Baseball
Favorite athlete: Andrew McCutchen
Favorite Team: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating an undefeated Wissahickon team my junior year.
Most embarrassing memory competing in sports: Dropping a ball in right field during a summer tournament costing our pitcher a perfect game.
Music on iPod: Drake and Bryson Tiller
Future plans: Attend Swarthmore College and then graduate school, completing my masters degree in chemical engineering and working on a research and development team with a pharmaceutical company.
Words to live by: “Prove to yourself first and also to others, that you are capable of the impossible and an achiever of the profound.”
One goal before turning 30: Visit a foreign country
One thing people don’t know about me: I starred in my friend’s Star Wars remake short film.
By GORDON GLANTZ
Norristown senior Terell Dale has yet to develop his speech as Class of 2016 salutatorian, but he knows his most sacred saying – “prove to yourself first and also to others, that you are capable of the impossible and an achiever of the profound” -- will be in there somewhere.
He has lived it – on the baseball diamond, the classroom, as a Boy Scout one step away from Eagle Scout status and as a role model to others.
It has not come without adversity.
When Dale – the Univest Featured Male Athlete of the Week -- entered his sophomore season, he was feeling like most teens. He was feeling invincible.
He validated the confidence shown him by a varsity call-up as freshman by delivering a RBI-single against rival Plymouth Whitemarsh.
“That was my first hit and RBI,” he recalled, vividly. “It was an exciting experience. I wanted that every game. I was really determined, coming in my sophomore year.”
Following a summer of junior legion ball under the tutelage of the legendary Doc Bishop, the fleet outfielder was set to go.
But fate had other plans.
He sustained a lower back injury swinging the bat. Ignoring advice to shut it down for the season, he was determined to help his team the best he could.
But his best, by his own admission, wasn’t cutting it.
“I couldn’t run at that point,” he said. “That’s one of my best tools – my bread and butter, as an outfielder. I became very limited as to what I could do.
“The athletic trainer at school was concerned. He gave me stretches to do and told me to take medicine to reduce the inflammation. He said to give it time to rest, but I wanted to play through it. That’s how I finished out my sophomore season.
“It was the biggest roadblock for me as a baseball player.”
Coming Back
That summer, Dale let the back heal. By the time his junior season rolled around, he was able to regain his form.
“Once I got healthy and was able to play at 100 percent, it was about not being afraid anymore and playing confident again,” he said. “I was able to give it all I had.
The change did not unnoticed by Norristown coach Rich Campbell.
“He had an injury-plagued sophomore season and was still really rough as an outfielder,” he said. “Last year he came back a refined player. He led our team in batting average, home runs and stolen bases offensively and in saves. He was second- team all-conference as an outfielder and was our team MVP.
“He is among our fastest players and has the strongest arm on the team. Our catcher Charles Grello put it best when he said ‘I would hate to face him at the plate, he throws hard and comes at you from low but he’s even scarier bearing down on a base, having to try and tag him because he just looks like an angry bull.’ Fortunately, he is one of the most gentlemanly players in our league who rarely gets angry or flustered.”
At the end of his junior season, Dale was approached by Santi D’Orazio of the Philadelphia Reds, an elite 18-and-under baseball team – based in King of Prussia -- for area players from various high schools who stand out on the field and the classroom.
The seeds planted in Junior Legion by Bishop and by his comeback from the back injury blossomed when he accepted the offer to make baseball a true vocation.
“It’s always been there, but it was cemented with the Philadelphia Reds,” said Dale. “(D’Orazio) cemented in me that if I work to do my best on the field, I will be better able to better my life off the field as well.”
The Reds travel up and down the East Coast, and have faced teams from Central and South America while in Florida.
“Playing for that team is one of the greatest things that could have happened to me,” said Dale. “It’s like playing for a semi-pro team. We have played teams from Venezuela and Puerto Rico. It’s an amazing experience.
“I’ve gotten so much better, just in one offseason. We practice every day, from September to now, and I’ve matured as an athlete.”
A Student First
Dale’s maturity as a student was never an issue, as it was engrained in him by his parents, Timothy and Daphne.
“I’ve always tried to hold myself up as a student-athlete,” said Dale. “What I do in the classroom will follow me forever.
“A lot of motivation came from my teachers. They always kept pushing me to do the best I can.”
One of the main goals for the Reds is to identify college programs for its players and make the connections.
Dale’s list was narrowed to a pair of excellent academic schools -- the University of Chicago and Swarthmore, which became his choice. After going 5-for-5 in AP Calculus – the equivalent of hitting for the cycle or throwing a perfect game – he has decided to focus on engineering, but is not quite sure of the career specifics yet.
“I want to study engineering, but I don’t want to commit myself and tailor my experience,” said Dale, who was not seriously thinking about playing college baseball, especially after just battling to get back onto the field.
“Going into my junior year, I wasn’t planning on playing at the next level,” he added. “I didn’t have a great idea about where I wanted to go, but (D’Orazio) helps you get scouted. It came down to the University of Chicago and Swarthmore, and Swarthmore just felt right. I like the players on the team and the coach. I felt like I’d have a good four years there, and enjoy it.”
Staying close to home, and his family, was another plus.
“My dad has had heart problems,” said Dale. “He has been dealing with congestive heart failure, and he hasn’t worked for a while. He loves to come to my games, and he comes to as many as he can.
“He and my mom always told me what I needed to do to make a better life for myself. They showed me what to do, and pushed me to do it.”
Scout’s Honor
Dale sees himself as a leader by example on the field, but Campbell says that it is the total package that sets the standard for others to emulate.
“Terell is a fantastic young man, he has the greatest work ethic I have seen in a player both on the field and in the classroom,” said the Eagles’ coach. “I know we will stay in contact and Iook forward to hearing about him in future years because I know his future is going to be far greater and more beneficial to society, than anything he will ever do on a baseball field. He will achieve great things and I will have the satisfaction of knowing him and I will get to say I coached him and taught him in the classroom.”
While Dale says he tries find time to relax on weekends, he plate remains full. He is currently working on competing his Eagle Scout certification.
“This further demonstrates the level of commitment he puts into anything he endeavors to complete,” Campbell said. “Eagle scouts start in scouts generally at Kindergarten or first grade and stay through grade 12 when they age out. They perform public service projects like food collections and demonstrate character and perseverance.”
Dale has until his 18th birthday, which is in September, to reach the top rank in the system. He started as Cub Scout at age 6 and a Boy Scout at age 10.
“I’m working on my Eagle Scout project now,” he said. “I went through the ranks quickly, but didn’t really get serious about it until my freshman year of high school.
“I just need one more thing.”
That “one more thing” is an orienteering trail in the Norristown Farm Park, which involves precise map and compass reading of a terrain, seemingly ideal for a young man who has found his way through all terrain thus far.
Some would ask why it matters, at this point, but he has the answer: “Prove to yourself first and also to others, that you are capable of the impossible and an achiever of the profound.”
