NEWTOWN SQUARE–Sam French, a 1994 Episcopal Academy graduate, earned an Oscar nomination in the live-action short film category for the critically acclaimed film Buzkashi Boys that he directed and co-wrote. Set against the dramatic landscape of contemporary Afghanistan, Buzkashi Boys tells the coming-of-age story of two best friends, a charismatic street urchin and a defiant blacksmith ́s son, who strive to realize their dreams as they make their way to manhood in one of the most war-torn countries on Earth. The Oscar-nominated film was shot entirely on location in Kabul by an alliance of …

MEDIA–Marple Newtown High School basketball prodigy Bobbi Caprice reached a career landmark on Friday, Jan. 11, when she scored her 1,000th point for Penn State Brandywine. The four-year starting guard was five points away from reaching the milestone before the game but reached her goal a mere 10 minutes into the first half to help Brandywine in a 65-48 home win over Penn State Schuylkill. "It was a bit nerve wracking going into the game because all my family and friends were there, but I felt confident having five points to go," Caprice, a Broomall resident, said. "Once I hit my first shot …

BOONTON, NJ–A former Broomall resident and a 1983 graduate of Marple Newtown High School was recently sworn in as mayor of Boonton Township in northern New Jersey. Marple Newtown Patch was able to grab a Q&A with this newly elected mayor. Read below for the interview. Name: Robert Rizzo Hometown: I was born in South Philly, grew up in Broomall on Crum Creek Road and currently live in Boonton Township, NJ. Schooling: I am a graduate of St. Pius X (1978) in Broomall and a 1983 MNHS graduate. I graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, in 1988.  Previous public positions…

NEWTOWN SQUARE–Todd Fairlie, a 2002 Marple Newtown High School graduate and current head football coach of the Episcopal Academy Churchmen, was recently named as Coach of the Year by delcofootball.com. A truly Cinderella story, Fairlie brought the Churchmen from a three-win squad to winning the Inter-Ac league championship, 10-0, according to Delcofootball.com. It’s the first time Episcopal Academy has had three-straight shutouts since 1963, and first time they started 3-0 since beginning 2008 with a 5-0 start, reported CBS Philly in September. Fairlie replaced Bill Gallagher as head football…

NEWTOWN SQUARE–The Marple Newtown High School Administration and Marple Newtown High School Athletic Hall of Fame Committee has announced the 2012 Hall of Fame inductees.The Hall of Fame Banquet and Induction Ceremony will be held at the Penn Oaks Golf Club in West Chester on Oct. 4. The following is a schedule of events on the day of the induction: Golf, 12:30 p.m., Callaway Tournament – Shotgun Start, $100/person (includes greens fee, cart & range fee) Dinner, 6:30 p.m., Cocktail Hour, Dinner Banquet, Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, $50/person The following individuals, teams and coaches …

Suburban Seahawk alum Brendan Hansen is taking home another gold medal in the 2012 Olympics.Hansen, of Havertown, swam the breaststroke leg of the men’s 4x100 with teammates Michael Phelps, Matt Grevers and Nathan Adrian. The team came in first with a time of 3:29:35, with Japan coming in second and Australia coming in third, according to the London Olympics website. The race’s attention was centered largely on the race as Phelps’ last one.“He’s basically enabled us to keep swimming at the age of 30,” Hansen told NBC. “You’re sharing a pool with a guy you’re going to want to tell your kids …

PHILADELPHIA–International relations and German double major Margaret Myers, a recent Saint Joseph's University graduate, was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Turkey for the 2012-13 academic year. The Marple Newtown High School graduate has had a passion for international relations from a young age. "I had a lot of contact with foreign students growing up, so I have always been interested in different cultures," explains Myers. "Working in international relations, especially in diplomacy, would be an incredible opportunity to meet people from around the world while …

PHILADELPHIA–Jennifer Dailey, of Broomall, was on the big screen during Marple Newtown High School's 2008 graduation. Dailey was studying abroad in Switzerland at the time as part of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. Four years later, she found herself on the big screen once more. This time, however, she was on the podium at the University of Pennsylvania making her commencement speech. On May 13, Dailey, who was nominated by the school's Physics Department, spoke in front of her peers as the featured student speaker for the university's College of Arts & Sciences. "I thought it must've been…

NEWTOWN SQUARE–The New York Times recently featured local sports celebrity Joe Crawford for his years on the basketball court for the NBA. This year Crawford, whose notable connections to the Marple Newtown area include being a Newtown Square resident and a St. Pius X School alumni, marks his 35th year with the NBA. Crawford made an appearance at his old stomping grounds of St. Pius X last August for the school's annual basketball camp. Crawford talked to the young athletes about growing up, life with the NBA and the lockout. Crawford has officiated in the NBA since 1977, during which time he…

NEWTOWN SQUARE–In light of the recent death of Marple Newtown High School alumni and best-selling author Jeffrey Zaslow in February, a scholarship has been created to Marple Newtown students by Zaslow's family. Zaslow, 53, a native of Broomall, was a resident of West Bloomfield, MI, who co-wrote The Last Lecture and was also known as a Wall Street journalist, died on the morning of Feb. 10 in an auto accident in northern Michigan. Marple Newtown school officials unanimously approved, 8-0, the establishment of the Jeffrey Zaslow Scholarship Fund at a school board meeting on Tuesday. According …

