In the first years of the brand-new Wellington High School’s fledgling sports programs, two names stood out among the rest. They were Rich and Mike Nethercote.
Rich, the older brother, was in the school’s first full four-year graduating class, having graduated in 1993. Mike came along three years later.
Both boys excelled in baseball and football and were frequently mentioned on the pages of the Town-Crier. In his senior year, Mike Nethercote was even the Florida state weightlifting champion in his 199-pound weight class.
Fast forward about 30 years, and the Nethercote boys are at it again. Enter Mikey and Niko Nethercote, sons of current Loxahatchee residents Mike and Lucia Nethercote. They have been gaining recognition for their baseball prowess since T-ball and now, this past spring, each one has been recognized with special honors by their respective teams.
This past school year, although just a sophomore, Mikey played for the Seminole Ridge High School varsity baseball team and was awarded Rookie of the Year by his coaches. Niko, as a seventh grader, played baseball and ran track for his school, Osceola Creek Middle School, and was awarded Most Valuable Male Athlete of the Year for seventh grade.
So, as they say, the “hits” keep coming. Keep your eyes on these two young athletes. You just never know where they might be headed. Perhaps even the Boston Red Sox!
As a lifelong Red Sox fan, grandfather Dick Nethercote, a former Wellington resident and former president of Residents of Wellington and the WHS Booster Club, would certainly look forward to that.
Dick Nethercote also did the play-by-play up in the booth at the WHS baseball field for several years, and he ran the chains at its football field. He and his wife, Susan, are now Winter Garden, Florida, residents, as is their oldest son Rich, his wife Raquel and their two children, Kayla and Bryson.
