Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2023 Has Been Announced

The 2023 class of the Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame (MCSHF) features county natives who have achieved at the national and international levels, as well local figures who are among the very best at what they have done in and for Montgomery County. The new class, which MCSHF announced today, consists of athletes, coaches, and media stars from football, soccer, tennis, basketball, and TV.

The six inductees will be honored in a ceremony on Sunday October 29th. 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

MCSHF Board Chair Trish Heffelfinger announced the class tonight during opening night ceremonies for the Bethesda Big Train Baseball’s 2023 season at Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda. “These men and women have brought recognition and honor to our community in their respective fields,” says Trish Heffelfinger. “It is a stellar group and the induction ceremony will be one fabulous evening.”

This year’s class joins the members of our first four classes in the Hall of Fame. More information about this year’s ceremony can be found on the MCSHF website. More about this year’s inductees below:

Jim Fegan spent 36 seasons as the head football coach at Georgetown Prep. 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 too over at Georgetown Prep and built a program that was respected throughout the DC area. He may have retired as head coach in 1996, but Fegan didn’t go anywhere. He continued as Georgetown Prep athletic director, and was always there heipng out the football team and spending gamedays on the sidelines.

Tracy Jackson is a Paint Branch basketball legend. He was a high school All-American who chose Notre Dame after many college offers came his way. Jackson helped the Irish reach the Final Four in 1978 and the Elite Eight in 1979. He was drafted by the Celtics in 1981, and spent his NBA career in Boston, Chicago, and Indiana. After his career ended, Jackson was elected to a position on the Notre Dame Board of Trustees. He returned to his home state of Maryland to work as an insurance agent. You’ll still find him as a big part of the Paint Branch community supporting the Panthers.

Joanna Lohman spent 18 years as a professional soccer player. After starting her youth career with the Bethesda Scorpions, she was an All-Met player at Springbrook. She ten attended Penn State, where she was selected as a first team Big Ten player all four years, the first player ever to achieve that. 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, and then her last four years as a pro with the Washington Spirit of the NWSL. She also played for the US national team from 2001-2007. The Spirit retired her jersey #15 in 2019.

Harold Solomon won 22 singles titles in his tennis career. The Springbrook graduate was ranked as high as 2nd in the nation in his junior career. He was a finalist at the 1976 French Open and was ranked in the top 5 in both 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, Florida.

Scott Van Pelt (featured photo) is one of the most recognized sportscasters around. The Sherwood graduate attended the University of Maryland, and then started his career right here at Fox 5 in DC. He spent 5 years at The Golf Channel as a host and anchor. He left for ESPN in 2001, where he became a Sportscenter anchor, golf correspondent, and ESPN Radio host.  After living in Bristol for most of his career, he moved back home and anchors his late night Sportscenter broadcast from right here in the DC area.

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 DC 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 state-wide playoff system which Maryland implemented in 1974.  The Gaithersburg Trojans now play at John Harvill Stadiuim. Harvill passed away in 2013.