The Kenya Singlet - A Team Tradition for over 15 Years

Joey Castagnaro for DyeStat Florida - While browsing a cluttered Nike Outlet in 2001, a Team Kenya singlet with the iconic black, red, and green catches Jim Van Veen’s eye. It is a women’s large, but at just $4, he knows it is something he cannot pass up. Little did he know, that singlet would be passed down for the next 15 years and create a tradition that would connect generations of runners to come.

Fast forward to 2016. This past week, Van Veen watched Johnny Cacciatore cross the line at the Wickham Park Jamboree in 16:09 wearing the exact singlet he purchased 15 years ago.

On Coach Butler’s team, dynasty and tradition hold an extremely high level of importance. One of his boy’s team’s most coveted traditions is the passing on of the Kenya singlet. Nearly every year, the singlet is handed over from a graduating team leader to a younger runner who displays the necessary qualities to take over the reigns. Adam Cooke, a 2011 graduate of Holy Trinity says that the handing over of the Kenya singlet “signified passing the torch, with the expectation that they would lead and continue the tradition of excellence.” He feels that the singlet also represents the “family-style environment” that Coach Butler fosters and encourages on his teams.

The tradition started with the aforementioned Van Veen, a Satellite High School graduate who was helping Coach Butler with his cross country and track & field teams at Holy Trinity. Van Veen says he did not know that handing over the singlet to star runner Austin Joiner would start the 15 year long tradition. The one who made sure the singlet was passed on to promising team leaders was actually Kyle Cooke. Cooke says he originally received the singlet when helping Joiner clean out his room before he left for college. When Cooke left for college two years later, he took the singlet with him. Shortly after, he knew what needed to be done with it. “I gave my brother Adam the explicit instruction that it needed to be passed on,” says Kyle Cooke.

The singlet has passed through Jim Van Veen (Satellite, FSU), Austin Joiner (HT, UF), Kyle Cooke (HT, Columbia), Adam Cooke (HT, Georgia Tech), Joey Castagnaro (HT, FSU), Cole Oliver (HT, Kentucky), and Andrew Cacciatore (HT, William & Mary).

All of the athletes who have received the singlet seem to have similar interpretations of its meaning. Cole Oliver, a 2013 graduate of HT, described a deserving athlete as, “someone who has a good attitude, the potential to be great, and the respect to pass it down afterwards.” He explained the singlet as representing not only the runners that came before him, but also the runners who would follow in his footsteps.

As a 2012 HT graduate and a recipient of the singlet myself, I know first hand what it means to be a part of the tradition. Being handed over the Kenya singlet means that a long lineage of incredible runners believe in you to be a leader. Each recipient has the trust of the former singlet-holders to pass it on to someone they know will embody its meaning. As Adam Cooke explained, the singlet represents “excellence in the classroom, on the course, and in the community.”

Sometimes, that excellence runs in the family. As mentioned above, Kyle Cooke, third owner of the Kenya singlet had the chance to pass down the singlet to his younger brother, Adam, who describes the experience as “special.” Today, the singlet has come full circle as Andrew Cacciatore passed down the singlet to his younger brother, Johnny, who recently transferred to Satellite High School - the alma mater of original owner, Jim Van Veen.

Coach Butler, who recently accepted a coaching role at Satellite High School, says he has no worries that the tradition will continue and remain just as meaningful at the new school. Coach Butler explains, “It doesn't matter where I coach, my kids will always be my kids no matter what color singlet they wear.” As Johnny Cacciatore takes on a vital role of passing the singlet on to a Satellite athlete, he is also confident the tradition will live on. Cacciatore credits the alumni, who regularly attend practice at Wickham Park when they are in town, for making the Satellite athletes understand the meaning and legacy of the former Holy Trinity runners.

Coach Butler feels that having a tradition like this on a team is important. He explained that it “lets today’s runners identify with the stars of yesterday.” Instead of just hearing stories about runners from the past, the singlet gives them something to relate it to and allows them to be a part of the special tradition and legacy. He also pointed out that it is even more special that the tradition started organically by his athletes because it shows how much the team members care about lifting up not only their teammates, but the next generation of runners. Adam Cooke, now an Assistant Coach at the University of North Florida pursuing his dream of coaching, believes the “culture, environment and values you establish as a coach is what leads to the formation of those traditions.”

Tradition, legacy, dynasty.

Family, friends, brothers.

These are all words that come to mind when understanding the story of the Kenya singlet tradition on the Holy Trinity and now Satellite boy’s cross country and track teams. While the singlet is the physical embodiment of the tradition, it is the values, expectations, and link between the runners of the past, the runners of today, and the runners of tomorrow that make it so special to these athletes. To us.