Sea Isle Legends in the OCHS Hall of Fame
Terry Tracey (left) breaks the tape in the 100-yard dash in April 1973. It was one of three events that Tracey won that day in a 104-22 demolition of Wildwood High School.
Edward “Buddy” Adamczyk Jr.
Steven M. Libro
Terry Tracey
Labor Day is upon us, and that means two things to our local children: the end of summer and the return to school.
Since the very beginning of Sea Isle City, its children have been attending Ocean City High School for their secondary education. In addition to providing excellent academic programs, the school has offered exceptional athletic opportunities. In recognition of their outstanding contributions to OCHS sports, four former students from Sea Isle City have recently been inducted into the school’s hall of fame.
In the mid-1970s, an informal high school hall of fame was created by the Ocean City Sentinel Ledger, the town’s newspaper. Publisher Fred Benson and sportswriter Tom Williams decided to recognize the outstanding efforts of the school’s stellar athletes … while also hopefully increasing circulation. Athletes from specific sports were highlighted, as well as all-decade and all-century teams.
The hall of fame remained an informal affair until the school’s interim athletic director Jack Pfizenmayer and Williams got together in 2017 and created a school-sponsored “official” hall of fame. Today there are 49 athletes, 12 teams, and 14 coaches and affiliates enshrined.
Sea Isle City is represented by four outstanding athletes: Eugene “Johnny” Lepore, Class of ’31; Steve Libro and Edward Adamczyk, Class of ’58; and Terence “Terry” Tracey, Class of ’73.
Eugene ‘Johnny’ Lepore
More than 50 years ago, an alumnus of OCHS Class of 1934 was asked to name the best Ocean City High athlete ever from Sea Isle City. He immediately answered “Eugene ‘Johnny’ Lepore.” Many years later, when Lepore was nominated for induction to the Ocean City High School Hall of Fame, a thorough investigation into his credentials was completed.
He was truly an amazing athlete.
In part, his hall of fame plaque reads:
“The Sea Isle City resident was on the (OCHS) All-Century Team in football. As a senior, he was the leading scorer in South Jersey with 84 points. Today – 95 seasons later, there have been only 8 Raiders who have scored more points in one season. Lepore was a champion in multiple track events, and was a leading scorer on the basketball team as a junior, and as a senior.”
In a time before refrigerators, items were kept fresh by ice. During the summer months in addition to working as a lifeguard on the Sea Isle City Beach Patrol, Lepore worked in an ice house (as did his idol, Red Grange). An ice house is basically a factory that manufactures ice, as during this time people did not have ice makers in their homes or businesses. The Sea Isle ice house was large, and served the residents while also meeting the vast needs of the town’s commercial fishing fleet.
Lepore’s daily routine of sawing and moving a seemingly endless supply of huge blocks of slippery ice helped to keep him in shape. However, during the summer after graduation, he was injured on the job. His reputation as an athlete was such that a July a headline of the Atlantic City Press reported “Ocean City Football Star Goes Under the Knife.” And three days later, a follow-up article assured readers “He is convalescing rapidly, and is expected to return home shortly.”
Much like today’s star high school athletes, Lepore was heavily recruited to play college athletics. He was so newsworthy, that in April of 1930, the Atlantic City Press ran the headline “Bucknell to get Lepore,” and later, in a July article, it was reported that Lepore planned to attend Eastern Maryland University. However, he
eventually chose Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., so he could attend college and play ball with a friend from the beach patrol. Lepore went on to have a stellar collegiate career on both the football and basketball teams.
It is also interesting to note that during the 1920s and most of the 1930s, Ocean City High School students from Sea Isle City got to and from school by train as there was no school bus. During the 1920s, few people had automobiles. Transportation after practices and games was Lepore’s responsibility. Like many Sea Isle City athletes since, Lepore had to walk or hitchhike home many times.
After his collegiate career ended, Lepore was extremely active on Sea Isle City traveling recreation athletic teams. Throughout the 1930s, local newspapers made numerous mentions of basketball and baseball games in Cape May County and Atlantic City where Lepore played.
Lepore served his country during World War II. When the war ended, Sea Isle City residents constructed a large temporary monument in the City Park, listing the names of all the residents who were in the armed forces during the conflict. Lepore’s name was on the monument.
Unfortunately, that is where his trail goes cold. Apparently, he and his family moved out of town. Since then, time has taken its toll on his memory and the memory of his outstanding athletic accomplishments.
John Lepore’s Hall of Fame plaque and induction information have been placed in the Sea Isle City Historical Museum.
The SIC Recreation Department basketball team at the Excursion House indoor court. Team members include: (back from left) Steven Libro, Edward “Buddy” Adamcyzk, coach Fred Fourqurean, Vincent Farina, unknown; (bottom from left) Chum Robbins, Mike Stafford. Coach Fourqurean was a longstanding active American Legion member.
The football field at North Brunswick High School is named after Steve Libro.
Steven M. Libro • Edward Adamczyk Jr. (Buddy Adams)
The late 1950s saw two additional stellar athletes at Ocean City High School from Sea Isle City; Steven M. Libro and Edward “Buddy” Adamczyk Jr. Interestingly, both were in the OCHS Class of ’58. Growing up in Sea Isle City the two were friends, and at times either teammates or fierce competitors.
Like Lepore, Adamczyk was a member of the Sea Isle City Beach Patrol, where he eventually served as a lieutenant. While growing up, Adamczyk had anglicized his family name and was known as “Buddy Adams,” as this was a time when ethnic-sounding names were not celebrated by the general public.
