Our returning champion and author of “Defying Expectations,” 5-foot-5 Eastern Shore hoops legend Al “Hondo” Handy shows us how he’s still inspiring young folks through sports and recreation in Ocean City.
Nestor Aparicio interviews Al Hondo Handy, a sports leader and author of “Defying Expectations.” Handy discusses his journey from a young boy without indoor plumbing to becoming a prominent figure in sports and recreation. He emphasizes the importance of sportsmanship and community in Ocean City, where he has contributed significantly to local sports programs and facilities. Handy shares his experiences of integrating schools in 1965 and becoming a state championship team manager. He also highlights his book’s success, having reached 47 states and various international destinations. Handy continues to inspire youth through his book and keynote speaking engagements.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
crab cakes, holiday season, Maryland lottery, Raven scratch offs, Jiffy Lube, defying expectations, sportsmanship, modern sports, college level, recreation leadership, Ocean City, youth sports, book signing, motivational speaker, summer camp
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Al “Hondo” Handy
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T AM, 1570 tasks in Baltimore and Baltimore, positive. We are positively at the holiday season, having crab cakes all over the area, really, in the city, a lot. We’re this week will be a fatal ease on Wednesday, celebrating the holidays and shipping out crab cakes from there, all over the world, the world famous faith, Lee’s crab cake, little mustardy, delicious. Unique. Also, we’re going to be at amicis next Tuesday, the 17th and the 18th. We will be at Costas. All of it brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery. I have Raven scratch offs. Pretty lucky batch, not as lucky as the last batch, but still a good batch. And I’m going to have a fresh batch next week, as well, as well as our friends at Jiffy Lube, multi care, keeping us out on the road, getting Luke ready for football season. I have decided here during the holiday seasons, we get up on Christmas to have some old friends on who have written books. They’re all out signing books for the holidays, because Santa brings books, and books bring wisdom, and with wisdom comes a better society. And I like the mentor types, the teaching types, the leadership types around here, and this guy be trying to have him on. I go down to Ocean City every year with Mako, and it’s like a special thing, because I’m behind, like a door number one, where there’s a credential in this and that it’s security and like it’s like a serious convention. And Al Hondo handy is a guy who has come to me, we have done a couple segments together, and we keep up at on social media. He has a book called defying expectations. He is a long time athlete, athletic supporter, leader of men, coach, recreation Council, dude, track and field guy, Salisbury, legend. And now in Berlin, Maryland, where my friend makes some very, very good beer at Burley, the burly beer company there with a lot of East Baltimore ties, we welcome Hondo back in always defying expectations. So every day I’m here, I’m defying expectations. My brother, yes,
Al “Hondo” Handy 02:04
yes. Thank you so very much for having me back on. I appreciate it. Well, you’ve
Nestor Aparicio 02:08
been honored by like the president and stuff lately and been going. I mean, you’re picking up all sorts of accolades here, and some folks in Baltimore might not know your background, but I got to know you. You have really created a life in leadership and recreation and service that’s really all been around sports and around your being a little bit undersized to play basketball, you’re too short, you’re too small, you’re too short, you’re all that, right, and look at you.
Al “Hondo” Handy 02:36
Oh yeah. With all that, I wanted to define everyone’s expectations of me, and that’s the name of my book, divine expectations. Yes, I love sports, and I promoted sportsmanship throughout my life.
Nestor Aparicio 02:49
Well, what on a daily basis here, when you see sports as you see it, what do you make of modern sports? Because I’m 56 I’m not a Get off my lawn guy. I’m not someone who’s not I’m not detached. I’ve known football players, baseball players, hockey players, coaches all of my life. It’s all I’ve ever done until they threw me out about two years ago. Is no and respect, really. I mean, I saw Shannon Sharp’s diet. I saw the way he fed himself. I’ve seen these guys, the fluids, the needles, the pain, the surgeries, the crutches, the rehabs, all of this. But there’s a point where sometimes I don’t recognize modern sports, like I talked about this with Todd rade a couple weeks ago about jerseys. Like sometimes I put an NBA game on, and it doesn’t ring true to me in the NFL, sometimes the jerseys and the uniforms and all that, but sometimes it’s a sort of like the sportsmanship side of what you talk about, which is these fights at the college players had a couple of weeks ago about flags and what is respect and what is taunting, and what is celebrating and end zone dances and guys getting up and dancing when their teams behind by three touchdowns. Sometimes I don’t recognize it beyond the sport to where the entertainment part has changed, bat flips in baseball and different things that to your generation and my generation, we would call it sportsmanship, right? Hondo, right?
