By TOM WILLIAMS

When Fran St. John first became a basketball head coach at Wildwood Catholic, Richard Nixon had just been elected President of the United States. Earlier that year, both Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Senator Robert Kennedy had been assassinated.

For almost all of the last 55 years, St. John has been part of basketball in the Cape-Atlantic League.

He coached Crusaders boys basketball for nearly 25 years, winning more than 300 games and a couple of South Jersey championships. Later, he would coach the Wildwood Catholic girls for 11 years and 143 more wins. Of all those who have been head coaches in both boys and girls basketball – Joe Fussner, Sam Botta, Greg Goodwin, etc. – he has the most total wins.

Recently the court in the Wildwood Catholic gymnasium was named in his honor. He joined Dixie Howell, Bernie McCracken, Dave Troiano, Tom Feraco, Paul Rodio and Ken Leary in receiving that honor. (By the way, this would be a great time for Atlantic City to name its court The Gene Allen Court and Holy Spirit to create The Chris Ford Court in the Bill Deibert Gymnasium.)

Through the years, people have been recognized as Cape-Atlantic League Sportspersons of the Year for many reasons. The list is quite diversified and the selections have been both for accomplishments during just one year or over a longer period of time.

There have been many coaches, including Atlantic City basketball coach Gene Allen, Oakcrest basketball coach Dave Lewis, Hammonton football coach Pete Lancetta, Ocean City girls basketball coach Pat Dougherty, Pleasantville basketball coach Ken Leary, St. Joseph football coach Paul Sacco, Ocean City soccer coach Mike Pellegrino, Wildwood Catholic basketball coach Dave Deweese, Absegami wrestling coach Gene Barber, Holy Spirit football coach Bill Walsh, Ocean City basketball coach Dixie Howell, St. Augustine basketball coach Paul Rodio, Mainland football coach Bob Coffey, Ocean City girls basketball coach Paul Baruffi, Middle Township basketball coach Tom Feraco, Holy Spirit track coach Dave Pfeifer, Wildwood girls basketball coach Dave Troiano, Ocean City field hockey coach Trish LeFever, Sacred Heart basketball coach Jim Mogan, Ocean City tennis coach Phil Birnbaum, Millville field hockey coach Claudia McCarthy, Holy Spirit football coach Ed Byrnes, Atlantic City/Stockton basketball coach Joe Fussner, Ocean City football coach Gary Degenhardt and Bridgeton track coach Bob Cwik.

There have been administrators, like Frank Campo, Joe Clements, Paul LeFever, Nuncie Sacco, Tony Surace, Harry Ackerman and Mike Gatley.

There were people behind-the-scenes – for example, Yogi Hiltner, for his dedication to local sports on all levels; Boo Pergament and Father Ed Lyons, creators of the Seagull Classic; Bob and Rick Traa, for their sponsorship of the ground-breaking McDonald’s Game of the Week on cable television; John Pierantozzi, for his contributions as a coach and basketball official; Ernie Troiano, for his efforts creating and directing the Boardwalk Basketball Classic; both Jason Kaye of FantaSea Flagship Resort and Dave Talarico of Schoppy’s Inc. for the significant support they’ve given to CAL sports; Mike Gill, who took local sports radio to a higher level; Dave Catalana, for his efforts in creating the Shoot Down Cancer Classic; Matt Ulmer, for leading the way in live video streaming; and John Rodio for his progressive ideas about assigning basketball officials and for bringing back the Seagull Classic. Last year, young Frankie LaSasso was recognized for how his courageous battle against cancer brought CAL people together.

Recently, Fran St. John has served as an assistant to Steve DiPatri with the Wildwood Catholic girls basketball team. He brings the calm advice to every situation based on his more than half a century in the CAL.

For dedicating his life to Cape-Atlantic League basketball and continuing to offer his wisdom and experience, Fran St. John is the 2022 CAL Sportsperson of the Year.

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With the calendar year over, it is always a good time to look back on the top CAL sports stories. Here are the 10 stories that seemed to generate the most interest among Cape-Atlantic League fans in 2022:

1. The somewhat forced retirement of Paul Sacco as St. Joseph football coach after 41 seasons and a South Jersey record 357 wins.

2. The NJSIAA Group 4 state football championship by Millville in the first year that public schools were allowed to play for state titles.

3. The controversial decision by the Ocean City Board of Education to remove long-time respected coach and teacher Mike Cappelletti and his assistant, Tim Kelley, as girls basketball coaches despite an independent investigation that found no misconduct and the support of the two coaches by Dr. Tom Baruffi, the district’s highly respected superintendent.

4. The retirement of Atlantic City boys basketball coach Gene Allen, after 19 seasons, 377 victories, seven South Jersey championships and three state titles.

5. The flooding of Ocean City High School during the holiday break causing significant damage to the auxiliary gymnasium and damage to the Hughes Auditorium, weight room and Dixie Howell Gymnasium. The auditorium is available for use with precautions but all basketball games and practices have been moved to other buildings. Wrestling matches will be conducted on the east half of the Dixie Howell Gym, which was not damaged.

6. Mainland’s sweep of the Cape-Atlantic League boys and girls basketball tournaments, including the boys run from the No. 8 seed with consecutive wins over Egg Harbor Township, St. Joseph and St. Augustine.

7. CAL record-breaking performances during the football season for passing by Holy Spirit’s Sean Burns and receiving by his teammate Gavin Roman and Millville’s Lotzeir Brooks.

8. The return of Stephanie Vanderslice Gaitley to her alma mater. After winning more than 600 games at five different colleges, the member of the OCHS Sports Hall of Fame is back as the Raiders head girls basketball coach..

9. Continued success of The Battle at the Beach, the high school football event produced by the West Jersey Football Coaches Association at Carey Stadium in Ocean City. It has developed into the biggest regular season football showcase in New Jersey and, in 2022, featured two eventual state champions – Toms River North and Millville. Incidentally, those two teams will play each other during the 2023 event in August.

10. A state championship in baseball by St. Augustine Prep.

Lets hope there will be more great memories coming up in 2023, though the year has started with the death of two high school sports icons. However, there are lots of gamers left to play and we can all make this an even better year.