July 16, 2003
Is Holy Spirit's future in doubt?
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
Last month a lot of us were anxious to see the new enrollment figures released by the NJSIAA. The new
numbers showed that Mainland had moved up to Group 4, Hammonton to Group 3, Holy Spirit down to
Parochial B and Cape May Tech within 18 students of Group 2.
All of those are significant pieces of information. But there were two other numbers that, for area high
school sports fans, might have been even more important.
Holy Spirit has 605 students in grades 10-12, a drop of 55 percent in enrollment over the last 15 years.
And Wildwood now has just 207 students in the top three grades, a drop of 43 percent since 1988.
Those are dangerously low numbers.
Holy Spirit has been in the news a lot recently. Its girls crew won an international competition during the
Royal Henley Regatta in England. And storied graduate Chris Ford was named assistant coach of the
76ers.
Both stories probably reminded fans of the days when Holy Spirit was the largest Parochial school in
Southern New Jersey. The big school in Absecon made crew a popular high school sport around here. And
Ford brings to mind the glory days when the Holy Spirit building was among the newest and most modern
in the Cape-Atlantic area.
Holy Spirit is now surrounded by newer facilities. Atlantic City and Pleasantville have new buildings and
growing enrollments. Absegami, Mainland and Egg Harbor Township have expanded their physical plants
and their enrollment. And Ocean City will open a new high school next year.
It would seem that the best chance for Holy Spirit to reverse its enrollment decline is to offer things the
other schools don’t. Crew used to be an example, but Atlantic City, Mainland, Egg Harbor Township and
St. Augustine all are competing successfully in the sport now.
In fact, St. Augustine presents a different problem. The Prep is also expanding its facilities but, just as
important, offers ice hockey and boys lacrosse among its lineup of sports. It would make sense for Holy
Spirit to get into the high school ice hockey picture and add lacrosse or volleyball. Each sport might only
bring in 10 or 12 students, but that adds up to $40-50,000.00 in tuition - money that can be used to
further enhance the school's attraction to potential students.
Of course, most people don’t pick a school just for its sports program. Holy Spirit has some strong
academic traditions but it should make sure that its students now have courses available that are rare in
the schools with which it competes for students. The school already puts on one of the area’s best stage
musicals each year. A marching band would also help.
Wildwood has a different problem.
Like other public schools, it cannot attract its students from a wide area. It is limited to the Wildwoods.
And it is probably no coincidence that while Wildwood has lost 43 percent of its enrollment over the last
15 years, Wildwood Catholic is up 47 percent over that period and Cape May Tech has increased 68
percent in the nine years it has been part of the Cape-Atlantic League.
Needless to say, not all of the students who attend Catholic and Tech come from Wildwood. But the
number of eighth graders from the Wildwoods who will move on to Wildwood High School in September is
reported to be alarmingly low.
If government can help solve Wildwood’s problem, then the right guy is sitting in the mayor’s office. Ernie
Troiano loves his city but he especially loves his alma mater. There is, however, only so much he can do.
One of the things that may be hurting Wildwood is its membership in the Tri-County Conference. Without
re-hashing that entire scenario, there could be parents of athletes in the Wildwoods who do not want their
children arriving home near midnight following a road game in some place like Woodstown. So they send
them to Catholic or Tech.
Football was the center of Wildwood’s problem with the CAL but success in the sport certainly did not
improve in the Tri-County Conference. Maybe dropping football, funneling that money into other programs
and considering a return to the CAL would reverse Wildwood’s diminishing enrollment.
There is little chance that Wildwood High School might close, even though it is now the smallest non-tech
public school in South Jersey. But that might not be true about Holy Spirit. Catholic schools have been
known to shut their doors when other schools are capable of handling the student applicants. Witness St.
James of Carney's Point just five years ago.
Holy Spirit and Wildwood are two schools that have been an important part of the area’s sports history.
They bring to mind names like Ford, Fred Dalzell, Stan Marczyk, Al Mallen, Bill Deibert, Ed Byrnes,
Randy Beverly, Bernie McCracken, Bill Osborn, Monica Johnson, Meredith Campbell - some of biggest
names in CAL sports.
We all want them to thrive, to continue providing great competition and producing great student-athletes.
But it may take some dynamic and aggressive leadership to get them both back moving in the right
direction.
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Doug Colman starts his first season as a head football coach in September. Ironically, the former Ocean
City star will return to Carey Stadium with his Absegami team for the OCHS home opener on Oct. 4.
And he won’t be alone.
Colman has assembled a staff that includes Pat Lancetta, longtime offensive coordinator at Hammonton;
Tim Watson, former Mainland and Rowan star who was with the Seattle Seahawks before suffering a
career-ending injury; Charlie Walters, former Gami head coach; and Scott Parker, former star at Egg
Harbor Township and an important part of the EHT staff the last few years.
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It was nice to ride down Route 9 and see the school billboard. “Congratulations Holy Spirit Girls Crew,” it
said, “World Champions.”
Big deal, you say? You would expect Holy Spirit to put such a message on its sign.
Well, this one wasn’t at Holy Spirit. It was at Mainland. And it displayed the type of sportsmanship and
support for another CAL school that would be great to see all the time – in every sport.
Read more of
Tom Williams' columns