A year ago last weekend, a series of events and circumstances converged to make for a truly surreal sporting event.  Richie Moran – Cornell's retired Hall of Fame coach, who led the Big Red to three national titles – had been battling end-stage kidney disease, and he held on to see his grand…

When building and managing a baseball organization at the high school level, there are some things that are under a coach's control (like finding motivated and engaged youth coaches), and some that are not (like weather).  

I hope this does not throw anyone's internal sports clock off, but it’s the season for football  – Ithaca High Girl's Varsity Flag Football.

Cornell University sure was mentioned a lot in the national sports conversation over the weekend.   

Had someone told me that there would be a silver lining to a Cornell University lacrosse home loss, I might have been skeptical. Had I been told that would happen two years in a row, I would have flat-out said “No way.

I think that there were a number of reasons Doug Levine was happy to speak with me while en route to Buffalo on Friday. One, we have been friends for 20-plus years. Two, he was very excited that his daughter, Lucy, and her teammates on the Syracuse Valley Eagles Girls 14U Tier 1 AAA Hockey t…

It comes around several times per year, and “overlap” season is a gift to sports fans. As things wrap up in the winter sports season, spring contests are just getting underway. Let's take a look at some of what's going on...

While they are accustomed to laboring in obscurity, the Cornell women's fencing team is putting together a season for the record books, and is by any measure worthy of attention.  At the Northwestern Duals in Evanston, Illinois over the weekend, the Big Red ran its impressive record to 23-4,…

The high school wrestling season is split into different segments, so to speak, and Ithaca High has wrapped up their Dual Meet schedule, their Invitational schedule and is heading into the Sectional tournament in two weeks.  Three Little Red grapplers have spent some time on various podiums …

I recall the day in 1981 when I was being given a tour of the Cornell Athletics complex, having just been hired to be part of the staff.  I met several coaches – some of whom I had heard of – I met some staffers, some athletes, and when I saw a sign on a door that said “Lightweight Football,…

In September, I wrote a column acknowledging the 30-year anniversary of my taking over this sport column.  This is my 30th Year in Stories column, and it warms – and breaks – my heart to say that the story that moved me the most this year is also at the top of the list of the two-thousand-pl…

So many people complain when changes come to the sport they have known, they see only the negatives, but not Eric Parker.  Parker has been the head wrestling coach at Ithaca High since 2008, he became an assistant in 2004, and before that he wrestled at many different levels.  He loves the s…

As the Ithaca College football team took the home field for Saturday’s Division III playoff game, there were very few students in attendance, as most of them were still on Thanksgiving break.  That did not feel normal. 

A press release from the Tompkins Girls Hockey Association reminded me that “The year 1972 was significant as Title IX was adopted nationally, Cornell women’s hockey was founded, and the Ithaca Youth Bureau made gender equity a priority at its new rink at Cass Park; 2022 is a milestone forTG…

On Saturday, about three dozen members of that 1971 Ivy League co-championship team (and many wives and partners) gathered at Cornell, and I was tailgating with them before the Cornell vs. Penn game.  They didn't seem so big anymore, but there was still an impressive collective air about the…

For several years, Julie and Carl Johnson have been hosting gatherings at their home on East Hill, bringing in all manner of experts on all manner of topics  Sunday the presentation – entitled “Only the Ball Was White” - took an in-depth look at the Negro Leagues and their impact on the game…

When Stephanie Val-letta (the Coordinator of Student Wellness and Athletics) at Ithaca High said the Little Red Cross Country team was returning to prominence under a dynamic coach, I envisioned some recent college grad, long on idealism and short on experience. I wondered if a young coach w…

Local college football fans can find plenty of positives so far this season. Cornell (2-2) and Ithaca College (5-0) are a combined 7-2, and while it's frustrating that the 2-2 Big Red have fallen short in their Ivy League contests, the team is playing some really good football. I was among t…