By Gary Curreri

Brian Johnson grew up with the Deerfield Beach Little League.

Deerfield Beach Little League President Brian Johnson goes through Opening Day ceremonies on Feb. 27. Photos by Gary Curreri

The second-year president was sporting a huge smile as he walked around Opening Day at Deerfield Beach Middle School Athletic Complex on Feb. 27.

“This is our biggest day of the year,” Johnson said. “It generates the most fundraising. It is just great for all of the kids to be together and participate in all of the events. We have fast pitch events, home run derbies and a dunk tank. It is just great for them to come out and have a good day and, later on in the day, we start the season with four games. We gave out trophies for the different events too.”

There are 280 players, ranging in age from 6 to 18, on the league’s 23 teams. There are six divisions– Farm, Minor, Major, Junior, Senior and Big League.

“I have been involved in this league for 30 years, since I played when I was 9-10 years old,” Johnson said. “So not only have I played, coached and now I am on the board of directors, I now have kids that I coached back here with their kids and coaching.

“It is a cool feeling to know there are kids you helped as youngsters that have come back to the league and are giving themselves back to the same league,” Johnson added. “You keep them here in a community setting and off the streets. We want to provide six months out of the year a place where they can hang out even if they are not playing. They can have a good time and learn baseball on top of it.”

Rockhounds

Deerfield Beach’s Avery Thomas, 8, has been playing baseball for 5 years. Thomas plays on his father’s Minors Division team, the Rockhounds.

“My dad plays it and I like it,” said Avery Thomas, who plays mostly every position on the field. “I like playing baseball because you can meet new people. It is more important to have fun than win games. I’d like to play for the Marlins. It is a big dream.”

His teammate, Zachary Johnson, 9, also of Deerfield Beach, has been playing the sport for 3-1/2 years. He is a pitcher and can also play multiple positions.

“I like that you can hit the ball and pitch,” said Johnson, who also has aspirations of playing in the big leagues someday. He said he would oppose Thomas when they are older. “I want to play with the Red Sox.”

Johnson said he also was happy to learn how fast he pitches.

“It was really cool because I always wanted to know what my pitch speed was,” said Johnson, who was clocked at 38 miles-per-hour in the fast pitch competition.

Observer Rockhounds pictured above from L-R (first row): Zachary Johnson, Zachary Fletcher, Adam Musa, Isiah Harris, Michael Esau; (second row) Michael Ballesteros, Teriq Phillips, Justin Ray, Tristan Clark, Avery Thomas; (third row) Coach Shaun Thomas

By Gary Curreri

Deerfield Beach boys coach Kenny Brown gives instruction to the Bucks during an earlier game this season.

Hopes for state championships for local boys’ teams were dashed this week when the remaining two high school squads, Highlands Christian Academy and Deerfield Beach, each lost their regional quarterfinal match-ups at home.

Highlands Christian Academy dropped a 37-35 decision to visiting Lake Worth Christian in a Class 2A game, while Santaluces rallied for a buzzer-beating basket to drop Deer-field Beach, 54-52, in a Class 6A contest.

Jeff Romeus scored 25 points to lead the Chiefs (21-7) past the Bucks (19-6) in Deerfield Beach; however, it was Chiefs’ senior Corey Johnson who was the hero. Johnson scored his only basket of the night as time ran out to give Santaluces the win. Santaluces rallied from a 52-48 deficit with 1:14 remaining to stun the hosts.

Santaluces’ Jeff Romeus hit his fifth 3-point basket of the contest, and after Kirby Simpson converted one of two free throws for the Bucks, then dropped two free throws with 53.4 seconds remaining to pull to with 52-50. The Chiefs’ Jess Ewald tied the game at 52-52 with two free throws with 2.7 seconds remaining.

The Bucks threw the ball away on the inbounds play to give the ball back to the Chiefs. Santaluces’ Steven David hit a cutting Johnson under the basket for an easy lay-up for the game-winner.

Teias Peaton-Lane paced the Bucks with 15 points.

Deerfield took a 41-39 lead into the fourth quarter after Simpson converted a 3-point play with 1.6 seconds remaining as he hit a runner from the baseline and was fouled by Corey Johnson. The Bucks led by as much as 49-42 with 3:14 remaining on a basket by Peaton-Lane before the Chiefs started their comeback.

Deerfield Beach, which won state titles in 1997 and 1999, hadn’t been to the playoffs since 2004. The Bucks had won 13 of its past 14 games and two in a row since a 67-62 loss to Blanche Ely in the Big 8 on Feb. 2.

Paul Jones had 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds, while Avalon George added 11 points as the Defenders (17-10) edged host Highlands Christian Academy. Senior forward Andrew Smith had a team-high 12 points for the Knights (18-10), which led by one at halftime.

