Brendan Norgaard Wins José Alvarez Award & Heads To England To Play Soccer! 

(L.-r.) Edward & Ann Pereira, their son Brendan Norgaard, his girlfriend Kacy Hauck & Grayson Pereira. (Photos by Charmaine George)

Congratulations to Brendan Norgaard, the 2024 Wharton High graduate who, on Aug. 7, received the José Alvarez Memorial Award as the top Male Soccer Player of the Year in Hillsborough County for the 2023-24 season, after breaking five high school records and scoring 32 goals in 18 games for the Wildcats last season. 

Brendan received his award from Steven Alvarez, the son of the late José Alvarez, at a surprise (at least for Brendan) dinner meeting at Florida Ave. Brewing Co. on S.R. 56. 

“Yes, Brendan is a great soccer player, but not everyone who has received this award the last 40 years has been a great scorer,” Steven Alvarez told the Neighborhood News. “The award considers everything — leadership, academics, volunteer work and soccer ability and Brendan was nominated by his coaches (Wharton head soccer coach Scott Ware and his assistant coach Jason Doughlin) and a committee of local high school coaches votes for one male and one female Player of the Year each year (since 1985).” 

Brendan’s mother, Ann Pereira (who invited us to the dinner), says her son completed Cambridge Assessment International Education qualifications and four Advanced Placement classes while at Wharton and also played club soccer locally for the Florida Premier FC. 

Brendan proudly shows off his José Alvarez Award. 

“We’re just so proud of Brendan,” Ann said, with her husband Edward by her side. “I’ve never had to ask him ‘Are you practicing?’ or ‘Are you doing your homework?,’ he’s just always excelled at everything and soccer is definitely his passion.” 

“He has wanted to be a professional soccer player since he was four years old,” Edward added. “He’s done nothing but eat, sleep and play soccer since we moved down here in 2013.” 

Brendan said that the award “ceremony” at Florida Ave. Brewing Co. completely took him by surprise. “I thought we were just coming here for a family dinner,” he said, “but I am very honored and excited to have received this award. I have a lot of friends that I think were very deserving, too, so this is pretty cool.” 

Ann added that after being named All-County and All-State and taking Wharton to the 6A Regional Tournament (where they lost 1-0 to Ft. Myers High in the Regional Quarterfinals in Feb.), “We thought he was all done receiving honors, so we were so excited to hear that he had won this award as well.” 

She added that Brendan leaves Sept. 2 for England, where he will play for Macclesfield FC in Macclesfield, Cheshire, where he has participated in the club’s summer residency program the last two years. He played in Spain with the club for 10 days, where he played for Macclesfield’s first team in two international tournaments. 

“I also am going to attend the University of Central Lancashire (in Preston, Lancashire) and work to get my Bachelor’s degree in Sports Business,” Brendan says. “I just wanted to give this (soccer) a shot and see how far it takes me.” 

About The Alvarez Award 
Brendan with Steven Alvarez, the exec. director of the José Alvarez Memorial Fund. 

Steven Alvarez, a director of the The Alvarez Company, an Certified Public Accounting firm based in Apollo Beach — and the executive director of the José A. Alvarez Memorial Fund — says that his father, long-time soccer coach José A. Alvarez, wondered way back in the 1980s why there were Player of the Year awards for football, basketball and baseball in Hillsborough County, but no such award for soccer. 

“Dad was told by the county that if he wanted to have a soccer award, he should start — and pay for — it himself,” Steven said. “So, that’s what he did. And, unlike the awards in those other sports, he decided to give his award to both a top boy and girl high school soccer player each year.” 

He added, “And he didn’t just want it be about stats or scoring, that’s why it hasn’t always been forwards winning the awards. We’ve had goalkeepers and even defenders win it before. He really wanted it to be an all-around award. Brendan didn’t just win it this year because he scored a lot of goals. He won it because of his academics and leadership, too. He was the team’s captain and he was all about the team, not himself. We have followed not just the soccer careers but our past winners’ lives, who they are as people, which is what my dad wanted.” 

