By Bill Straub
Scripps Howard News Service
Tino Cusi Delamerced is making a return trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington DC but this time he’s the one on stage struggling to come up with the proper order of letters in esoteric words.
Tino’s sister, Anna, represented Cincinnati and the Delamerced family from Hyde Park in the annual contest last year, finishing in a more-than-respectable 25th place. Now Tino, 13, a seventh grader at The Summit Country Day School is carrying on what is quickly becoming a family tradition.
“It’s hard to figure out how all this happened,’’ said Dr. Amador Delamerced, Tino’s father, on Wednesday. “My daughter started the whole thing.’’ He chuckled. “It’s really all her fault.’’
Now Tino hopes to improve on his sister’s impressive performance in order to claim the Delamerced family’s bragging rights. He’s off to a good start, successfully spelling “nineties’’ in his first attempt, effortlessly advancing to the afternoon session.
“I did little better than I thought I would,’’ Tino said. “I’m feeling a little more confident now.’’
The 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee, the 82nd edition of the venerable face-off, has attracted a record 293 champion spellers to the Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown Washington DC, each hoping to emerge from the three-day event as the nation’s most proficient speller. The contest ends Thursday evening with the finals televised on ABC-TV.
The victor earns, among other things, $30,000 and an engraved trophy. The Bee is administered on a non-for-profit basis by the E.W. Scripps Co., which also happens to be the parent of WCPO-TV channel 9 in Cincinnati, the outfit sponsoring Tino and a second local speller, Madeline Stevens, of Batesville, Ind. A review of past winners shows that no one from Cincinnati has ever finished on top.
Young Tino excels in areas other than spelling. A nationally ranked chess player, he was only a second grader when he beat a grandmaster during a simultaneous chess exhibition. He recently took home first place in the Cincinnati Scholastic Chess Series—in the high school division. Tino plays clarinet and is an accomplished pianist – regularly performing for residents of a nearby nursing home.
Tino arrived in Washington on Sunday but has yet to enjoy the sort of sight-seeing visiting families partake in when they visit the nation’s capitol – he was ill for a couple days but recovered in time for the Bee.
Like his father, Tino was at a loss to explain the family’s obvious talent for spelling.
“My mother is really good at it,’’ he said, giving a nod to Dr. Vicki Delamerced, an internist who has compiled dozen’s of words for her bright son to study. “I get really good coaching. That helps a lot.’’
Tino’s talented sibling, Anna, isn’t on hand to watch as her brother attempts to better her record – she is back in Cincinnati studying for finals.
