Roxborough

A middle-aged man died in a morning fire in the city's Roxborough section. The fire broke out shortly after 5 a.m. at a three-story rowhouse at 419 Conarroe St. and was under control at 5:27 a.m., according to Executive Fire Chief Daniel A. Williams. Smoke was coming out of the first floor when firefighters arrived, and two or more residents managed to escape, perhaps thanks to a functioning upstairs smoke alarm, Williams said. The victim - the brother of a retired firefighter - was found dead on the first floor, where two smoke alarms had been disconnected, Williams said.

Cliff Hubbard has been on the Roxborough football sideline every year since 1969. In that time, he hasn't missed a game. But after yesterday's 14-6 loss to visiting Mastbaum, Hubbard plans to take a break. He said he will have a prostatectomy and hernia surgery Friday. He said he hopes to miss only the next two weeks, but it could be longer. "I hope to be back in time for Germantown," Hubbard, 63, said of the Public League Division B contest Oct. 12. "Everybody who knows me keeps asking me how I feel.

Bill Murphy moseyed over to Andorra's Al Pearlman Sports Complex last evening to check out some youth baseball and girls softball. He also went as a community service, so people could check out the rumor that Roxborough had stunned host Southern, 2-1, in a Public League quarterfinal and advanced into Thursday's 3 p.m. semifinal against Washington at Northeast. "People kept coming up to me, saying they'd heard we won," Murphy said. "They said they were shocked. "I guess we did go into the game with a kind of shaky feeling since Southern was undefeated (in regular season play)

Hockey season in Philadelphia was officially over by the time Roxborough visited Jules Mastbaum Tech yesterday for a Public League baseball quarterfinal. But Gene Hart, even in his sorrow, weakened vocal chords and all, would have loved to have done the play-by-play. "There's a shot . . . It's deflected . . . Oh, and a wonderful save by Chris DiMidio," Hart could have wailed - not once, but twice - as Roxborough registered a 3-2 victory. The Roxborough shortstop's first save occurred in the third inning, when Bob Freitag's hard grounder ticked off the glove of pitcher Bill Murphy.

Roxborough nose guard Jeremiah Kenderick really had a nose for the football in a Public League Class AAA game Thursday. Kenderick recovered three fumbles and returned one for a touchdown to spark the Indians to a 26-6 win over visiting University City. Kenderick, a senior, rumbled 40 yards with a fumble in the first quarter to give Roxborough (4-0, 2-0) a 7-0 lead over the Jaguars (0-3, 0-2). Later in the quarter, Bernard Avery sprinted 12 yards for a touchdown to give the Indians a 14-0 lead.

Frankford lost one of its ace running backs for part of yesterday's Public League semifinal with Roxborough, but the Pioneers took away the Indians' top rusher for the entire contest and walked off with a 17-0 victory. The win put Frankford in the league title game against Washington, which beat Dobbins, 40-24, in the first half of yesterday's semifinal doubleheader at Northeast High. The championship will start at 2 p.m. Dec. 7 at Northeast. It remains to be seen whether the Pioneers (9-1)

Four weeks into the baseball season, Washington pitcher Kevin Higgins said the Eagles "want to make history" by becoming the first team in nearly 40 years to win three consecutive Public League titles. Behind the strength of Higgins' pitching, the Eagles did just that on Monday, defeating Roxborough, 14-1, at Temple's Erny Field. Washington is the first team to win three in a row since the 1947-49 Southern Rams. Coach Joe O'Hara was doused with ice water by his team after the win. "They pulled a Bill Parcells on me," he said, referring to the frequent fate of the New York Giants coach.

Is this Roxborough or is it Dodgeland? As Roxborough community leaders see it, their tree-shaded middle-class pocket of the city - squeezed between trendy Manayunk and classy Chestnut Hill - is just one car lot away from becoming the independent state of Gary Barbera Dodgeland. Roxborough residents are not going quietly into the Land of Car Sales. In an attempt to stop Dodgeland from spreading one more block, neighbors have been staging demonstrations outside Barbera's car dealership at Ridge Avenue and Cinnaminson Street.

Roderick Coleman once thought he wanted to be a veterinarian. While growing up in North Philadelphia and Vicksburg, Miss., with his grandmother, Alma Brown, and mother, Carolyn Coleman, respectively, Roderick cared for a large assortment of dogs, hamsters and snakes. Then came the 1991-92 school year, when Coleman enrolled as a freshman at Saul Agricultural, a public school in Roxborough. "When they started cutting up cows, that was it for me," he said. "I didn't like being around any dead animal.

Facing complaints from neighbors, a developer has put on hold plans to demolish a Victorian mansion in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia and replace it with 13 new houses. The announcement that temporarily saves the Dearnley Mansion from the wrecking ball was made Wednesday evening at a meeting between the developer, Marathon Design & Construction Co., and about 80 neighbors who want the 108-year-old mansion preserved. "It's a beautiful mansion in a wonderful neighborhood," Councilman Michael Nutter said in an interview this week.