Olympian send-off also honors 2 teams

Hernando's ceremony will salute sprinter John Capel as well as the Debs softball team and Majors baseball team.

By GREG AUMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 12, 2000

Hernando County will send its Olympian off with a celebration Friday on the courthouse steps for sprinter John Capel, commemorating a successful summer for local athletes.

"To have Dixie World Series teams for boys and girls and an Olympian from here, that's definitely a first for us, and I doubt many other communities have done this, either," said Jim Kimbrough, who will serve as master of ceremonies for "Celebration of Hernando's Champions," set for noon Friday in front of the courthouse in Brooksville.

The event originally was planned as a send-off for Capel, the 21-year-old Brooksville native who won the 200 meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials last month and will represent the United States at the Olympics next month in Sydney.

But then the Hernando County Debs softball team won a state championship, and the Hernando County Majors baseball team won the Dixie World Series last week in Texas, and organizers expanded the event to honor their success as well.

"Every time we turned around, something else had happened," said Kimbrough, the chairman and chief executive officer of SunTrust Bank, Nature Coast. "So we figured, why not celebrate it all together?"

The Majors gave the county its first Dixie baseball title since 1983, when Kimbrough was an assistant coach on the team his son, Jimmy, played on. The Debs softball team fell two wins short of a championship this week in Muscle Shoals, Ala.

The ceremony will feature the presentation of both teams, as well as Capel, who will then leave for a track meet in Berlin and from there, a few weeks of training in Sydney to prepare himself for the 200 meters, which will be held Sept. 27-28. Resolutions from the Brooksville City Council and Hernando County Commission honoring the athletes will be read, and cake will be served afterward.

A fundraiser has been launched to help send Capel's parents to Australia to watch their son compete. Brooksville's Julia Jenkins, who is coordinating the drive, said she began receiving donations in the mail Thursday. She said the first came from Jim Black, a Tampa businessman and 1958 University of Florida graduate.

"He's a good kid, and I'm proud that he'll be representing the state of Florida," said Black, who said he first heard of Capel as a receiver on the Gators football team. "I hope he can win the gold, and I hope his family can go with him. He deserves to be well-represented with his family there to cheer him on."

A handwritten note Black included with his check read "Run like hell, John Capel!!! Take MaMa and PaPa with you."

Jenkins said her phone has been ringing all week with calls from people across the Tampa Bay area interested in helping the Capels.

A benefit dinner is scheduled for Aug. 21 at the Golden Corral on U.S. 41 in Brooksville, with several county dignitaries pledged to serve as celebrity waiters.

The cost of sending Capel's parents to Australia could top $5,000, but organizers are optimistic they will find a way to have John Capel Sr. and his wife, Virginia, on hand for their son's moment of Olympic glory.

Those interested in buying tickets for the dinner or making donations may call Jenkins at 796-2418. Checks made out to the Hernando Youth League John Capel Fund may be sent to P.O. Box 804, Brooksville FL 34605.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.