The Ruden Report is the area’s go-to source for boys and girls FCIAC (Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference) sports.
Dave Ruden — a longtime sports journalist (and Staples grad) — and his staff cover the entire 15-high school league with news, photos and features.
There’s a low-cost yearly subscription (click here). But yesterday’s story by Jeff Jacobs was so good, I asked Dave to could share it with “06880” readers.
He agreed. Thanks, Dave and Jeff, for this inspiring story of the power of high school sports. And the importance of great teammates and coaches.
When Jack McFarland gathered his Staples players together after school in early April, he knew it would be a difficult meeting.
Over decades as a baseball and football coach, McFarland had dealt with the passing of grandparents and offseason family deaths, but nothing like this, not at the start of a season.
“It kind of came out of nowhere,” he said, “so it was really hard.”
A good high school coach is more than X’s and O’s and his win-loss record. He is a disciplinarian, a willing ear, a mentor and, for many, a father figure.
McFarland is a great coach.
“You have 25 kids and it’s just like having your own kids,” McFarland said. “You try to get them all on the same page and as happy as they can be. It doesn’t always work out that way. There’s an injury. Somebody is struggling in school. We’re always trying to keep the flock as close as we can and make sure everyone is getting what they need.”
Since 2005, the Wreckers have won four FCIAC titles, two state titles and advanced to the state championship game five times. They have become a perennial baseball power.
But now one of the flock, junior Jules Cicero, was hurting.
Jules Cicero
McFarland had received word that the days had grown short for Jules’ mom, Stacey Campbell. He decided not to wait. Mason Tobias, Cicero’s best friend, knew what was coming in the meeting. His teammates did not.
“We immediately put it out there for the kids,” McFarland said. “One of our guys is in some pain. We need to rally around him. We’ll be there for him …”
McFarland paused for a second.
“It was hard,” he said. “It was pretty heavy. The kids were great. I think it was the best way to handle it at that time. We wanted to address it, so we could give Jules support as a team. It would have been such a shock if (Stacey’s death) was the first thing they heard.”
Cicero agreed.
“It would have been a tougher time for me if they didn’t know,” he said.
When the meeting ended, everyone embraced Cicero.
“A few guys definitely had tears,” Tobias said. “It’s always awful. We care about Jules so much. We just wanted to give him a hug and tell him we’d be there for him.”
“My teammates and coaches mean the world to me,” Cicero said. “After the meeting I got texts basically from all of them, telling me whatever I needed they’d be there.”
Staples had played only two games when Stacey Campbell died on April 13.
Cicero, who McFarland calls one of the best leadoff hitters in the state, didn’t miss a game. He didn’t miss an at-bat.
“My teammates and coaches were one of the main sources to get me through that time,” Cicero said. “I felt I had to be there for them on the field. Coach McFarland has this saying. He said it at the beginning of the year even before he even knew anything was going on with me: When you’re between the lines, you can leave everything behind. You can just focus on the game. I keep reminding myself of that. If maybe I start to spiral a little bit, just focus on the next play as opposed to something else.”
Jules Cicero in the field …
There is a playbook for nearly everything in sports these days. There is no playbook for tragedy.
McFarland made sure he was on board with the school and counselors. He’d check in with a concerned principal, Stafford Thomas. There would be detailed conversations with Jules’ dad, Frank, on what was best.
“If you need to miss a practice, a game … all those decisions were made that way,” McFarland said. “We left it up to Jules.”
He didn’t miss anything.
“He has been unbelievable,” McFarland said. “He leads off the game, double, single. He’s one of the best leadoff hitters I’ve had here, and I’ve had Jack Hennessy and Chad Knight. He sets the tone.”
Cicero has hovered around .370-.380 at the plate this spring.
… and at bat. (All photos/David G. Whitham)
His teammates, in the meantime, were true to their word. There have been video game nights. They’d take him out to eat. They’d check in over the phone or in school to make sure Cicero was OK.
“It comes down to being there for him,” Tobias said. “For me, as his best friend, I tried to be with him as much as possible, hang out, take his mind off things. When something as tragic as that happens, being alone might sound the right thing to do, but that’s when you’re thinking about everything.”
Miss games?
“Oh, no, that would never happen,” Tobias said. “The whole team was there for him. He wanted to be there for us, playing as hard as he could. That’s what makes this sport so great.”
Cicero loves to lead off. He loves to serve as an offensive catalyst.
“The most important part of getting something going on offense is building the momentum,” Cicero said. “It’s really fun for me to have that opportunity to do that for the rest of the lineup.”
“Jules has a little edge to him,” McFarland said. “He’s a tough kid. He reminds me of the kids I grew up with. An old school type of kid. He looks after his teammates. He’s a great kid.”
The Wreckers advanced to the state Class LL final the past two years before falling to Fairfield Warde and Amity in the championship. After opening the season ranked No. 1 in the GameTimeCT Top 10 poll, they’ve gone 13-8.
“We definitely have a chip on our shoulder,” Cicero said. “We made it to Palmer the last couple of years and haven’t come through. That’s the big goal. It’s been pretty up and down this year. We ended the season well, but we had a skid where we lost a couple to Warde and one to Trumbull.”
On Saturday the Wreckers were shut out by St. Joseph in the FCIAC quarterfinals.
It would be easy to say baseball means nothing at a time like this. It also would be untrue. The game itself is a needed distraction. There also is a certain power in sport. There is a collective strength and love within a team.
For Jules Cicero, this is that power. This is the strength. This is the love.
“My mom cared a lot,” Cicero said. “She always wanted what was best. She was always there for the team. If any of my friends needed anything, she was there as well. She just wanted to help whoever needed it.”
“She always loved having us over,” Tobias said. “Jules, me and our friends. Every time we saw her, she was happy. She’d try to make us food. We always had fun at Jules’ house.”
Tobias thought for a minute when asked how Cicero was holding up.
“He has only gotten better as time has gone on,” Tobias said. “The first few days, the first few weeks were definitely rough. It’s still hard. Something like that happens, you never get over it. Jules keeps getting better, though, keeps progressing. And we’re there for him.”
Stacey Campbell can rest easy, well-pleased the Staples baseball team has helped care for her boy.
Thank you Dan for posting this tragic but beautiful story. It was much needed to counter the many negative stories of late. A portion of the athletic program may be in turmoil, but Coach McFarland has everything under control as usual. He shares the same values as you displayed during your long tenure as Varsity Soccer Coach.
Thank you Dan, What a beautiful story. As a mom of a teenage boy, I am sure that this would make Stacey so happy to know that Jules has his best friend, his coach and his whole team behind him. So unbelievably hard and so wonderful they can all be there for him.