Unfortunately, José Alvarez passed away in 2015 at the age of 66 from what is known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, or CJD, a rare neurodegenerative disease that has no treatment or cure. Sporadic CJD is similar to dementia in presentation but progresses much more rapidly, with the median duration of illness being only 4-5 months. There also is a genetic form of CJD that can sometimes linger for a year or more, with the person who survived the longest living 16 years after diagnosis. 

The CJD Foundation is based in Akron, OH, and, as it says on the JoseAlvarezMemorial.com website, “We would love to continue his giving and good deeds by allowing us to continue this great award, have the ability to help others who may be in need through sport, and help the CJD Foundation continue to help find a stop to this progressive, fatal disease that took José’s life much too early.” 

“We started this foundation shortly after my dad passed away, to keep his name. his memory and his award alive,” Steven said. “He — and we — wanted to put the spotlight on the good kids because, hopefully, they’ll be our leaders in a few years down the road.” 

Alvarez also mentioned that Brendan is the fourth winner of the award from Wharton during the school’s 25-year history. There also have been two players from Freedom High who have won the award (see chart, above). 

The Coaches’ Perspective 
Wharton 
assistant coach Jason Doughlin (left) & head coach Scott Ware were on hand to celebrate Brendan’s award with him.

Wharton head boys soccer coach Scott Ware and assistant coach Jason Doughlin were on hand for the dinner with Brendan, his parents, his girlfriend Kacy and his brother Grayson, and they agreed that Brendan was the right Wharton player to be nominated for — and win — the award. 

“Even as a freshman, he was an immediate impact player for us,” Coach Ware said. “He started all four years for us. His stats don’t lie. He was a true striker on the field, but he also creates opportunities for other players to succeed. Plus, he improved every year and we could see the quality of his leadership develop and he held other kids accountable, but in a proper way. Great team player, great coach’s player, so for us, hands down, he was the guy. He will be missed. If there’s such a thing as a fifth-year senior, I’d take it.” 

Doughlin agreed, “Brendan definitely left a legacy, some big shoes to follow. But honestly, it was a no-brainer. Even as a freshman, we could see he was going to be something special. A lot of kids with his ability venture off into the soccer academies, but he stuck around all four years and it’s just an honor for us to be here to see him receive this award. He exceeded our expectations as well.”

2024 Senior Class President’s Speech Honors The Memory Of Paul R. Wharton 

(Above, l.-r) Jeffrey Schroeder, Stephen Michelini, Zack Chandler and Mary Wharton Schroeder at the Wharton High graduation, where Zack honored the memory of Mary’s father, Paul R. Wharton, the man for whom the school was named. (All photos provided by Hillsborough County Public Schools)

Wharton High senior Zack Chandler was at a baseball game with his teammates this spring when he noticed that every one of them had the same name on the backs of their jerseys. 

In fact, it was on all of the jerseys for all of the sports at his school — and on a lot of other shirts, too. They all said, “Wharton.” 

Of course they did, since that’s the name of the school they all were attending. 

It hit Zack that although he vaguely recalled that Wharton High was named after someone, he had no idea who that person was or why he was chosen to have a school named after him. 

So when Zack, who was the school’s 2023- 24 senior class president, was given the honor of speaking at his graduation ceremony on May 25, he knew what he wanted to do. 

Rather than talk about himself, Zack wanted to find out who exactly Paul R. Wharton was, and why Zack’s school was named after him. 

Photos of Paul Wharton

“I did some research and found out what a cool guy Mr. Wharton was, and how he affected the community,” Zack says. “I wanted to make a metaphor out of it. Don’t take things that you have every day for granted.” 

He learned that Wharton retired as the assistant superintendent for Hillsborough County Public Schools, after serving as principal of both Plant and Robinson high schools. He started in the county as an innovator who advocated for vocational and technical schools in the District, and also served as principal of the Brewster Vocational Technical Institute. 

Wharton did all of that after starting his career teaching in a one-room school house in Springfield, KY, and then serving in the U.S. Army before moving to Tampa. 

Zack found that Wharton had passed away in 2009, but Zack wanted to invite Wharton’s family members to his graduation to hear Wharton honored in front of the student body. 

Mary Wharton Shroeder is Paul’s daughter, and she attended the ceremony, along with her husband Stephen Michelini and her son Jeffrey Schroeder. She says this was the first time anyone had approached her about recognizing her dad at the school. 

