DON McCORMACK
Star Beacon
June 26, 2009 01:15 am
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Paying another visit to the variety store...
Winds of change
Steve Petros, a former standout athlete during his days at St. John High School, has made a move.
The 1985 St. John graduate was hired as head varsity girls basketball coach at Fairfield Union High School on May 1.
Petros made the move after a stellar four-year tenure at Lancaster Fisher Catholic High School, where he led the Irish to their first conference championship in 21 years in the 2006-07 season.
He and his wife, Gina, have two children — daughter Maddie and son Ray.
Previously, Petros had been varsity boys basketball coach at Granville and Groveport Madison high schools.
A caveat about his new gig: Fairfield Union’s mascot used to be the Charging Knights. However, a few years ago, it switched to the Falcons.
Why?
Do the acronym.
Follow up
An item that didn’t make the Tuesday column, “A Knight’s tale,” about baseball prodigy Jeremiah Knight, who hit three over-the-fence home runs one game recently:
His manager, Jason Cicon, related Jeremiah’s talents on the field have rubbed off on his teammates. The Pirates were 17-0 last summer in the Jefferson minor league and stood 14-0 through Tuesday.
Book it
Recent summer reading for yours truly has included the following:
n “Twelve Days of Terror: A Definitive Investigation of the 1916 New Jersey Shark Attacks,” by Richard Fernicola.
A terrific factual story, filled with intriguing details from that era, about the events that inspired JAWS.
n “Downtown Owl, A Novel,” by Chuck Klosterman.
A neat story about a small-town high school football team in non-descript Owl, North Dakota, focusing on its players, head coach, teachers in the school and the community itself.
The book on my nightstand right now is “Satchel: The Life and Times of a True American Legend.”
A terrific, indepth effort by Larry Tye on hall of famer Satchel Paige, including an insightful chunk on Bill Veeck bringing him to the Indians in the 1948 season. Paige went 6-1 with a 2.48 earned run average that season and helped the Indians win the World Series, something they haven’t managed to do since.
Next on my list, “The Year Babe Ruth hit 104 home runs: Recapping Baseball’s Greatest Slugger,” by Bill Jenkins.
Double whammy
With Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson dying on the same day Thursday, I was taken back to my days as a youngster.
Roger Wesely had THE poster of Farrah on his wall first... and I had it, too, the next day.
As far as Jackson goes, the news of his death, coupled with the ridiculous, over-the-top television coverage of Manny Ramirez’s ho-hum, going-through-the-motion at-bats with the Class AAA Albuquerque Isotopes, brings to mind a joke from a few years ago:
What do Michael Jackson and Manny Ramirez have in common?
Both wear one glove... for no apparent reason.
Movin’ on up
Former Jefferson football, basketball and baseball player Doug Fulton, whose house we came up with a back yard game called “over the fence” that I mentioned in my column that appeared in our Sunday, April 5 edition under the title, “Fun and Games,” is now an assistant principal at Potomac Falls High School in Virginia.
Fulton is a 1980 Jefferson graduate.
McCormack is the sports editor of the Star Beacon. Reach him at donmac@suite224.net.
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DON McCORMACK Star Beacon