WEST CHESTER–Two 2009 Marple Newtown High School graduates will compete in the National Rollery Hockey Championships in Salt Lake City, UT, from April 11-15. Juniors Bobby Koob and Rodney Knash, of Broomall, will play and move forward with their West Chester University roller hockey team to the championships, in which the games will be held in the Olympic Oval. The team has clinched the regional title for the second consecutive year with a record of 17 wins and 2 losses. This will be Koob's first year attending the National Championships. Koob, who plays defense for the Rams, was nominated …

EASTON–Lafayette College in Easton, PA, recently announced their star Leopards freshman, Emily Homan, was named as the Patriot League Rookie of the Year. Homan, a 2011 Delaware County Christian School graduate, is only the second player in the Leopards' history to be named as Rookie of the Year. A high-scoring basketball all-star, Homan was the 13th Delco Christian female player to reach 1,500 career points. A forward and co-captain for the Lady Knights, Homan clutched 10 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots at the PIAA District 1 semifinals against Morrisville High School last year, …

Sports were always part of Tim Chambers’ life. Chambers was born in Newtown Square, where he lived with his eight brothers and three sisters, his family practically a team of its own. Growing up, he played football for the O'Hara Lions and the University of Pennsylvania Quakers. Little did he know, he would one day go on to combine his love of sports with a yet-undiscovered passion for film. Several years after graduating in his early 20s with a degree in Economics, brief stints as a free agent for the Philadelphia Eagles, then a stockbroker, Tim Chambers set out to Los Angeles to pursue his …

WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI–Marple Newtown High School graduate and best-selling author Jeffrey Zaslow, 53, of West Bloomfield, MI, who co-wrote The Last Lecture, died Friday morning in an auto accident in northern Michigan. According to the Antrim County Sheriff's Office, a vehicle lost control on M-32 and skidded into the path of a truck Friday morning; the car's driver was killed, a dispatcher confirmed. Zaslow recently published a new novel, The Magic Room, and was a featured speaker last month at the West Bloomfield Optimist Club breakfast meeting and a frequent speaker at functions throughout …

BROOMALL–Richard "Rocky" Geraghty died on Monday, Nov. 21, at 11:03 p.m. at Rose Tree Park in Upper Providence. The 24-year-old's death was ruled suicide by the Delaware County Medical Examiner Dr. Fredric Hellman. Geraghty, a 2005 Marple Newtown High School alum and, according to his Facebook page, was a US Marine. According to a tweet on Geraghty's death, he was also a student at Delaware County Community College. Since his death, friends and family have shown their condolences in the social media landscape through comments on his reported death as well as through Twitter. Funeral services …

NEWTOWN SQUARE–The Mighty Macs—a film about the 1971 Immaculata College basketball team's unlikely championship run—has been a long time coming. Producer and Episcopal Academy parent Tim Chambers, who is also a St. Anastasia School alum, told a crowd at Edgmont Country Club on Sept. 21, the film was scheduled to hit theaters last year but his friends in the NCAA and marketing industry told him to wait a bit longer. It made little sense to debut the movie 39 years after the true story, they said. Better to round up to an even 40. "One more year pushing that boulder up a hill," Chambers told …

NEWTOWN SQUARE—Saturday, Aug. 13, was no ordinary fundraiser for Marple Newtown High School (MNHS) Band. Not one student was there, and that was okay. MNHS Band Director Mike Masimo along with instructor (and MNHS alumni) Greg Gillin decided to put together a night for parents and band alumni that could beef up the funding for MNHS's many band programs. The evening was the first of hopefully many MNHS FUNraiser and Alumni Reunions. "When the band started fundraising it was the only group fundraising 20 years ago so it was easy. Now everybody does fundraising because they need to; we looked …

BROOMALL–Wednesday morning in the community center of St. Pius X School, the NBA's second senior-most referee addressed a much tougher crowd than he's used to. A touch younger too. "Some nights, players or coaches get angry and I have to quell that," Philly-native Joe Crawford animatedly explained to the approximate 25 boys and girls at St. Pius X School's annual Basketball Supercamp. "And some nights I might cause a few riots myself." The famously excitable Crawford, who turns 60 at the end of the month, graduated from St. Pius X and still lives in Newtown Square with his wife. One of pro …

If the conventional wisdom of the moment is to be trusted, to truly master any discipline, whether it be piano, paddle ball, or podiatry, you need to spend 10,000 hours practicing it. Esmiana Jani is at 7,200. And Jani, 18, a ballet prodigy who's trained at Media's Academy of International Ballet for the last decade, is apparently a quick learner too. The Marple Newtown High School grad has accepted a dance position with the Washington Ballet that begins in September. The Albania-born Jani's ascension to the professional ranks marks the realization of a nearly life-long dream. She's been in …

PLYMOUTH MEETING–High school sports today are a 12-month commitment. In the past, summers were used by football players to workout, train, run, do a laundry list of things a coach set out for them to do. They would do it with a group of teammates, or often, on their own. Now, grade school and high school football players have outlets that once weren’t there. One of those outlets came to about 250 kids this past weekend at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School, in a camp run by JuniorRank Sports. The three-day camp, run in conjunction with the U.S. Marine Corps, also attracted a number of high-…