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January 14, 2004

The final whistle for three who made a difference

By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist


The holidays are a busy time for all of us. Our schedules change and things we might otherwise notice tend to slip by.

During the recent holidays, three people who were active members of the Ocean City sports community died. This is a good time to offer goodbyes.

ROMEO ADELIZZI was one of the very first football stars at Ocean City High School. He is a member of the Ocean City High School Hall of Fame. During his career Adelizzi scored 219 points, second only to his older brother, Charles, another Hall of Famer, who had 222. Their scoring totals were topped by Kevin Sinclair, Austin Martin and Mike Linahan, but they stood as school records for more than 40 years.

Adelizzi played for OCHS from 1929-32. He scored 70 points in each of his final three seasons. Ocean City's football teams were 32-5-1 during his four years in the lineup.

He had planned to appear at Hall of Fame Day in October to officially be inducted along with Linahan at halftime of the game with Absegami. But poor health kept him home on that day and eventually led to his death at 90 last month.

Many people will remember Adelizzi as a cab driver in Ocean City for a long time - a happy and friendly ambassador for the resort. Some will recall seeing him join Fenton Carey for some ceremonial coin tosses before football games in the 1990s, representing the oldest former OCHS football players.

Not very many among us will remember seeing him carry the ball for the Raiders more than 70 years ago. But it was in that role that Romeo Adelizzi became a legend of Ocean City High School sports.

CLIFF BEAVER did not play for OCHS. He was not a former Raider coach. But his love for baseball and willingness to help others with their game had an impact on the sport in this town throughout the 1960s and early 1970s.

Beaver was a regular at high school games, Babe Ruth League games, OCYAA games – even pickup games. He was always willing to step in and hit some ground balls or toss some batting practice to dedicated players. He offered well-founded advice on ways to improve. He even would take young players to Philadelphia where they could buy their bats and gloves from the same company that supplied the Phillies.

His biggest impact was on his sons, Ron and Bruce, who were not only both solid baseball players for the Raiders, but good football players, as well.

In his latter years, living in Florida with his sight failing, he enjoyed listening to tapes of his grandson, Bruce, playing football for OCHS.

BOB LOWRY made a gigantic impact on this area, not just on high school sports. He was a first-class basketball referee, calling the biggest high school games for years. In his professional life as a bank officer, he was always willing to offer sponsorship and financial support to teams and leagues throughout the area.

Ironically, when the Beaver family was temporarily without a home because of a fire, Lowry and his family put up Bruce for a few weeks until the family could return home. In addition, Lowry’s son in law, Dan Town, and his grandchildren were athletes at Ocean City High School. He died at the age of 77.

Romeo Adelizzi, Cliff Beaver and Bob Lowry contributed to Ocean City sports in different ways. But all three of them had a definite impact.



Read more of Tom Williams' columns