Recently in Your Take Category

Gregg Clark of Dallastown sent us the following letter:

Regarding the top 10 from York High (York Daily Record, Jan. 13), I'm a serious candidate that was overlooked.
I made all-county in 1988. I was also voted top 24 in the county, and to date there has never been a kicker in the county that could ever kick as good as me.
I then went to play ball in Europe for two different teams, The Monheim Sharks and the Zoeling Hurricanes.
I also made the York High hall of fame. Now the few you posted in the top 10, some didn't even make the hall of fame. Another that should have made it was Ty Doleman. He went to Pitt-Johnstown, then was a Globetrotter, then played pro ball in China. How about Mike Murray? He's played in the Army for years.
Kia Cooper, Yolanda Atwater, Brad and Harold Sprenkle, Scott Dean, Barry Generett, Chris Sharp ... the list goes on.
I thought the Daily Record looked into things before they wrote it. Apparently not in this matter.
It's just like growing up in the city, the Daily Record always pointed out the bad things that the city kids did, front and back pages. But when the kids stand out, they may get two or three lines.
Good job, Daily Record, keep putting down the York City kids. I bet that your paper will see a lot of letters from a lot of angry York City people that should have made it. Good job.

Two more letters...

From Sue Ruby in York: In Saturday morning's sports section there were pictures on the front page and also inside of William Penn's football game which was played on Friday. They lost to Bishop McDevitt. West York football WON their game on Friday night against Conrad Weiser and you only had one article about their game. Why does West York never get any recognition when their sports are played? West York fans do not believe the treatment the team receives from your newspaper. Could someone explain this to me?

Chad Creasy from Central York: You should be ashamed of the lack of coverage for the astonishing show put on by Brandon Real last night. You have 10 photos in today's newspaper all of teams that bowed out of the district 3 playoffs, and ZERO of West York. The only winner. How does this happen? This performance will go down as the single most dominating performance this county has ever seen. I don't care about his size, and his lack of recruitment by colleges. Turn on the video, and look at what this kid is doing this season. His performance last night was not against another YAIAA cupcake. TUNE IN, AND START RECOGNIZING someone other than CENTRAL OR YORK HIGH!!!

Caroline Sweitzer of York checks in with the following criticism of Saturday's York Daily Record sports section:

I was at the West York-Conrad Weiser game on Friday night and saw how hard the West York team and fans played and cheered for the only team advancing to the semifinals in our area.

When I saw the sports section in Saturday's York Daily Record, I couldn't believe it! Not one picture of the West York players! Five of William Penn, two of Central York and three of Middletown and Delone Catholic.

Yes, I did see the nice columns written about the West York players, but a few pictures would've been nice to congratulate them for all their hard work. Especially since they were the only local team to advance to the district semifinals.

A reader letter e-mailed to us this morning:

I think you absolutely missed the boat when you did not include Yancy Unger as one of your top Littlestown athletes. Yancy excelled in football, baseball and basketball. As a two-way starter in football, standing at 5'8" tall, Yancy was co-captain, quarterback and safety his senior year. He led his 1989 football team to the BML title and District III "A" title in triple overtime against Wyomissing. I do not have stats, but he was named "Player of the Year" in the BML, and also received small school all-state honors, and I am sure I am missing more accolades. His team was the first in Littlestown's vast historic football legacy to win both the BML and District titles. As a baseball player, Yancy was a three-year starter and could and did play every position very well. Again, I do not have stats...but he was a major contributor to those teams...'87,'88 and '89! As a basketball player, Yancy was a two-year starter at point guard and shooting guard. Not knowing stats, I know he was a very accurate shooter and a fierce competitor. Mr. Unger could have easily played collegiate athletics and had several offers, however he chose academics at Penn State University, in which he also excelled! You may want to re-consider and mention Yancy Unger if you are truly looking for outstanding athletes!

Regarding our series on The Greatest Athletes, Clair Bentzel writes:

Spring Grove also had some outstanding tennis players which you failed to mention in your article of "Best Rockets". One of them was Carrie Bentzel Trimmer, who won three consecutive YCIAA titles and two District 3 titles plus a 40-0 league record. Also, she and her mixed doubles partner Kevin Scott won three state mixed doubles tennis championships. She received a full scholarship to Syracuse University.

Some other notable Spring Grove tennis players were Craig Diehl, Ken Grove, Glen Shaffer, Bam Landis and probably a few I don't recall. They had all had an outstanding coach in Gary Gault, who would delight in telling you about them if he were still with us.