Dr. Thomas P. McCann, the Sea Isle City Beach Patrol historian and former captain, had this to say about Lepore and Adams:
“The Sea Isle City Beach Patrol was very fortunate to have Johnny Lepore, 1926, and Ed Adams, 1953. They worked in two different eras and their athletic prowess was well known, respected, and appreciated by the Beach Patrol and community.
“The Ocean City High School Hall of Fame committee recognized these outstanding athletes, inducting both into this prestigious organization. They both re-set the record books in all the sports they participated in during their high school careers.”
Adams was an All-South Jersey football player who held the Ocean City High School scoring record when he graduated. He also was a successful swimmer and a multi-event champion in track. Ironically, Adams wasn’t initially interested in track. He first tried out for the baseball team and didn’t make it. At that time, swimming coach Fenton Carey suggested that he try out for track. Thinking that due to his large build he would be competing in the field events, he was stunned when he was told he was running the 100-yard dash. Carey told him that running the event “will help you in football.” Although reluctant at first, learning how to run the event was invaluable to his football career as he learned how to accelerate during the first few steps when getting the ball.
Adams won 11 varsity letters in his career, just one less than the maximum allowed, and was captain of the football, swimming, and track teams as a senior. His biggest memory of his high school athletic career was “having fun.” He fondly recalls that Coach Carey would bring his 8-year-old son to swimming practice where he would continually race each other in the butterfly event.
Adams remained in Sea Isle City before eventually settling in Atlantic County. He is a retired Bell Telephone employee, and is also enshrined in the Sea Isle City Beach Patrol Hall of Fame.
Steve Libro was a three-sport star at OCHS in the 1950s. He was the quarterback on an 8-1 team that won the Cape-Atlantic League championship in football. He was a starting guard and one of the leading scorers on a 21-1 championship basketball team. And he was an all-star outfielder on a Cape Atlantic League (CAL) champion baseball team. He was named to the OCHS All-Century team in baseball.
Libro went on to have an outstanding colligate athletic career at Trenton State College, now called The College of New Jersey. After graduation he went into the field of education, serving as a teacher and school administrator. He was also an acclaimed high school football coach at North Brunswick High School, the three-time Middlesex County Coach of the Year. In addition to his Ocean City High School enshrinement, he was inducted into The College of New Jersey Hall of Fame. In an ultimate tribute, North Brunswick High School named its football field in his honor. Now retired, Libro lives in Monmouth County.
The 1972 Ocean City Raiders basketball team. Terry Tracey is in the back row, third from the right.
The 1928 SICBP. The only patrol from Sandy Hook to Cape May Point to be 100% certified by the American Red Cross. John Lepore is standing at the far left. Photo courtesy Tom McCann.
Terry Tracey
The most recent appointment to the hall of fame is Dr. Terry Tracey. Interestingly, as a child growing up in Sea Isle, Tracey did not participate in any organized recreational sports. His first experience as an athlete was at OCHS. As a freshman, Tracey was tall but uncoordinated and had no plans to participate in any sport. Yet, within the first month of school, basketball coach Jack Boyd asked him to try out for his team. A few weeks, later track coach Ted Klepac told him he was built to compete as a runner, and asked him to try out for his team. Both coaches had immediately recognized Tracey’s raw potential. After getting his parents’ permission with a promise to keep up his grades, Terry Tracey was on his way. Klepac gave him a lead-weighted vest and told him to run on the beach with it on as often as he could. Not aware of the strong connections between Boyd and Klepac, he was very puzzled but happy when Boyd asked him to wear the same weighted vest and do stationary vertical jumps prior to basketball tryouts.
As a freshman, Tracey competed in varsity basketball and track. At track practice early in the season, Klepac told him to run the 440-yard sprint. He also put the varsity 440 runner on the starting line, and the rest is history. Although he was blessed with natural talent, Tracey always said that he was only as good as his coaches and teammates.
Since his beginnings at Ocean City High School, Tracey has lived by the philosophy espoused in the poem “Thinking” by Walter Wintle. It reads in part:
If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don't, …
…Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can!
Tracey has shared this philosophy with his children.
His proudest moments include being part of the 1972 state final basketball team. He fondly recalls how proud Coach Boyd was not only to be in the state final, but also to be standing in Jadwin Gym at Princeton University. Tracey warmly recalls coming onto the court during that game and looking into the stands and seeing his father. That was the first and only game his dad had ever attended.
Another important moment was going to the Rutgers University stadium with Coach Klepac for the 220-yard state championship. At the championships he set a school record that might still stand due to changes in the designation of the event. Lastly, Tracey remembers being humbled as he was the first recipient of the William Nichols Trophy for Ocean City High School’s Most Valuable Athlete.
Dr. Terry Tracey still lives in Sea Isle City and is trying to wind down his career as a school psychologist.
As can be easily seen, Sea Isle City athletes have made significant contributions to Ocean City High School. There are still some remarkable athletes who have not been enshrined. Names like Rocco Morano, Mike Baldini, and Lien “Charlie” Dalrymple come immediately to mind, in addition to many others who have proudly worn the red and white.
Perhaps the newest freshman riding the bus to Ocean City this September will be enshrined someday. What is certain is that Sea Isle City has supplied Ocean City High School with extraordinary student athletes, and will continue to do so.