Kevin J. Barnes
801 Asbury Avenue - #515
Ocean City, NJ, 08226

Mr. Barnes:

Hope all is well.

Last week a former associate of mine asked me if I had heard about the Jan. 25 meeting of the Ocean City Board of Education – about the attack on me by Mrs. Chisholm!


I have since watched the video and would like to present some facts.


She started off by referring to the “struggles” of the girls basketball team a few years ago and insinuated that I am keeping those “struggles” alive. I’d like to make two things clear. 

First, it has always been my opinion that Mike Cappelletti and Tim Kelley are two outstanding individuals, excellent teachers and terrific basketball coaches.
(They also are pretty good tennis coaches, by the way!) They were unfairly attacked publicly in ways that impacted their lives.
But, second, if anybody believes that my opinion about how that “struggle” went down would cause me to treat student-athletes unfairly – they just don’t know me or my history.
 

She went on to talk about the Coaches vs Cancer Day on Jan. 20. Let’s be clear, I do not schedule the games for that day, which has been held for 15 years.
My primary purpose is to arrange for items to be included in the silent auction that raise the money for the American Cancer Society.
Incidentally, more than $7,200 was raised that day, the most by any school in the Philadelphia area.
Coaches vs Cancer tells us that Mrs. Chisholm participated in the silent auction and made a significant contribution – we thank her for that.

The date of these games and the Ocean City opponents are determined by the athletic department and the coaching staffs, not by me.
I’m not sure either of the games played by the Raiders on that day were moved from another date but if they were – so what?
It’s still the same teams playing in the same gymnasium. And I did not charge people to come into the games, the school did. All the money collected was sent to Coaches vs Cancer.

She was especially upset that a “brochure – a full-on packet” she called it – that had multiple pages devoted to the boys basketball program and not a word about girls basketball.
She implied that I created the brochure as a Coaches vs Cancer program. 

She was wrong again.   

That “brochure” is created by the boys basketball team and is available at every home boys basketball game. I don’t create it, they do.
And, by the way, the girls basketball team has a very good full-color handout, complete with rosters, that I have seen at most girls games.
That girls handout, incidentally, does not mention the boys team. Nor should it.

She seemed upset that I might make money from the basketball showcases. That was one of the few charges that had some truth to it. We have no volunteers in our basketball events.
After we pay to use the school, and pay for insurance, referees, scoreboard operators, official scorers, announcers, security, athletic trainers
and people who handle admissions and hospitality - if there is money left a portion of it goes to our scholarship program - the Edythe T. Selvagn Memorial Fund, which was
created 25 years ago by my sister, Ginni Szczepanski, a former Teacher of the Year in the Ocean City School System, and me in memory of our mother. Any money after that is our profit. 

This year there was no profit in our 27th Girls Shootout. Nor was there any in 2023. In fact, since Kylee Watson graduated from Mainland, the event has struggled. She used to fill the gym!
													        
There are a lot of people who make money from high school sports. Reporters and photographers whose job is to cover the events get paid.
So do the afore mentioned referees, scorers, security people, etc. The only difference is, they are guaranteed payment. We only make a profit if more money comes in than goes out.
And, besides, don’t you rent the facilities to AAU tournaments, camps and other outside programs that turn a profit?
 

Mrs. Chisholm also complained that the boys game on Coaches vs Cancer Day was video streamed live but not the girls game. She is correct.
But, once again, she is also wrong in blaming me. That game was streamed by CAL-Live, a very good website that covers primarily Cape May County sports.
I have no affiliation with them and they made that decision on their own.

She concluded her diatribe by saying “the situation is unfortunate and these girls don’t deserve it.” Don’t deserve what?
I am not aware of anything that happened to the current girls basketball team that fits that statement.
In fact, when we discovered they did not have a rack for their basketballs at the start of the season, we bought two racks for them.
And I received a very nice thank you card, signed by all the players and coaches.   

Yet, despite all the lack of facts in her attack, when she used the word “abuse” to describe my actions regarding high school basketball,
that borders on slander and might require further examination.

As far as my history with girls basketball, I suggest you contact Pat Dougherty, Dr. Chris Lentz, Paul Baruffi, Mike Cappelletti, Stephanie Gaitley
or the great group of coaches OCHS has now – Trish Henry, Sue Repetti, George McNally and Jay Connell – and see if they think we are “abusing” athletes.

I have sent the video link of your board meeting to a few people. Most of them have asked me the same question –
did she come to you with these complaints before tossing them out in a public forum? The answer is no.
I’m not sure I could pick Mrs. Chisholm out of a lineup and do not recall ever having a conversation with her. I do, however, remember her impressive swimming career at OCHS. 

In the 62 years I have been covering high school sports there have been people who disagreed with something I wrote or said.
Most of those told me about their feelings face-to-face or through other direct communications instead of making charges in a public setting.    

I’m sure we both agree it is important that people elected by the public have an opportunity to offer their opinions – new business, as you call it.
But I hope we also agree that those opinions and charges should be based on facts. That was not the case here. 

In this case, the facts were abused!     

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I just thought, as BOE president, you would want to know.





Tom Williams
Prime Events
609-457-2822