LAKE SENECA – He s a throwback.
The son of a career Army infantry officer, Albert James Jim Diehl III graduated high school in Germany; played Rugby and started jumping out of airplanes while a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy; and has set his muddy boots in 78 countries.
Recently retired and approaching his 69th birthday, two-thirds of Jim s 51 years in military and federal service were spent in and around the special operations environment and those ubiquitous three-letter agencies, where his jersey number was often called for the thorniest of missions.
And the decorated Marine is staying aboard – as a volunteer chaplain in a new program designed to offer spiritual succor to those serving in the intelligence field.
That year, upstart Eustis announced it arrival on the state softball scene by giving a powerhouse all it could handle. Against Coral Springs Charter, which was in midst of a streak that ended in 2019 with five straight championships, the Panthers took a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning before falling 2-1.
Since then, the Panther Nation has been bottling up energy like a carbonated drink that has keeps getting shaken up.
And when the final out was recorded Friday, the proverbial bottle was finally opened.
“This feels amazing,” said pitcher Libby Levendoski, who uncapped the celebration, fittingly, with a strikeout her 16th of the game. It was the final brushstroke of a masterpiece for the sophomore, who allowed only two hits in the biggest game of her life.
Previously in Spain, he had written, filmed, directed and edited a feature-length film called Iberion. In 2018, he began the project with some friends. During the one year of filming, Wilcox worked to balance his school work with his project, filming on the weekends and editing the footage in his free time.
The feature-length movie centers around a young boy s journey after finding a book that has the power to change his fate. The more the main character reads this book, good things happen to him, but as he spends time without reading it, his luck starts to run out.
After its completion in 2019, Iberion premiered at theaters throughout Spain and earned him a spot as a finalist in the best student film category at the ARFF International Awards in Berlin.
The junior class is in charge of fundraising for prom each year, and their main fundraiser is through parking lot sales at special events like Leesburg Bike Fest and the Mount Dora Arts and Crafts Festival. But with the pandemic, most of those were cancelled or postponed and the class was struggling to fund prom.
“It really helps everyone,” Junior Class Sponsor Karen Woodie said. “It helps the juniors raise money for the junior/senior prom, seniors get their own banner and the city gets to join in by displaying them. We were able to get sponsors for every single senior and had enough left over to have an outstanding prom.”