August 25, 2004
Football notes & goodbye to Father Rob
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
Scrimmages (or pre-season games, as the NFL likes to call them) are usually pretty insignificant. Though
the players are somewhat motivated, trying to earn a position or hold onto one, it isn’t the same
atmosphere. Frequently, teams schedule scrimmages with schools outside their league where there is
even less interest.
But over this final weekend of August there are a couple of interesting match-ups to get this year’s
scrimmage season started.
On Friday night, Ocean City will visit Holy Spirit at Ed Byrnes Stadium in Absecon. Both teams return a
lot of talent at the “skill” positions but that’s not really the attraction. This is Ocean City-Holy Spirit, the
series that offered the Jinx of the Joe Kish Jump Pass. The series that featured Byrnes, dressed all in
gold, patrolling the sidelines. Byrnes still has more football wins over OCHS than any coach in the last half
of the 20th century.
Then, Monday morning on the Tennessee Avenue field behind the Municipal Golf Course on Bay Avenue,
Ocean City will host St. Augustine Prep in boys soccer. Both teams are defending state champions and,
in the Cape-Atlantic League playoff last fall, the two conference champs played to a scoreless tie.
There won’t be cheerleaders, or marching bands, or even hot dogs for sale. But those are two pretty
interesting scrimmages during this final weekend of August.
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The completion date for the installation of new lights at Carey Stadium was August 6. At last glance, there
is some work remaining.
People who should know indicate the lights will probably be in place by Sept. 10, when Ocean City High
School is scheduled to play night football at home for the first time in school history.
The Raiders open the 2004 season against Bridgeton in a non-conference game that night. Bridgeton
replaces Academy Park, PA, on the OCHS schedule. OC will also host Atlantic City, Oakcrest and Egg
Harbor Township this season, though the ACHS game will be on Friday afternoon to avoid conflicting with
the Jewish holiday.
The behind-schedule status of the new lights, however, might impact Ocean City’s scrimmage with
Cherokee on Sept. 3. The two teams were to play at 7 p.m. That scrimmage might end up being in the
afternoon.
Stay tuned.
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Throughout what might be called the sports glory years at Holy Spirit High School, from the mid-1960s
through the mid-70s, there was one constant presence.
Father Glendon Robertson was the Spirit principal then, but he was much more. During those years the
school was growing in its new facility in Absecon and its sports programs were trend-setters. Father Rob,
as he was affectionately known, could be seen at most sports events, offering positive reinforcement. He
was a leader, to be sure, who demanded effort from his students on the athletic field and in the classroom.
But his warm smile and his compassionate glance helped everyone who came into contact with him
realize that he was on their side.
In dedicating its yearbook to him, the Class of 1968, which included future NBA star Chris Ford, wrote,
“We feel that in Holy Spirit there is one who is the epitome of empathy. One who guides us because he
cares, who teaches us because he loves, who leads us on because he understands and who makes us
whole by his empathy. We dedicate this book in mutual love and respect to the empathy in Father
Robertson.”
He never played a down, or pitched an inning, or shot a free throw. But Monsignor Glendon Robertson, a
member of the Holy Spirit High School Hall of Fame who died last week at 76, was a positive influence on
the growth of sports at Spirit and throughout the Cape-Atlantic League.
He is remembered with great affection and respect.
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