Zack Chandler during his graduation speech

Mary and her family were seated in the graduation ceremony’s VIP area and were honored when Zack acknowledged them from the podium. “I was delighted,” she says. “I know what an amazing man Daddy was, and all the things he did for this community. It’s just a wonderful thing.” 

She says that if her dad had been able to address those students at Wharton, he might have told them it’s important to choose carefully who they emulate. They should choose their role models wisely, because who they look up to will make a huge difference in who they become. 

“It made me so proud of him to receive the recognition that he so deserved,” Mary says. “He never asked for the recognition, but he earned it because he helped to shape our community. He was always a leader and had a great sense of humor.” 

It’s been more than 25 years since Wharton High opened on August 21, 1997, so it’s understandable that today’s graduating seniors had never before heard of the man for whom their school was named. 

But now, thanks to Zack Chandler, they have. 

Gabe Hassan Passes Away After Graduating From Wharton

On the cover of our Feb. 6 New Tampa issue, we told the story of Gabriel Hassan, the Wharton High senior who received his diploma for graduating from the New Tampa high school with a 4.7 GPA on Jan. 22, despite suffering from terminal leukemia. 

It was with heavy hearts that we learned yesterday that Gabe had succumbed to his cancer a few days ago and was buried on or the day before Valentine’s Day. We also learned that his specific form of leukemia is called Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome, or SDS.

Out of respect to the Hassan family, we didn’t try to contact them, but we did want to at least acknowledge his tragic passing here, as well as post the story we published about him in the paper.

To help those afflicted with SDS, please search “Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome Alliance” on Facebook.

Do You Remember When Wharton & Benito First Opened? I Do!

Gary Nager Editorial

For those of you who weren’t living in the New Tampa area when Paul R. Wharton High and Louis Benito Middle School opened in August of 1997, you may be unaware that high school-aged kids living in New Tampa in the mid-1990s were originally bused to King High on N. 50th St., a 10-mile trip for kids living in Tampa Palms and a 12-mile trek for those, like my family, who were living in Hunter’s Green — the two largest communities in the New Tampa area at the time.

I remember attending Hillsborough School Board meetings in 1996, trying to find out when High School BBB and Middle School AA (as they were first known) would open in the New Tampa area. 

Once it was determined that both schools would open for the start of the 1997-98 school year, the School Board accepted input from the community to help name the two schools. But, despite the best efforts of yours truly and other local activists at the time, neither school would be named for the area in which they were located. 

Paul R. Wharton

In fact, “New Tampa High” never made it to what the School Board said were its top-four choices for the school ultimately named for former School District administrator Paul R. Wharton  (photo), although “Northeast High” was the fourth highest vote-getter. 

As for Benito, “New Tampa Middle School” did make the School Board members’ final four, but ultimately finished fourth in their strange point-tallying system. Instead, the school was named for Louis Benito, the former owner of one of the Tampa Bay area’s largest advertising agencies and popular civic activist who had passed away a few years earlier.

I also attended the School Board meeting in December 1996, when long-time Ben Hill Middle School principal Mitch Muley was named as the first-ever principal at Wharton and former Eisenhower Middle School teacher and assistant principal Lewis Brinson was named the opening day principal at Benito.

These were exciting times for me, as having a local high school and middle school meant that my sons, who were both at Hunter’s Green Elementary at the time, would be able to walk to Benito from our Hunter’s Green home and would be living less than two miles up Bruce B. Downs Blvd. from their high school.

I remember touring both schools shortly before they opened and visiting them on the first day of school and feeling nothing but happiness and pride. I believed that having the schools in our area would help New Tampa continue to grow, would help increase our property values and would provide me, as the owner and editor of the Neighborhood News, with new sources of news for my still-young (I had only owned it for 3-1/2 years at the time), but growing publication — and all of those things did (thankfully) come true.

Considering that high school football wasn’t a big deal where I grew up in Long Island, NY (especially because my high school team was so bad), I could picture being part of the big crowds for Florida’s famous “Friday Night Lights,” at the packed gym for not only boys but girls basketball (which I never had growing up), pep rallies and so much more — all of which also came to fruition.

