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March 20, 2002

OCHS alumni game Saturday to benefit Anne Brinkmann Memorial Fund

By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist

Anne Brinkmann’s final high school basketball game ended in a flash.

Ocean City was leading Edgewood by one point in a 1980 South Jersey semifinal and had the ball out of bounds with five seconds left. But the in-bounds pass was stolen and Edgewood scored at the buzzer to win the game.

Brinkmann didn’t know what to do. Her career was suddenly over when, just seconds earlier, it looked like she was headed to the South Jersey final for the fourth straight year. It was a frustrating way for things to end so completely out of her control.

So, she pushed open the Edgewood exit door that opened into the parking lot. She ran outside in her uniform and was out there by herself for what seemed like a full minute. By then, she had gained some control over her emotions.

About five years later, she approached her bout with the cancer that took her life pretty much the same way. After initially battling the emotions and frustrations associated with something she could not control, Brinkmann then got on with her life. She ran, she worked out and she played basketball.

In the end, like that game at Edgewood, no amount of work or preparation could change the outcome.

Brinkmann discovered her disease while at Arizona State on a basketball scholarship. She never really got a chance to make an impact on the college level. But she certainly did leave her mark on the South Jersey high school scene.

When she graduated, Brinkmann was the first South Jersey player – boy or girl – to score over 1,000 points and pass for over 1,000 points. She scored 1,216 and passed for 1,176 (588 assists). She was the fourth leading scorer at OCHS, led in career assists, was sixth in rebounds and third in steals. She played in more games (106) than any player in school history and her teams were 92-14.

But stats only tell part of the story. Brinkmann was a complete player. She had the size and strength to battle for rebounds. She had the quick hands and body control to handle the best of guards. Her offensive strength was penetrating the opposing defense, either scoring off the drive or finding an open teammate.

She shot well enough from the perimeter to force opponents to play her honestly. On defense, she was a real asset, teaming with her twin sister, Marge, to form many a trap and destroy many an offense.

On the basketball court, there was little that she could not do. Off the court, her positive mental attitude and warm, genuine smile made her just as successful in life. She was inducted into the Ocean City High School Hall of Fame in 1992, six years after her death.

Saturday at 5 p.m. in the Intermediate School gym, dozens of former OCHS girls basketball players will return to the court to pay tribute to their former contemporary in an event that will raise additional funds for a scholarship fund in her memory. Those that played for Pat Dougherty will oppose those that played for Chris Lentz.

You can probably expect at least a few women who used to be named Vanderslice to be there. Lisa Foglio, the OCHS Player of the Century and the school’s all-time leading scorer, is expected. Foglio still ranks among the 10 leading scorers at Florida State.

Tricia Hopson, the former UMass starter and Oakcrest coach, now teaching at her alma mater, will be there. So will Margaret Carey, who started for three years at OCHS and is now an assistant coach at Richard Stockton College.

There will be dozens and dozens of former players there, some as many as 30 years older than others, and even more will probably become available this week. They are coming together at the behest of Dougherty and Lentz for a very good cause.

Anne Brinkmann would probably be both honored and embarrassed by all of this. The fact that so many talented people would be giving their time so that future OCHS students could get some help with their education, would be very special to her.

This is just the type of event that would have brought out that familiar Brinkmann smile. After all, there will be plenty of basketball, lots of laughing and time well spent with good friends.

For 23 short years, that was what Anne Brinkmann enjoyed most.


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