Al “Hondo” Handy 04:20
Well, things have, things have changed, especially especially at the college level. I mean, I think it was influenced by some of the professional levels, and now it’s kind of made its way down to the college levels, where they the, like you said the other week, there were a lot of, lot of talent, a lot of unsportsmanlike efforts on the ball fields, and it’s not really good for sports. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 04:47
the kids see it right. Give everybody your background. Because just give the elevator speech that you give when you give your book speech about your because I can read a little bit of it, but you tell it a little better. Here, and you’ve told it to me once, and I know your book kind of tells the story as well, but you went from loving sports to not being good enough to be, you know, be a billionaire. You came back to your home area, and you have been when Ocean City. When I said, Who’s the people Ocean City making a difference? Couple years ago, they brought you to me, as well as some really good Thrashers french fries, as I remember, Charlie Roger and I got to know you a little bit and talk to you, but you remind me a of my father, who was a recreation Council leader, umpire setting up the snowball stand. Guy had to carry all the catchers equipment, the bats and ball zone, because my dad was the manager and making sure the kids in the neighborhood had organized ball, which is, you know, at the heart of our society, it’s, it’s some glue that holds us together, through economics, race, challenges, politics, all of that that you have seen this in your life. It’s the way you’ve lived your life over on the shore.
Al “Hondo” Handy 05:58
It’s the one thing that keeps families and youth together, and that’s sports. It’s, it’s, you know, there’s no it’s different from society. Any race, any group of kids can get along when they’re playing sports. That’s one thing to have in common. And I just wanted to promote sports in a positive way my entire time, and it’s been a challenge, but continue to do so. Gotta continue to do that. Do so today
Nestor Aparicio 06:33
that your background was in recreation, correct when I met you and recreation leadership in the Ocean City area, how many years did you serve down there, in working with young people like yourself who would come back, and then you have some decorated athletes down there, degrees, college scholarships go on to do things, but the community and you and I had a laugh about this, about softball diamonds down on Fourth Street where the water tower was, when I was a Boy in the 70s and playing ball down there, but there’s been a rich tradition of sport down there that I know every time I talk to Tom prolazo, and he’s got a baseball name and a baseball brother that you know it’s you’re always trying to even when it comes to tourism down there, aside from the great concerts and the good stuff that we do down At the beach, but there is a point where bringing sports together, whether it’s volleyball, basketball, where that baseball, lacrosse, whatever it is soccer, bringing people together. You you built something there that I think the whole ocean city community wants to build on. Hondo, I
Al “Hondo” Handy 07:36
tried to do my best while I was here, and it looks like it’s continuing to build in Ocean City as matter of fact, we talked about third and fourth street ball fields that used to see that is now changed this. It’s now called the bayside park at Third Street. They connected both parks together. They have pickleball. That Park is one large park downtown. They connected pickleball to move the skate park closer to Third Street. They put in pickleball courts, uh, fantastic playground for kids. Uh, walking paths. You would notice it unless you went down there to see it.
Nestor Aparicio 08:13
Uh, amen, don’t you have to invite me to did you just invite me to Ocean City? It just invited you. I’m in, I’m in, I’m in. Count me. I need better weather than this week. Now, you know, I mean, when Batman was spinning the tunes down at the paddock, you get me down there on New Year, you know. But I prefer to go down to the beach when I put my feet in the water. I do. I
Al “Hondo” Handy 08:32
got now, I wanted to tell you that, you know, you probably, I don’t know if you had a chance to read my book, but look, my background comes from a time when I grew up as a young kid with no indoor plumbing. And, you know, a lot of people equate success and, you know, achieve positive achievements to where you came from and what you had. So I went to an all black elementary school and then the sixth grade down here, high schools, or seventh grade to 12th grade down here, in my sixth grade, they said, in the next few years, all schools in this county are going to be integrated. So here’s your opportunity to go to our local school. Steve Decatur, high school, early. Now, at that time, there was a black school in Worcester County, and all my family members went to that school, but myself and a few of my friends included Oliver, Bernard, Clemson University, Ron Dixon, we decided to go to Steve mckater and become the first six African Americans in the school.