We received this letter this morning from Bruce Weaver:

First I would like to thank you for taking on such an enormous endeavor in naming the ten greatest athletes from each York County High School. This is a project where it is impossible to satisfy everyone. To narrow the list to ten for each high school is basically impossible. With that said, I do think you have done a commendable job. I cannot recall another sports series that has created this much buzz and controversy. The number of responses in the Sunday Paper is proof of how passionate individuals feel about this. I do feel that many of the responses have been overly negative. Individuals must keep in mind how difficult this process has been.

Howdy, Chris,

I don't normally write letters to the editor but I can't let this one pass by without raising a few issues.

Last week's rundown of the top athletes at South Western was the epitome of what's wrong with this series. You've got young reporters and the people being used for references are young and don't have a clue who played what sport in the years prior to the 80's and as a result, you're missing some of the toughest athletes ever from that
school. You're also missing an important aspect with football in particular.

Received this morning...

I've read over your criteria several times and you are correct in saying that it is not scientific but is it even intellectual? I have done my research as any seasoned educator would do and I would suspect that a seasoned reporter would do as well. You would think in your so called two years of research/interviews you would have contacted West York's athletic director and surveyed each and every one of its coaches. You did not do this. So what roundtable were you at, a local VFW over pizza and beer! You wanted to cause controversy and you have and you have disappointed and angered many parents and athletes who, after being named the best in their respective sports in the State of Pennsylvania,and going on to success at a college, "OTHER THAN PENN STATE or being named to "YOUR" All star teams for their respective sports were IGNORED by your "list". I am also a bit concerned over your sexually biased reporting. You mean to tell me in all these years of WY sports there were only 3 female "top" athletes and all those males...wow, now we have a need for concern. So to all the parents that know for a fact their sons and daughters should have been chosen, take comfort in the fact that the grossly under-researched and biased reporting of this newspaper and its reporters was done without fact and without even contacting the school district, it's present or past coaching staff and present and past athletic directors. Sincerely, Mrs. TM Laucks

Do you have a great photo that you've taken of Penn State coaching legend Joe Paterno?

Or perhaps a great story about an encounter you had with JoePa.

Or perhaps you just want to compose a tribute to the Nittany Lions' legend.

We want to collect your Paterno photos and stories, for use in future publications.

E-mail your submissions to cotto@ydr.com or mail them to: Chris Otto, York Daily Record/Sunday News, 1891 Loucks Road, York 17408.

E-mailed photos should be scanned at the highest resolution possible.

Include your full name and hometown, and a phone number where you can be contacted.

NOTE: Richard Sanders in San Antonio sent us this letter after reading reporter Jeff Frantz’s 2006 article, “Pecs, pink pills and powers: How York played a role in the steroid controversy,” recently on our Web site (www.inyork.com/ydr). Louis Riecke was a New Orleans native who, at age 35, developed into a champion lifter after Dr. John Ziegler convinced him to take Dianabol. Riecke served as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ strength coach from 1970-1980.)

I traveled down from New York City in 1958 with Larry Mintz, Morris Weisbrott and a couple of other Elechester lifters to the Teenage Nationals. I placed in the Junior and Senior Southern AAU contests in 1961 and met Louis Riecke. He was impressive and soft-spoken with a personable humility.

I knew he used isometrics, so in 1963 while at Selfridge AFB in Michigan, I made a two-pipe-and-chain gadget and did early morning squat, pull and press isometrics to enhance my afternoon training.

Vincent Powell of West Manchester Township writes: “Wow. First the New England and now Big Brown. It just makes you wonder what the 2008 World Series holds in store for us.”

Ron Sisto II of Dover Township writes: “Spread the bases further apart and move the pitcher back in high school softball. Defense and hitting are lost as a team relies too much on one player.”

A couple of truly old blog posts here on The Lineup Card are still generating commenting traffic. It's kind of fascinating, really. They just created lives of their own and kept on ticking.

In case you're curious, one is the infamous entry from Nov. 20, 2007, about the harvesting of an albino bear cub. That one has 78 comments and counting. And the other is the "Irked about the York Young Revolution" reader letter from Nov. 19, 2007, which has 60 comments thus far.

Kevin Hartnett of York writes: Who was the moronic relief pitcher that started the trend to pitch from the stretch with the bases empty? There is nothing more agonizing than watching salad-tosser Jamie Walker pitch from the stretch with the bases empty. Remote control, please.

Susan Wolf of Wrightsville called us moments ago to say: “I stumbled on the race results on CNN and learned that the second-place winner of the Kentucky Derby (Eight Belles) broke both front ankles and had to be euthanized on the track. And what CNN was playing was the winners’ owners jumping around in their big hats, happy they won all this money. This is not the way we treat animals. Gambling should be done at a table or slot machine, not in cockfights, dog fights or horse races with whips.”