A future Dartmouth quarterback and a former Dartmouth quarterback are in the news.
Jaden Cummings, a 6-foot, 200-pound dual-threat QB is a semifinalist for the Bridge Builder Excellence Award, presented to a current high school football player in the state of South Carolina who embodies excellence in the community, in the classroom and on the field. From a story carried by the Clinton Chronicle (LINK):
Jaden Cummings is a senior quarterback and team captain for Summerville High School in Summerville, SC, committed to playing for Dartmouth College. His football résumé is packed with accolades, including 3x All-Region, 2x All-Lowcountry, 2x SCFCA All-State, and being selected to play in the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives North-South Football Game. He also was named Region 8-5A Player of the Year, The Post and Courier Player of the Year, and Live 5 News Player of the Year. Beyond his achievements on the field, Cummings maintains a 4.85 GPA while taking AP and Honors courses. He also gives back to his community by mentoring young athletes through local youth football programs and reading to elementary school students.
Cummings passed for 2,362 yards and 31 touchdowns last fall, completing 64.7 percent of his throws. He ran for another 528 yards and 14 touchdowns. He tossed 71 touchdowns in his high school career.
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A story about a key player on the23-5 Louisville (Ohio) high school basketball team begins this way (LINK):
When your dad is Jon Aljancic and your brother is Will Aljancic, following in those footsteps as a Louisville High School boys basketball player can be a bit daunting.
Jon Aljancic '97 was the starting quarterback on the 2006 Ivy League championship Dartmouth football team that finished 10-0. The story about Tate includes a link to a September story about Jon's career both at Louisville and at Dartmouth.
That story included a clip from a piece I wrote about Jon after the Yale game his senior season (LINK). The lede of that story (which I still remember writing):
HANOVER - OK, who's going to feel worse after watching the film of yesterday's game Dartmouth: Yale against junior Adam Hernandez or veteran coach Carm Cozza?
Hernandez, a hulking 6-foot-5, 280- pound defensive tackle, was absolutely pancaked by a block from Dartmouth quarterback Jon Aljancie on an end around early in the second period. With Hernandez chasing Eric Morton, the 6-1, 185-pound Aljancic exploded like a piston under the bigger man's chinstrap, lifting him off his feet and landing him flat on his sizeable backside. Adding insult to injury: the Dartmouth sidelines went crazy with high lives, Big Green coach John Lyons joked later he worried about incurring a celebration penalty himsell, and Aljancic glowered over Hernandez' prone body like Muhammad Ali over Sonny Liston in the famous photo from their fight in Lewiston, Maine.
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EXTRA POINT
Virtually every book I've read in the past couple of years has been borrowed from the Vermont state library on a Kindle. Last week, however, I picked up a paperback at the little library near our post office and it's been a reminder of why I prefer an e-reader.
First, when I forget who someone in a novel is, I can get to the first reference for the character with a simple click. And while I'd like to think I have a pretty good vocabulary, there are usually at least a few words that in a regular book I should grab a dictionary and look up but I seldom do. That's not a problem with the Kindle, which has a built-in dictionary. And as for reading in bed? Even moving a floor lamp next to my side of the bed barely helps when a paperback's pages are slightly yellowed. With the Kindle I could just ratchet up the contrast if need be.
