By TOM WILLIAMS

In the 60 years that a Sportsperson of the Year has been saluted, nobody has ever been selected twice.

Until now.

In 2001, Mike Pellegrino was the choice. He was right in the middle of a boys soccer coaching career that included a 228-35 record in 12 seasons, 10 championships in the Cape-Atlantic League, seven South Jersey titles and four state championships. His teams were 36-8 in the NJSIAA Tournament.

A couple years ago, Pellegrino returned to Ocean City High School as the Director of Athletics. He was the fifth AD at OCHS in nine years. The school administrators were looking for some stability in the position.

They seem to have found it.

Pellegrino faced all of the responsibilities of most athletics directors – team schedules, buses for away games and officials at home, hiring coaches and dealing with parents’ questions, among other duties. That includes making sure that Bruce Beaver and Ron Moretti were comfortable at home games.

However, he also had to deal with the transition from COVID-19 restrictions to a more normal atmosphere; a toxic feeling surrounding the girls basketball coaching situation; and a full winter season without the normal use of the Dixie Howell Gymnasium and the alternate gym after a burst water pipe damaged both a little over one year ago.

He has things running rather smoothly now and he has plans for improvements including a physical site for the OCHS Sports Hall of Fame and improved signage in the Dixie Howell Gym.

The Ocean City Sportsperson of the Year started in 1963 in the Sentinel-Ledger with the selection of Bob French, a strong supporter of youth sports. Others in that category – like Chet Wimberg, Bill Gans, Harry Vanderslice, Rich Tolson, Naz Costanza, Greg Donahue and Joe Fagan – would follow over the years.

There have been remarkable athletes (Jack Neall, Pat Lynch, Kevin Sinclair and Chad Severs) and administrators (Don Pileggi, Mike Allegretto, Paul LeFever and Walt Tucker).

And many high school coaches – from Kelly Halliday, Andrew Bristol, Kevin Smith, Joe LaTorre, Aaron Bogushefsky, John Bruno, Matt Purdue, Trish LeFever and Paul Baruffi, back to Dixie Howell, Fenton Carey, Jack Boyd, Pat Dougherty, Mike Slaveski and Phil Birnbaum – have been recognized.

This year the salute goes to a guy who returned to OCHS in a different role and dealt with many challenges effectively.

Twenty-two years after being recognized as a soccer coach, athletics director Mike Pellegrino gets the 66th nod as Ocean City Sportsperson of the Year over the last 61 years. And the first to be recognized twice

SPORTSPERSONS OF THE DECADE

2010s JOHN BRUNO

2000s PAUL BARUFFI

1990s PAUL LeFEVER

1980s MIKE ALLEGRETTO

1970s HARRY VANDERSLICE, SR.

1960s RICHARD B. FOX, JR.

SPORTSPERSONS OF THE 20TH CENTURY

FENTON CAREY & DIXIE HOWELL

LAST 20 SPORTSPERSONS OF THE YEAR

2022 BILL SHALLCROSS…MATT ULMER

2021 JOE LaTORRE

2020 GEOFF HAINES

2019 KELLY HALLIDAY

2018 ANDREW BRISTOL

2017 KEVIN SMITH

2016 SEAN MOONEY

2015 KRISTIE MILLER FENTON…WENDY BURMAN MOYLE…LISA RUMER

2014 DEVON GRISBAUM

2013 AARON BOGUSHEFSKY

2012 CORY PICKETTS TERRY

2011 MILES SCHOEDLER

2010 MATT PURDUE

2009 CRAIG MENSINGER

2008 BRETT JOHNSON

2007 DICK GRIMES

2006 PAUL BARUFFI

2005 BRITTANY SEDBERRY EBERSON

2004 WALT TUCKER

2003 TRISH HOPSON HENRY

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As we get used to our new calendars it is always a good time to look back on the top local sports stories of the previous year. As is the custom, the 10 sports stories that seemed to generate the most interest throughout Ocean City in 2023 are gathered:

As always, some members of the sports community died during the 12 months of 2023. That includes multi-sport athletes Charlie Bowman and Charlie Baker plus award-winning journalist Bob Hoffman.

Now, about the year’s top stories-

1. Continued success of The Battle at the Beach, the high school football event produced by the West Jersey Football Coaches Association at Carey Stadium. It has developed into the biggest regular season football showcase in New Jersey and, in 2023, featured a classic battle between two of the top 10 teams in the country – Florida’s IMG Academy and St. Joseph Prep of Philadelphia, that was telecast live on ESPN-2.

2. A rally in the post-season by the girls basketball team that produced an upset win over Mainland and a South Jersey Group 3 championship .

3. South Jersey championships on the same day by the boys cross country and girls cross country teams.

4. The All-American seasons in track by Sophia Curtis and Elaina Styer and by Maeve Smith in cross country.

5. The 7-0 December by John Bruno’s boys basketball team featuring remarkable performances by senior Kori Segich.

6. The hiring of OCHS graduate Trish Henry as the fourth OCHS girls basketball coach over the last four seasons.

7. A quartet of Ocean City teams winning Cape-Atlantic League Tournaments. That included the boys cross country, girls soccer, boys lacrosse and girls lacrosse teams.

8. The historically challenging eight-game Raider football schedule that included seven teams that won playoff games, five that reached sectional finals and two that were state champions.

9. The induction of seven individuals and one team into the OCHS Sports Hall of Fame – Ed Adamczyk, Drew Breckenridge, T. John Carey, Abbey Hartman, Lloyd Hayes, Shelly Meister and Maggie Wallace, plus the 2015-16 Girls Swim Team in the Hughes Auditorium at the high school.

10. The outstanding statistical performances in football by Nick Layton, Jon Moyer and Duke Guenther.

It was a great 12 months and let’s hope 2024 provides as many great memories.

Coming next week – the Cape-Atlantic League Sportsperson of the Year.