Pompey

AFTER 37 YEARS as a physical education teacher in the Baltimore City public schools system, 30 as a football coach and 29 coaching basketball, Edmondson High's Pete Pompey wants to have some late-night dinners with his wife. He wants to play a few rounds of golf and play some catch and shoot some baskets with his three grandchildren. He wants to travel, get outside of a smelly gym and the box known as a football field. Pompey, 63, deserves a break, and we'll all miss him. He announced last week that he will no longer coach basketball, and next season might be his last as the school's football coach.

It has been 13 long seasons, but Pete Pompey finally secured another football championship.Pompey, 58, coached Edmondson's Redskins to their sixth straight win, 20-14, yesterday over City West Division rival Douglass, capturing his first league title -- his sixth overall -- of any kind since 1985.Pompey, whose career includes several years at Dunbar, where he coached then-freshman linebacker Tommy Polley (now at Florida State), ran his record to 170-88. Pompey, in his fifth year since leaving Dunbar, saw his team go 7-3 for the first time since his first fall at Edmondson.

When they play their home opener at "Sugar" Cain Field today, their opponent, Poly, will be the focus for the Dunbar football players. But some Dunbar supporters in the stands will have an added agenda -- to demonstrate their support for former football coach Pete Pompey."

A Dunbar football team that is expected to challenge for the state Class 2A championship is scheduled to begin practice tomorrow morning -- but it's unclear who will be running the squad.It doesn't appear that person will be coach Pete Pompey, who remains on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation of alleged misuse of athletic department funds. Nat Harrington, Baltimore schools spokesman, said yesterday that the coaching situation should be resolved by the start of practice -- so the Poets likely will have a new head coach when the team gathers tomorrow morning.

Paul Smith -- wearing a dark warm-up suit and sneakers -- seemed loose and ready.An hour away from his first practice as coach of one of the nation's high-profile basketball programs, Smith watched from the rear of a small crowd of students, faculty members and reporters in Dunbar High's gymnasium as two-time All-Metro center Norman Nolan signed a national letter of intent to attend the University of Virginia.Smith, 52, replaces Pete Pompey, a man who Nolan -- reading from a prepared statement -- wished could "be here to share the biggest decision of my life."

This was after the Dunbar Poets had blown out Northwestern by 42 the other day up on Park Heights Avenue; the junior varsities were out on the court warming up now. Pete Pompey, the Poets' coach, was standing on the side wearing a gray suit with a bright red handkerchief in the breast pocket."

Friends and supporters of Dunbar High School coach Pete Pompey became more vocal yesterday, saying that the recent probe into alleged mishandling of athletic department funds is part of a witch hunt intended to remove the coach from his high-profile position.Those supporters say they have collected between 500 and 800 signatures on petitions of support for Pompey, the target of the investigation that is believed to be related to the school's operation of a concession stand at Oriole Park.

Dunbar High coach Pete Pompey, who a little more than a year ago led the basketball team to a mythical national championship, has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation alleging misuse of athletic department funds.According to a Baltimore schools spokesman, details concerning the charges -- believed to be related to theoperation of a concession stand at Oriole Park -- have been turned over to the state's attorney office, which could pursue criminal charges.

Complaints from alumni, parents and politicians about the Dunbar High School athletic program led to an investigation that resulted in coach Pete Pompey's being placed on administrative leave, the Baltimore schools superintendent said yesterday.According to Walter G. Amprey, the complaints intensified after a Dunbar athletic aide was charged in June with sexually assaulting a teen-age boy.Amprey would not name those who complained about the Dunbar program.Pompey, who came to Dunbar in 1986 as athletic director as well as football and basketball coach, was placed on administrative leave with pay three weeks ago during an investigation into the alleged misuse of athletic department funds.

Last night at 7, at a time when he's usually on the basketball court "hollering, screaming and blowing a whistle during tryouts," Edmondson's Pete Pompey instead was looking into the eyes of his wife, Barbara, and "getting a honey-do list" at their Randallstown home. "It's nice to be at home this early for the first time in a while," Pompey said. "Even though I know that the lists are going to get longer and longer as I retire from other things." Pompey, 63, said yesterday that he will retire from basketball, a sport he coached for 29 seasons.