Delaware

Hornets on the rise? Delaware State receives $20 million for new field house

Published

6 months ago

July 14, 2025

Hornets on the rise? Delaware State receives million for new field house

There’s a new feeling of optimism around Delaware State University Alumni Stadium, where the school’s red-and-blue hornet logo highlights a field where fall football practice will soon begin.

The Hornets began the first steps of what they’ve deemed their “Athletics Transformation Project” in 2024 to expand and enhance their athletic facilities.

Delaware’s bond bill approved on July 1 included $20 million for DSU to construct a new field house to continue this “transformation.”

“It’s going to inject a lot of energy and goodwill into our campus,” said Athletic Director Tony Tucker. “We can’t wait to get started.”

Capitalizing on celebrity

Delaware State’s new project, years in the making, drew in-state interest. But another move by the HBCU has drawn nationwide attention.

DSU hired former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver/returnman DeSean Jackson as its new head football coach in December.

“He’s still a very relevant name and figure,” said Tucker. “He’s brought a lot of energy to the football program, as well as the university as a whole.”

Tucker was elevated to the AD position last December just before Jackson’s hiring, which Tucker termed a “perfect storm” coinciding with the school’s “transformation.”

“This is the perfect time for Delaware State athletics, not just to revitalize itself, but to reach heights never seen before by the university,” said Tucker.

What will the new Delaware State University field house include?

The new field house would be a 70,000-square-foot building near Alumni Stadium.

The main draw would be a 50-yard turf field, creating indoor practice space for the school’s sports teams. There would also be meeting sites, lounge spaces and new locker rooms.

Jackson said the building will help the program attract talent, an area where the Hornets have struggled in the past.

“Coming from a big school like Cal and seeing them transform over the years [through upgrades], I think it’s really gonna help with recruiting,” he said.

“Not having people overlook us, and go to rival schools like Norfolk and Howard who have eye-popping facilities, will be huge.”

While the facilities would mostly be used by the football program, they would be available to all students.

“Other sports that do indoor training will have access, and even non-student athletes on campus will have access to the various spaces,” Tucker said. “We’re very excited for the energy and goodwill it’s going to inject into our athletic programs and our community.”

What steps lie ahead?

While the approval for the field house was huge for Delaware State, it was far from its only win on July 1.

The Joint Finance Committee included in the bill a section highlighting its desire to “work towards exploring options for funding” a new convocation center for the school.

The center would be a new home for indoor sports such as basketball, wrestling and volleyball, while also giving the university additional ability to host events. Currently, the teams play at the campus’ Memorial Hall, an 1,800-seat arena.

The space is projected to cost $90 million. But Tucker emphasized that the center, as well as upgrades to Alumni Stadium, could have potential benefits to the entire community.

“Delaware is a small state, which we happen to be in the direct center of,” said Tucker. “Our location at the center of the state could be a shiny new place for a lot of Delaware high school competitions.”

Currently, the University of Delaware hosts many of these events. Recent controversy surfaced over the school’s rental fees, the DIAA turned away from UD as football championship host. The Class 3A and Unified football state championships were both at Alumni Stadium in 2024.

Tucker emphasized the goal would be not to step on UD’s toes, but to benefit the greater Delaware athletic community.

“It’s just about providing a situation where our high school athletes and parents are the winners,” he said. “Not having to travel all the way to Northern Delaware would be very beneficial for some of the Southern Delaware community.”

Jackson added, however, that the improvements could lessen the gap between Delaware and Delaware State, especially in football.

“Delaware has been getting a lot of talent over us over the past year or so,” said the coach. “If we can say ‘We can play on the same playing field,’ we’re probably going to be able to get some guys we couldn’t have before.”

When will the DSU field house be built?

No timeline is set yet for the construction of the field house. However, Tucker said they have a goal of 18 to 24 months.

The other changes will likely take more time and more funding. But Jackson feels confident they’ll come, as the team grows in success.

“The sky’s the limit,” the coach said. “I think the success we’re going to have this year will open up a lot of eyes, and make us hard to look over.”

Adam Denn is a general assignments reporter for Delaware Online/The News Journal. You can reach him for story ideas at ADenn@gannett.com

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Delaware

Wilmington’s first homicide of 2026 claims life of 19-year-old

Published

9 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Wilmington’s first homicide of 2026 claims life of 19-year-old

A 19-year-old man was shot dead in Wilmington’s Southbridge neighborhood in the early hours of Jan. 9, police said.

Wilmington officers arriving to the 200 block of S. Claymont St. about 3:30 a.m. found the teen there.