Nestor Aparicio 09:37
What year was that to put a date on it for everybody. Hondo,
Al “Hondo” Handy 09:42
that was 1965 and this was before integration, so we’re going early. And so we went on there and couldn’t play any sports for a couple of years because couldn’t play it in the ninth grade. So I coach wood Lambor allowed us to become manager seventh, eighth grade. And like. Time we reached the 11th grade, we were the starting three guards on the state championship team.
Nestor Aparicio 10:05
Hold on a second. How tall are you as you stand here right now? Don’t lie to me, Honda,
Al “Hondo” Handy 10:12
I claim five foot five. That
Nestor Aparicio 10:17
means you’re five four.
Al “Hondo” Handy 10:21
But I have a picture with I have a picture with Muggsy, and he and I are standing next to you. You’re taller than Muggsy. Well, I was. He’s
Nestor Aparicio 10:29
legit, five, three, I swear he really is.
Al “Hondo” Handy 10:33
I, I would say yes.
Nestor Aparicio 10:38
Spud Webb, though maybe not, not not. You know, Al Hondo handy, the book is defying expectations. He’s lived a beautiful life over in the eastern shore. He is checking in from Berlin, Maryland. Means you need to get across the bridge at some point, gets feet in the water here may it might get 60 by the end of the week, just for a minute when you’re over there. Um, give me a little bit more on your book and picking people up for the holidays. It’s a great gift. And I know you speak to a lot of young people. You’re always out you’re honored again by the President, you’re too humble to talk about it out of you, so you have to tell me about it and all that. But you have really found another calling in life, as I don’t see a motivational speaker, but certainly a shining light for what is possible in what has been possible in your life. When you talk about not having indoor plumbing, not growing up as a young person, not even believing you could go to a regular high school, there was no such thing to all of the things that you’ve done and contributed here, including this book, which is sort of your crowning achievement. I mean, I remember when it was just coming out, you were getting excited about it coming out. Uh, now it’s been out maybe two years, three years. How long has been out? It’s about two years. Yep, two years and still selling, still out, signing for the holidays, still inspiring people. Because your story, it’s not like my football stories that grow all tired. You know, after a championship, you’re still out sort of living what, what you talk about?
Al “Hondo” Handy 12:06
Yes, yes. I, you know, the book has allowed me to what I call book signings, Keynote speakings. You know, storytelling, 65 different opportunities. So I’ve gone from talking to book clubs to Timonium Park and speaking to the whole city, to lots of children group. I just went there last week, to a couple schools. I gave out books to two different schools, Bucha in the elementary, Steve McKay Elementary. I’ve just sold and donated my 1100 book. I’m so so so excited for it as we keep going. And speaking of football, as you just mentioned, my high school, Steve mckater just won that second state championship the other day, undefeated two seasons in a row at the native Academy. So I always go and promote sportsmanship with those guys.
Nestor Aparicio 13:07
So do you know some of those young people from from your recreation work?
Al “Hondo” Handy 13:12
Yes, yes, I do. It’s it’s just a blessing to see them keep going. We got two kids going to Vanderbilt. We got the one going to Georgetown, one going to Arnie. So, so they’re they’re doing really good, and you can see the smile. You can just tell the smalls that they put on my face. Well, did you read your book? They I took my book there? Yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 13:35
if you read your book, and they’re going to Vanderbilt and they’re set right, they probably
Al “Hondo” Handy 13:39
already read my book, or heard of my book because it’s in their school libraries.