And, even though there also definitely were some growing pains, especially at Wharton, which opened with a super-high percentage of kids on free and reduced lunch because of desegregation-forced busing, for me, the school has been a consistent source of pride for the last quarter of a century.

And, although this issue primarily focuses on Wharton, it’s not because Benito wasn’t also very good to my sons and our community — because it was and still is — it’s because we got invited to (and were happy to attend) the 25th anniversary celebration held at Wharton on Nov. 4 (see pgs. 4-5), but heard nothing about a similar event at Benito. If we somehow missed such a celebration, or if one is still coming up, please email me at ads@NTNeighborhoodNews.com and we will try to show New Tampa’s original middle school some love, too.    

Saving Her Best For Last

Wharton’s Brooke Reif captured an elusive state title in her second-to-last race as a high senior. (Photo: Charmaine George)

When Palm Harbor University (PHU) distance ace Haley Thornton takes off in the 1600-meter run, few runners in Florida can go with her.

Wharton’s Brooke Reif knows that fact all too well. At last year’s Class 4A State Championships, the PHU junior ran away from the field, which included Reif.

At the District and Regional meets this season, Thornton did the same.

However, at the Florida State High School Class 4A Track & Field Championships on May 6, Thornton wasn’t able to run away. 

Reif simply wouldn’t let her.

Executing the perfect game plan, fueled by the dream of winning a State Championship in her final meet in high school and equipped with one of the best finishing kicks around, Reif ran the race of her life in the 1600, or one-mile race, on the way to that elusive State title.

“I just kept thinking that, as hard as the race was, how great it was going to feel afterwards,” said Reif. “And, it was amazing.”

Brooke Reif pulls away in the 1-mile run at state. (Photo courtesy of Brooke Reif)

Although Reif already has a handful of medals from past state meets, including a bronze from last year’s 1600, her last one, finally, is gold. She has had a stellar career at Wharton as a cross country and track runner, winning dozens of races and improving every year. Her winning mile time at the State meet was 4:53, a school record, to go along with her previously set record in the two-mile.

Thornton crossed in 5:00.

Reif is the seventh girl in Wharton history to win an individual State championship, and the first since London Enos (pole vault) in both 2009 & 2010. 

The daughter of former college runners Jim (her dad) and mom Rena (who was also the USF men’s and women’s cross country coach and assistant track and field coach for years), Reif has seemingly always been destined for running greatness.

And, she saved her best for last.

Thornton was a formidable foe and, in typical style, wasted little time running to the front in the State championship race. Reif, who will usually hang back in the middle of the pack before making her move later, decided this time she was going to stick with Thornton. “I knew if I let her get too far ahead, I wouldn’t be able to catch her,” Reif said. 

The fast pace — the opening lap was 67 seconds and, halfway through, the split was 2:20 — quickly winnowed the field to the two favorites, Reif and Thornton.

Reif stayed 2-3 steps behind Thornton. When the PHU runner tried to push out to a bigger lead, Reif pushed with her.

Because Reif was so close, she thinks that Thornton had to run at a faster pace than normal. Being unable to shake Reif, then, likely proved to be frustrating for the 2021 State champ.

“I knew if I stayed close enough, it would scare her,“ Reif said. “I felt good. I knew if I could stay that close, I was going to be able to pass her.”

With roughly 300 meters remaining, it was time. Using her vaunted kick, Reif surged past Thornton and into the lead.

For good.

“What she talked me through before the race is exactly what happened,” said Wharton girls track and field coach Andy Martin. “To see it happen just like that was amazing.”

Reif remembers when she first started running at Wharton, her goal was to be like the older girls on the team. 

She also wanted to set a school record. She wanted to earn a college scholarship. And, as she got better, she wanted to win a State championship.

When she packs up to move to run collegiately at the Division I University of Richmond (in Virginia) on June 15, she will have achieved all of her goals.

In her wake, she will leave a legacy for younger runners to strive for, and, of course, a banner with her picture on it to hang in the school gym, alongside all of the other State champions the school has produced. 

“My mom told me we have to pick out a picture for it,” Reif said. “I didn’t even know I got one of those. That’s going to be pretty cool.”