The teen, whom police have not named, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Anyone with information about this shooting should contact Wilmington Police Detective Derek Haines at (302) 576-3656. People can also provide information to Delaware Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP-3333 or delawarecrimestoppers.com.

Violence by the numbers

This is the first homicide reported this year in Delaware, which last year saw a slight drop in all violent killings.

Delaware police reported 52 people being killed in violent crimes in 2025, a drop of nearly 12% when compared with 59 people killed in 2024, according to a Delaware Online/The News Journal database.

While the number of people killed in homicides statewide is down, the number of people killed by gunfire in Delaware was up in 2025 for the third year in a row.

According to the Delaware Online database, 47 were shot dead in Delaware last year. That was one more victim (46) than in 2024, three more (44) than in 2023 and nine more (38) than in 2022.

Despite the increase in gun-related deaths, there were fewer people shot last year in Delaware for the second year in a row.

Police reported 164 people being shot last year in Delaware. The previous year saw 195 people shot and police reported 210 people being shot in 2023.

This was the fewest people shot in Delaware since 2018, when police reported 146 people being shot statewide.

Send tips or story ideas to Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.

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Delaware

MERR responds to dead humpback whale washed up near Bethany Beach

Published

21 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

MERR responds to dead humpback whale washed up near Bethany Beach

A dead humpback whale washed up near Bethany Beach on Jan. 8, according to the nonprofit Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation Institute.

The juvenile male was first seen Jan. 6, floating at sea about 2 miles off the Indian River Inlet, a MERR Facebook post said. The bloated 30-foot whale ultimately beached near a private community in the early afternoon of Jan. 8, the post said.

MERR is attempting to coordinate with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to get equipment to move the whale out of the water and onto the beach to perform a necropsy, the post said. Right now, there isn’t enough information to determine a cause of death.

Delaware saw at least three dead whales last year, in the Indian River Bay, at Delaware Seashore State Park and at Pigeon Point. The first two were humpbacks, while the Pigeon Point whale was a fin whale.

A necropsy on the Delaware Seashore whale found blunt force trauma across its back, indicating it may have been struck by a ship, MERR Director Suzanne Thurman said.

Recently, on Jan. 4, a dead fin whale was found on the bow of a ship at the Gloucester Marine Terminal in New Jersey, which is located in the Port of Philadelphia on the Delaware River.

Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on southern Delaware and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Facebook.

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Delaware

Pa. man accused of stealing more than 100 skeletons from Delco cemetery

Published

1 day ago

January 8, 2026

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Pa. man accused of stealing more than 100 skeletons from Delco cemetery

A Pennsylvania man is accused of stealing more than 100 skeletons from a cemetery in Delaware County.

Jonathan Gerlach, 34, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, is charged with abuse of corpse, criminal mischief, burglary and other related offenses, Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse revealed on Thursday, Jan. 8.

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Between November 2025 and Jan. 6, 2026, 26 mausoleums and underground burial sites had been burglarized or desecrated at Mount Moriah Cemetery, which stretches from Yeadon Borough, Pennsylvania, to Philadelphia, investigators said.

As police investigated the thefts, they caught Gerlach desecrating a monument at the cemetery on Tuesday, Jan. 6, according to officials. Gerlach was taken into custody and investigators executed a search warrant at his home in Ephrata.

During the search, investigators recovered 100 human skeletons from Gerlach’s home as well as eight more human remains inside a storage locker, according to Rouse.

“Detectives walked into a horror movie come to life the other night guys,” Rouse said. “This is an unbelievable scene that no one involved – from myself to the detectives to the medical examiners that are now trying to piece together what they are looking at, quite literally – none of them have ever seen anything like this before.”

Rouse said some of the stolen skeletons are hundreds of years old.

“We are trying to figure out exactly what we are looking at,” Rouse said. “We quite simply at this juncture are not able to date and identify all of them.”

Rouse also said some of the skeletons are of infants and children.

“It is truly, in the most literal sense of the word, horrific,” Rouse said. “I grieve for those who are upset by this who are going through it who are trying to figure out if it is in fact their loved one or their child because we found remains that we believe to be months old infants among those that he had collected. Our hearts go out to every family that is impacted by this.”

Sources also told NBC10 the thefts are related to a similar case in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Investigators said they are looking at Gerlach’s online community — including his social media groups and Facebook page — to determine if people were buying, selling, or trading the remains.

Gerlach is currently in custody at the Delaware County Prison after failing to post $1 million bail. Online court records don’t list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

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