agreed to host an annual football game to honor the memory of Martin-Polsenberg.
Over the next seven years, the game will rotate among Lee County schools playing in annual spring exhibition games and 25% of proceeds collected will be donated to the Zach Martin Memorial Foundation, which raises awareness about heat-related illness and helps schools pay for the tools needed to prevent it from becoming fatal.
Giordano also pushed the Florida Legislature to pass the Zach Martin Act in July, requiring Florida public and private schools to have defibrillators and cold immersion tubs or other means to quickly lower the body temperature of an athlete undergoing heat stress. Training of personnel on how to recognize signs of heat-related illness is also required.
More: Lee County School Board approves $950K settlement in Riverdale player’s heatstroke death
Edgerrin James elected to Hall of Fame
Indianapolis Colts legend Edgerrin James, a native of Immokalee, was voted into the Hall of Fame in February after being a finalist four previous times. He was supposed to get his gold jacket at the NFL’s enshrinement Aug. 8 in Canton, Ohio.
However, the NFL postponed the induction ceremony because of the global coronavirus pandemic. The 2020 Hall of Fame class now will be enshrined with the 2021 class next summer.
By moving his enshrinement back a year, James likely will get to share the Hall of Fame stage with his former quarterback. Peyton Manning becomes eligible in 2021 and is considered a first-ballot Hall of Famer. The two shared the Colts backfield from 1999-2005.
More: Edgerrin James elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame in fourth time as finalist
Mario Henderson dies at 35
Former Lehigh Senior High School and Florida State standout offensive lineman Mario Henderson died Oct. 21 at his home at age 35, leaving a giant hole in the Fort Myers-Lehigh community.
Henderson started his senior season at Florida State before being drafted in the third round of the 2007 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders.
After signing a four-year, $2.8 million contract with the Raiders, Henderson played nearly 1,800 snaps at left tackle and right tackle before leaving Oakland in 2010 and playing a season in San Diego. In all, he made 28 career starts in the NFL.
Henderson, who went back to FSU and earned his degree in 2018, most recently worked with special needs students at Dunbar High and was an assistant on the Tigers coaching staff.
More: ‘A gentle giant’: Former Lehigh great, FSU alum Mario Henderson dies at 35
Sammy Watkins wins Super Bowl LIV with the Chiefs
South Fort Myers High product Sammy Watkins made five receptions for 98 yards for the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl LIV, including beating San Francisco 49ers Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman 1-on-1 down the field for a 38-yard catch that set up the go-ahead touchdown in a 31-20 win on Feb. 2 in Miami.
He received a hero’s welcome in his return to Fort Myers. Lee County’s all-time leading receiver served as an honorary grand marshal for Saturday’s Grand Parade at the 82nd annual Edison Festival of Light and was present as the Lee County Board of Commissioners officially made Feb. 18 Sammy Watkins Day.
Watkins, who later had his jersey retired at South alongside teammate Dallas Crawford, went on to restructure his contract with the Chiefs, worth $9 million with up to $7 million in incentives.
More: Super Bowl champion Sammy Watkins makes commitment to Lee County while being honored
Immokalee’s Alexander’s father goes missing and is found
Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Mackensie Alexander, an Immokalee High graduate, left training camp and returned to Florida to be with his family as authorities searched for his missing father Aug. 25.
According to the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office, Alexander’s father, Jean Odney Alexandre, went missing. Alexandre, along with another man, went to Okeechobee County to pick palmetto berries. After searching for Alexandre, the other man left Okeechobee, leaving Alexandre behind.
Before Alexandre was found a few days later after he walked up to a ranger at the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Mackensie Alexander was arrested on one count of battery after he confronted the man who was with his father, according to an arrest report from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.
More: Immokalee grad Mackensie Alexander leaves Bengals camp as authorities search for his missing father
Toronto Raptors train at FGCU ahead of NBA restart
The 2019 NBA champion Toronto Raptors trained at FGCU’s Alico Arena from June 23-30 ahead of the NBA’s restart following a March shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Canada’s quarantine and travel restrictions prevented the Raptors from training in Toronto.
Raptors coach Nick Nurse and his wife, Roberta, a former star volleyball player at FGCU, have a home in Fort Myers. Roberta Santos played two years for the Eagles and was first-team All-ASUN as a junior and senior setter.
FGCU men’s basketball associate head coach Donnie Marsh’s son, Tyler, was an assistant video coordinator and player development coach for the Raptors.
Toronto finished the regular season 53-19 to earn the second seed in the Eastern Conference before being eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the second round of the playoffs.
More: Report: Toronto Raptors to use FGCU’s Alico Arena to ready for NBA restart after COVID-19
Cape’s McClanahan makes MLB history
Cape Coral High graduate Shane McClanahan became the first pitcher in history to make his major league debut in the postseason, recording the final out in the top of the ninth inning as the Tampa Bay Rays fell to the New York Yankees 9-3 in Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Oct. 5.
The former USF ace had an eventful debut, inducing a high chopper from Brett Gardner that landed in no-man’s land for an infield hit. On that play, McClanahan collided with Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe. He then walked catcher Kyle Higashioka on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases, but escaped unscathed when he induced a soft tapper to the mound by DJ LeMahieu. McClanahan consistently hit 98-99 miles per hour on the radar gun during his 15-pitch stint, of which nine were strikes.
In the postseason where the Rays eventually lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, Mariner product Mike Zunino hit four home runs, matching his regular-season total and coming within one homer of tying former Cleveland Indian Sandy Alomar Jr.’s record of most by a catcher in a single postseason.
None was bigger than his solo shot in the second inning of Game 7 of the American League Championship Series that ended up serving as the game-winning run in the Rays’ 4-2 win over the Houston Astros.
More: Cape Coral natives Shane McClanahan, Mike Zunino set to make World Series debuts for Rays
Tiger Woods’ PopStroke arrives in Fort Myers
PopStroke opened its second golf entertainment facility, and first with Tiger Woods’ involvement that included the PGA star as an ownership partner all the way down to his playing a role in designing the two putting courses, in September. Those courses are the focus of the venue off Six Mile Cypress Parkway.
The Fort Myers facility features two putting courses. The Cub is more geared toward beginners and the Tiger is more challenging. Golfers can keep their score with an app that also includes the ability to order food and drinks from the on-site restaurant and have them delivered to them on the course.
PopStroke also will have at least two more facilities on Florida’s Gulf Coast. One is slated for North Naples and another in Sarasota in the next year.
More: Tiger Woods-backed PopStroke golf entertainment opening to public in Fort Myers on Saturday
from WordPress https://ift.tt/37ZVgoq
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment