Six new members will be inducted into the Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame later this month.
Induction ceremonies for the 2023 class will be held at the Silver Spring Civic Building at Veterans Plaza in downtown Silver Spring on Sunday, Oct. 29.
Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame (MCSHF) class of 2023 includes county natives who have achieved at national and international levels, along with local figures who have made a significant contribution to Montgomery County. Sports stars from football, soccer, tennis, basketball, and television make up the new class, which MCSHF announced in June.
This year’s class includes:
- US national soccer star Joanna Lohman (Springbrook)
- TV sportscaster and host Scott Van Pelt (Sherwood)
- Tennis player and coach Harold Solomon (Springbrook)
- Georgetown Prep football coach Jim Fegan
- Basketball star Tracy Jackson (Paint Branch)
- Gaithersburg football coach John Harvill – posthumous
This year’s class was announced during opening night ceremonies for the Bethesda Big Train’s 2023 season at Shirley Povich Field.
“These men and women have brought recognition and honor to our community in their respective fields,” says. “It is a stellar group and the induction ceremony will be one fabulous evening.”
Jim Fegan was head football coach at Georgetown Prep in Rockville for 36 years. He won 236 games, including 14 league championships, and had nine unbeaten seasons. Fegan played high school football at Gonzaga and started his career as a youth coach at Blessed Sacrament in baseball, basketball and football. In 1961, he took over at Georgetown Prep and built a program that was respected throughout the Washington area. He retired as head coach in 1996 but continued as Georgetown Prep athletic director.
John Harvill was the head football coach at Gaithersburg High School for 44 years. When he retired in 2000, he was the winningest coach in Maryland history with 312 wins. That included two state titles and four undefeated seasons. Harvill grew up in Washington, D.C., and played football at Mckinley Tech. He joined the Army out of high school. After three years in the military, Harvill enrolled at the University of Maryland, where he played football. Also a standout in baseball, he played professionally for three years in the Red Sox organization. While coaching, he helped develop the statewide playoff system that Maryland implemented in 1974. The Gaithersburg Trojans now play at John Harvill Stadium. Harvill passed away in 2013.
Tracy Jackson was a high school All-American at Paint Branch High who chose Notre Dame after many college offers came his way. Jackson helped the Irish reach the NCAA Final Four in 1978 and the Elite Eight in 1979. He was drafted by the Celtics in 1981 and played in the NBA with Boston, Chicago and Indiana. After his playing career ended, Jackson was elected to a position on the Notre Dame board of trustees. He returned to Maryland to work as an insurance agent.
Joanna Lohman was a professional soccer player for 18 years. After starting her youth career with the Bethesda Scorpions, she was an All-Met player at Springbrook High in Silver Spring. At Penn State, she was selected as a first-team Big Ten player all four years, the first player ever to achieve that distinction. She was a four-time academic All-American as well. Lohman played professionally in Philadelphia and Boston, as well as internationally in Spain and Sweden, but came back home for two stints with the Washington Freedom. She played her last four years with the Washington Spirit of the NWSL. She also played for the U.S. national team from 2001-07. The Spirit retired her jersey No. 15 in 2019.
Harold Solomon won 22 singles titles in his professional tennis career. The Springbrook High School graduate was ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation in his juniors career. He was a finalist at the 1976 French Open and was ranked in the top five in singles and doubles during his career. In 1980, Solomon became president of the Association of Tennis Professionals, the governing body of men’s tennis. He began coaching in the 1990s, working with Jim Courier, Monica Seles, and Jennifer Capriati. In 2005, he opened the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Scott Van Pelt is one of the most recognized sportscasters in the U.S. The Sherwood High School graduate attended the University of Maryland and then started his broadcasting career at Fox 5 in Washington. He was a host and anchor for The Golf Channel for five, then went to ESPN in 2001. At the Worldwide Leader in Sports, he became a Sportscenter anchor, golf correspondent, and ESPN Radio host. After living in Bristol, Conn., for most of his career, he moved back to the Washington area and anchors his late-night Sportscenter broadcasts from studios here.
Detailed information about this year’s ceremony can be found at MCSHF.org.
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