“I give Lake Worth Christian a lot of credit in executing a very good defensive game plan on us,” said Highlands coach Jim Good, whose team had a season-low 35 points in the loss. “In the end, we still had our chances, but it seemed as if it wasn’t meant to be.”

Good said his team played one of its toughest schedules ever with most of its losses coming to teams that won district titles or advanced to the state playoffs.

“We will miss our seven seniors, Andrew Smith, Mike Gray, Justin Dann, Jeff Sullivan, Matt Moser, Lee Izquierdo and Chris Deshommes,” Good said. “It’s definitely going to be a rebuilding year next season – a challenge that I am looking forward too.”

Blanche Ely’s Germain DeCoste, right, tries to drive past Dillard’s Ryan Duncans in an earlier game this season. DeCoste scored 16 points in the Tigers’ 67-57 loss to Northeast ending their season. Photos by Gary Curreri

Blanche Ely dropped a 67-57 decision to Northeast in the District 16-5A semifinal to end its season at 18-6. Clide Geffrard had 22 points, while Germain DeCoste and Anterio Smith had 16 and 11 points, respectively, in a losing effort.

“We had a great summer and with the guys here my expectations were pretty high,” said Blanche Ely coach Melvin Randall, who has been at the school for 10 years and won a state title with the Tigers in 2007.

He also won two state titles with Deerfield Beach in 1997 and 1999. “We kind of jelled over the summer.”

Randall said as high school teams graduate players, he always seems to find a way to sustain success.

It’s a simple formula, he said. “The situation I am in is that I always go with the cards that I am dealt. It is about development. My staff and I try and develop these kids who are considered no names I guess by some people. Somehow they develop into these standout players, which we’ve known since day one, but not everybody knows about them. We may not have the most athletic players consistently, but we try and develop them into those types of players. I give that credit to my staff and also the players, who have put in the hard work.”

By Dave Montalbano

Cast of Two and a Half Jews – Mark Robert Gordon, the late Len Lesser & the late Bruce Adler

Best known for playing “Uncle Leo” in Seinfeld, Len Lesser had worked steadily as a character actor for over 60 years. Since the dawn of television, each decade, Lesser has had a part in popular TV shows, from The Untouchables to Everybody Loves Raymond.

After his service in World War II, Lesser pursued the craft of acting, thanks to his old friend, Lee Marvin. Lesser worked steadily for 65 years with a resume that includes 500 television shows, over 50 movies and 100 plays. Clint Eastwood spat on him in The Outlaw Josey Wales. In The Birdman of Alcatraz, he wrestled the rock from both Burt Lancaster and Karl Malden.

When I interviewed Mr. Lesser three years ago, the actor said of his career, “I have always been busy as an actor. I am fortunate to make a living and raise a family.”

He recalled a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

“It was a spiritual and solemn occasion with people dressed in exotic robes and submitting prayers to the wailing wall,” he said.

His religious moment was interrupted when he heard a person’s scream, “Hey, Look! It’s UNCLE LEO!”

We lost this kind gentleman last week. Hopefully, this Sunday, the Academy Awards will memorialize this reliable character actor whose track record goes beyond Uncle Leo.

Oscar Parties!

At Cinema Paradiso, the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival will host an Oscar-watching party featuring Michelle’s fine cuisine of The King’s Speech Chicken a la King, A Biutiful Paella, True Grit roasted potatoes and dessert featuring Black Swan Cake and Ice Cream Bar with Winter’s Bone toppings. www.fliff.com.

There are three film festivals proposed for Palm Beach county in March and April, and the veteran Palm Beach International Film Festival will host the only party that is sanctioned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This Oscar Night America will be held at the Bash of Boca on 6018 SW 18 St. in Boca Raton. Local red carpet arrivals begin at 7:30 p.m. www.pbifilmfest.org.

• Despite reports of the demise of PBIFF last year, Executive Director Randi Emmerman has managed to reunite the core PBIFF team and has expanded the festival to eight days during the last week of March. An announcement about the details is expected.

By Diane Emeott

Senior citizens Earl & Marjorie Sexton came down from Boynton Beach, where they are wintering. She said she gets e-mails from a lot of groups. ‘We need to keep after our president and congressmen. We need to stop what we’re doing, supporting a dictator,” she said, while holding up a sign.

For more from the rally, see the Feb. 10 Observer newspaper.

How I made it to college!

In the spring of 1959, my senior year at Pompano Beach Senior High School was rapidly coming to a close. I had applied to the University of Florida in Gainesville, the University of California at Davis and Stetson University in Deland, Florida, and they had all accepted me into their mechanical engineering programs. I had assumed, with Principal Walden’s encouragement, that I would get the substantial scholarship offered to an engineering student from Pompano High each year by a certain unnamed benefactor. However, about a month before graduation, Principal Walden called me into the office to let me know that the benefactor had decided instead to give the scholarship to one of my classmates who was planning to study electrical engineering.

