This is the sixth class of the County Sports Hall of Fame, which found a new home this year at the Silver Spring Recreation and Aquatic Center. This year’s inductees will join 29 others who were previously inducted into the Hall of Fame. The induction ceremonies will be held on Sunday, May 4, at the Silver Spring Civic Building.
“These men and women have brought recognition and honor to our community in their respective fields,” said MCSHF Board of Directors Chair Bob Milloy. “It is a stellar group and the induction ceremony will be one fabulous evening.”
More information about the hall of fame, including details on the hall members, can be found at www.MCSHF.org.
Details on the newly selected members of the County Sports Hall of Fame:
- Thea Lafond, a special education teacher at Kennedy High School in Silver Spring, won the gold medal in the women’s triple jump in the 2024 Paris Olympics, representing the Caribbean island of Dominica. She was born in Dominica and became that country’s first Olympic gold medal winner. Her family emigrated to the U.S. when she was a child and she attended Kennedy High School and then the University of Maryland. At Maryland, she competed in several track and field events including heptathlon and indoor pentathlon. She competed in the triple jump at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics before winning gold at the 2024 Olympics. Lafond also won gold medals at the 2024 indoor world championships.
- Oguchi Onyewu was a professional soccer player for 15 years, including 10 as a member of the U.S. national team, playing in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. The former Sherwood High School star attended Clemson University before beginning his pro career in 2002. Onyewu played in France, England, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Spain and The Netherlands before ending his career in the United States. The center back defender spent much of his career with Standard Liege in Belgium, where he played in 139 games. He has served on the boards of several organizations and has been a soccer and Special Olympics ambassador. He spent two years on the board of directors of U.S. Soccer before being named vice president of sporting for U.S. Soccer in 2023. In that role, he oversaw dozens of men’s, women’s and youth national teams.
- Paul Rabil is widely regarded as one of the greatest lacrosse players of all time. The Gaithersburg native attended Watkins Mill and DeMatha high schools before heading to Johns Hopkins University, where he was a four-time All-America. His Hopkins teams won NCAA national championships in 2005 and 2007, and he won the Mclaughlin Award as the nation’s best midfielder in 2007. Rabil began his pro career in 2008 playing in both Major League Lacrosse and the indoor National Lacrosse League. He was a two-time league MVP of Major League Lacrosse while being part of two league championship teams. He ended his career as the all-time points leader in professional lacrosse with 657 points across 14 seasons. In 2018, Rabil and his brother Mike co-founded the Premier Lacrosse League. He also founded the Rabil Companies, which help grow the sport of lacrosse.
- Haley Skarupa is an Olympic gold medal winner and member of three world championship teams in women’s ice hockey. The Wootton High School graduate began her junior career with the local Washington Pride team before attending Boston College, where she scored 244 points in 144 games. She was a two-time finalist for the Kazmaier national player of the year award. Skarupa began her professional career in 2016 and played for seven years in the National Women’s Hockey League and the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association. She retired in 2023. She has worked as a hockey ambassador for the Washington Capitals and in 2023 became USA Hockey’s head scout for the women’s national team.
- Al Thomas was one of the most successful high school football coaches in Maryland history, leading teams to eight Maryland state championships. A native of Johnsburg, Pa., Thomas came to Montgomery County after college to be a teacher and coach. In 1964, he took his first coaching job as an assistant at Gaithersburg High School under John Harvill, who was already on his way to a historic career that also led him into the Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame. After 10 years there, Thomas was hired to become head coach at Seneca Valley High School in Germantown. His teams there went to win five Maryland state championships. He moved on to Damascus High, where the Swarmin’ Hornets won two state titles. He then took over at Sherwood High in Sandy Spring and won another state championship. Thomas created some unique nicknames for his teams that still are going strong today: Seneca Valley became known as the Screamin’ Eagles; the Hornets of Damascus unofficially adapted the Swarmin’ Hornets name; and the Sherwood Warriors took on the nickname of the Stormin’ Warriors. Overall, his teams won 242 games in nearly four decades of coaching. Thomas passed away in 2016.
- Bob Windsor spent nine seasons in the NFL, playing tight end played for the San Francisco 49ers and the New England Patriots. At Blair High School in Silver Spring, he excelled in football, basketball and track. He began his college career at Montgomery College before going on to play at Kentucky. He was drafted by teams in the AFL and NFL (before the leagues merged) and chose to play for the 49ers in the NFL. After his career, Windsor ran a successful sporting goods business and served as a teacher and coach at several Montgomery County schools.