Nestor Aparicio 13:43
That’s awesome. Al Hondo, and he’s joining us. He’s down at the beach. And we love getting down Ocean City, Maryland. We get down there for Mako every year, hoping to get down there a little bit more often, quite frankly, because it’s just, you know, it’s a mindset, and for you growing up there, and I, you know, there’s not a lot of people I can ask this about. I mean, I don’t know any given point, they would always say it’s only a couple 1000 people live in Ocean City or in that part of the world. Back in the 70s and 80s, you even pre date that. What do you make if of the modern Ocean City and tourism and when people come down and what they expect, whether it’s family, nightclub, dining, fishing, getting away, recreation, whatever it is, you’ve really seen the whole footprint of all of it, every part of it grow from a child up right like, I can’t imagine what your eyes saw at the beach in the early 60s when you came over there because it’s a completely different kind of postcard. And you’ve really seen it grown up. I’ve
Al “Hondo” Handy 14:45
seen so many changes. I mean, you know, we’ve started at Third Street City Hall, where the nearest city council was, that was our headquarters, that was our office, and now we had the beautiful Northside Park, um. You know, it’s, you can’t imagine the changes that I’ve seen from a small part to just a fantastic one of the best parts in the state of Maryland, and, you know, doing things for for people all over the state, not just the locals, as we right now, are signing up kids for summer camp for next year, and by January, believe it or not, that’s Nestor, it’s going to be full.
Nestor Aparicio 15:26
We’re the summer camp. What? Tell me what that means. What is your summer camp? Well,
Al “Hondo” Handy 15:30
we we begin with just one all day camp, like you see in a lot of recreation councils and departments, but now we have almost 65 sports camps, from La Crosse to, you know, basketball to soccer to fishing, we have 10 to 11 different camps, starting every Monday, and those camps fill up so much right now, parents are booking their camps, asking their kids what they want to do for next summer and and they can sign up right now so they get their hotel books, their room bookings, and to get in early, because in January, it’s full for next June already. Al Hondo
Nestor Aparicio 16:14
handy, the book is defying expectations. He is luckier than me. He’s this close to Thrashers, french fries and all that that the coastal highway has to offer down they stay. Ship us fishers popcorn now, so at least we got that going on up here. They can’t ship me to French fries away. I want I but you know what? You already invited me down to the beach, so I’m gonna get back down to the beach. Give Tom prolazo my best. Everybody’s excited about concerts down there getting back. And as it gets colder, I say, I tell the ocean city people this all the time, all you need for a postcard to go to Ocean City is to walk out the door right now and it’s cold. And you know that when you’re making these sort of plans into the spring and into the summer, that you know you’re planning ahead. You’re staying in the state, driving down support and local and I hope a lot of people buy your book as well. It’s been great having you back on now, if I remember right, you root for the wrong football team, right? Am I correct in saying that
Al “Hondo” Handy 17:10
the wrong football team? What are you talking about? What’s your what’s
Nestor Aparicio 17:13
the right football team? You Raven guy? Oh, you’re a raven guy. Alright? I was worried. I was worried that burgundy and gold thing was a part of, maybe somewhere I was just worried about that.
Al “Hondo” Handy 17:24
No, this is, this is a jacket from one of my kids that’s in my books. Name is Sean Harris that was in my program. He is now the dean of athletics at West Cliff University in California. Ah, see
Nestor Aparicio 17:38
you take your your, you know, you got these great student achievements that are, well, I’m glad to see that you’re at least a Baltimore Ravens figures. I was worried that you might have been Washington, you know, but now, by
Al “Hondo” Handy 17:52
the way, I just want to let you know that my book has reached 47 states and vacation destinations. I mean, for for Korea, to the Netherlands, to Japan, Jamaica, it’s all over the place.
Nestor Aparicio 18:07
Well, your your message is universal. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. Five foot five, and I swear he plays like he’s five seven and a point guard, and plays with the big heart defying expectations. Is the book Al Hondo handy checking in from Berlin, Maryland. Hold that book up. Tell me about that book. Now, people can order that on Amazon.
Al “Hondo” Handy 18:28
You can order it on Amazon all kind of platforms. It’s there. So please go ahead and order my book, especially for Christmas. Uh, it’s, it’s all about my life, family, sports and recreation.
Nestor Aparicio 18:40
If you think you can, you can. If you think you can, you can. You know my aunt, my aunt Clary, used to tell me that I am Nestor. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking great stories, even from the beach back to Baltimore. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.