When I got home that night, I shared the bad news with my parents and apologized to Dad saying, “I hope you’ve got some money to send me to college.” Dad looked surprised and blurted out “I don’t think you need to go to college. You’re a good machinist. You can stay here and make good money as a machinist.”

I reminded Dad about the big pump project our company had lost to a sugar company in Belle Glade because we didn’t have a graduate engineer on staff. Although our prices were the best, they gave the job to a company that had professional engineers on staff to certify the product.

I told Dad, “I don’t want to ever be in that position again wherein a potential customer doesn’t buy from us for that reason. I intend to get an engineering degree and ultimately a professional engineering license, so that kind of thing can never happen again.” Looking exasperated, he said, “Well, good luck. But I don’t have the money to send you to college.”

Taken aback, I went to bed and prayed. The next day, I went to Principal Walden and told him what happened. He responded with compassion saying, “David, I’m so sorry. Don’t you worry. I’m going to get on the phone today and see if I can get you some scholarship money! Come see me in two days.”

I knew he had good news when I walked into his office two days later. “Come on in, David,” he said with a big smile on his face. “I’ve got your whole engineering education planned out for you. My alma mater, Stetson University has agreed to give you a substantial scholarship to their pre-engineering program — they co-operate with the University of Florida. You can go there for two years and then enter the University of Florida as an upper classman. I’ve arranged two other scholarships, one local and one from the State of Florida, to make up the rest of your financial needs as long as you maintain high academic standards.”

Impressed, happy and surprised, I jumped up to give him a hug as he stuck out his hand instead, which I grabbed and shook with both hands. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. Walden, I will never let you down,” I said.

I didn’t let him down and graduated a few years later from the University of Florida with an engineering degree and a minor in business. The fellow who was awarded the original engineering scholarship by the unnamed benefactor ended up flunking out of college. It seems he was great in math and science classes, but could not spell or write very well.

By my second year, my father relented and bought me a new car and helped pay expenses.

David Eller, Publisher

If you enjoy boating, fishing, diving or anything nautical then the City of Pompano Beach Nautical Flea Market is for you! Hundreds of venders with huge bargains for boating and diving gear, nautical clothing, marine surplus items, anchors, mooring products, nautical arts and crafts, food and much more will fill Community Park on Saturday, January 29th and Sunday, January 30th for the 20th Annual Nautical Flea Market!

The City of Pompano Beach and the City of Lighthouse Point are teaming up to host the popular Nautical Flea Market – bigger and better than ever! The Nautical Flea Market will be held from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday, January 29th and from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 30th.

The popular band The World Famous Low Tides will be performing on Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

The cost to attend the Nautical Flea Market is only $5 per day, children 12 and under is free. Free parking is available.

Come to Pompano Beach for two days of fun, food, music and fantastic bargains! Don’t miss these once in-a-lifetime deals!

Vendor applications are still being accepted.

For more information call 954-786-4111 or visit www.nauticalfleamarket.com.

South Florida from Palm Beach to the Keys is currently under a tornado watch as weather conditions deteriorate across the region. This is not the day to be in the water as water spouts and rip currents are highly likely.  A slight risk of tornadoes will be present over much of South Florida late this morning through the afternoon, primarily from the Cape Sable area northward through the Southeast Florida metro areas, with lesser chances over the western half of the peninsula.

Light to moderate rain will continue to spread north and affect all of South Florida through the midday and early afternoon hours. Clusters of heavy showers and a few thunderstorms will also move northeast and affect most of Miami-Dade County through noon, then Broward and Palm Beach counties between noon and 2 pm. These showers and storms will also spread over the near shore Atlantic waters and Biscayne Bay through 2 pm. The main threat with this activity will be lightning strikes, along with wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph in the stronger storms. Persons involved in outdoor activities today should be on the lookout for rapidly deteriorating conditions as the showers and thunderstorms approach from the southwest, and be ready to take shelter from the lightning strikes.

Tonight at the Planning and zoning meeting in Deerfield residents came by the bus load (3) from Century Village East and doubled the expected crowd of 250 the city was prepared For.  Residents came to express their concerns about a request by the Hillsboro Pines golf course to construct a new 31,047 foot clubhouse and new entrance and also new parking lot.

At 6:47 just before the 7PM scheduled start time Commissioner Marty Popeski

Took to the stand and announced that the Fire Marshal ordered the room be emptied and reschedule the meeting for safety reasons. The meeting was rescheduled for Jan 20 and will be held at the main clubhouse in Century Village East.

ObserverTV was there and interviewed Commissioner Poepelski on camera to make a statement. To see the video of the crowd and interview go to ObserverTV page and click on “Latest Videos”