Another year has passed in the sports world on and around Anna Maria Island and we’re looking back at 12 months of training, racing, playing and teaming up.
I need to recognize the “nuts and bolts” of my column. Topping the list are the sports — adult and youth — hosted at the Center of Anna Maria Island, 407 Magnolia Ave., Anna Maria.
Due to the multitude of activities at the center, it’s difficult to single out any individual youth or adult teams that won a league title but I wouldn’t have a lot to write about if it weren’t for the efforts of center sports director Tyler Bekkerus and the rest of the staff.
The same holds true for the Key Royale Club in Holmes Beach and the Anna Maria Island Horseshoe Pitchers at Anna Maria City Hall. Week after week, Tom Nelson at KRC and Jay Disbrow with the pitchers send in their results.
Highlights from the Key Royale Club came early in 2023 with Herb Clauhs getting his first career hole-in-one Jan. 27 on the eighth hole.
A few weeks later, Feb. 17, Tony Niewijk got his first hole-in-one on the 162-yard fourth hole.
Other events that stand out at the club include the championships and the holiday-themed tournaments.
Horseshoe highlights include the 10th annual Ron Pepka Memorial horseshoe tournament March 4, which honors longtime leadman Ron Pepka. The double-elimination tourney saw Tom Skoloda and Adin Shank take the win.
The pitchers closed out the year donating $730 to Kelly Pinkskey of Meals on Wheels PLUS before horseshoe action Dec. 20, continuing a longstanding tradition by the group of donating to local charities.
Beyond such reports, these stories stand out:
- Mickey Hooke, a Galati Marine staff member at the Anna Maria “store,” returned to racing after suffering a major plantar tear in his right heel. And all Hooke did in his return was set four course records on the way to a second-place overall finish in the Dec. 2 Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Ride & Run at Fort De Soto Park in Pinellas.
Before Hooke suffered his injury, he competed in five races with four third-place overall wins, four grandmaster and one master victories.
- Sandy Meneley of Holmes Beach earned the No. 1 ranking in 75-79 age group by USA Triathlon.
In addition to that honor, Meneley had first-place finishes in her age group in the Chilly Willy duathlon, the Gasparilla 15K and the Skyway Bridge run in March.
- And the sports story of the year saw two longtime islanders— Ken Bowers and the late Andy Torgeson — inducted Oct. 19 into the Manatee High School Athletic Hall of Honor during a ceremony at the Seafood Shack in Cortez.
It’s been said that Torgeson was the best all-around athlete in MHS history. He lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track. In football, he was a member of the All-County “1965 Dream Team” as a punting specialist and was on the 1966 All County Defensive Team. As a sophomore, he was an All-Western Conference pick in basketball and named to the All-Group 12 tourney in St. Petersburg.
He was a baseball switch-hitter at Manatee but hit with more power as a lefty. He had a football scholarship to FSU but before season started, he decided not to play football. Instead, he went to Fort Myers Edison Junior College, where his MHS coach, offered him a chance to play basketball. After college, Torgeson signed with the New York Yankees minor league team and was a Class A Fort Lauderdale Yankees player.
Bowers was inducted into the hall based on his prowess on the soccer field. He and his brothers Cole, Mark and Matt moved to Holmes Beach in 1975 with their mother Lois from Georgia and immediately became island icons.
Bowers got his start playing soccer at the Anna Maria Youth Center and, as a freshman in 1981, when he entered MHS, it was the first year soccer was offered as a varsity sport.
He didn’t play his freshman year, maybe because the coach didn’t care much for long-haired beach bums. He then went on to start every game for the Hurricanes soccer team 1982-84 and was named captain and MVP his senior year.
During Bower’s senior year, he received offers from several Florida schools but committed to North Carolina Wesleyan. He went on to start every game for the Battling Bishops, was captain for two years and made All South, All Conference and Division III All American honors in 1988. In October 2014, Bowers was inducted into the North Carolina Wesleyan Athletic Hall of Fame.
Congratulations to Hooke, Meneley, Bowers and the Torgeson family from The Islander.
And happy new year to all.