The Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame recognized the 2022 class of professional and amateur standouts on October 13, 2022 at Martin’s West in Baltimore:
Carl Runk, John F. Steadman Lifetime Achievement Honoree, Lacrosse
Gary Williams, Inaugural Coaches Legacy Award Honoree, Basketball
Scroll to the bottom of the page to view the 2022 photo album.
Len Bias, 22, perhaps the greatest basketball player in University of Maryland history, died of cocaine intoxication 36 years ago just two days after being the No. 2 pick in the 1986 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. Born and raised in Landover, Md., Len had a growth spurt in middle school and his interest in basketball intensified at Northwestern High School. As a seemingly indestructible 6-foot-7, 221-pound player, he reached new heights at the University of Maryland from 1982 to 1986. He was back-to-back Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year in 1985 and 1986. He averaged 23.2 points as a senior and his 2,149 points were then a school record and still No. 3 on the Terps’ all-time list.
Perhaps his best game came on Feb. 20, 1986, when the Terps handed No. 1 North Carolina its first loss in the new “Dean Dome.” Down nine points with three minutes to go, Bias led a furious comeback with a jumpshot, a steal of the inbounds pass followed by a reverse slam, a block, and then several hoops in overtime. He finished with 35 points. His death four months later stunned the nation. He was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.
Memorable quotes:
Motivational speaker Dr. Lonise Bias, founder and president of the Bias Foundation, Inc, “We believe that the best is yet to come, and we believe that Len and [his brother] Jay were two seeds that went down into the ground to bring life to others. We wanted to put services in place to help communities. We believe our young people, our families, and our communities are reachable, teachable, lovable, and savable.”
Ex-Terp and 15-year NBA player Tony Massenburg from Lessons From Lenny, which he co-wrote with Walt Williams, “Lenny Bias pushes me every day. From the time he blossomed into a super sophomore in 1983, through my final moments on an NBA court, and as I live today, Lenny serves as my reason to never give up the fight and to always do more than expected.”
Watch the official MDSAHOF Inductee video below:
Memorable quotes:
“Lacrosse
is a little bit like golf. Off that first tee you can slice it, hook
it, or hit it straight, but there’s a lot of ways to end up where you
want to be.”
On his 11-goal game: “It was one of those days
when everything you shot went in. I think I was 11-for-14 in shooting,
and I only played three quarters. UB had just beaten top-ranked UMBC a
few days before and came out flat against us. It was a good day for the
Sea Gulls!”
Watch the official MDSAHOF Inductee video below:
Leon Day, who grew up in Southwest Baltimore and died there in 1995, was one of the most versatile baseball players in the Negro Leagues. He played every position except catcher but gained his greatest fame on the pitching mound. Using a deceptive, no-windup, short-arm delivery he baffled hitters as a member of teams including the Baltimore Black Sox (whom he joined at age 17), Brooklyn/then Newark Eagles, Homestead Grays, and Philadelphia Stars from 1934 to 1952. A nine-time All-Star, he struck out 18 hitters in one game. Perhaps his greatest feat was pitching a no-hitter on Opening Day in 1946, after missing two seasons serving in the Army during World War II. Day also was a good hitter, often carrying a .300 average. Some say if given the opportunity, Day could have been among the best pitchers in the major leagues. He outpitched Negro League star Satchel Paige numerous times. He also played six seasons of winter ball in Puerto Rico, and competed in Mexico, Cuba, and Venezuela. Day’s biggest day was March 7, 1995, when he received notice of his election by the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Veterans Committee. Hospitalized at the time, he died six days later.
Memorable quote:
“People don’t know what a great pitcher Leon Day was. He was as good or better than Bob Gibson. He was a better fielder, a better hitter, could run like a deer. When he pitched against Satchel [Paige], Satchel didn’t have an edge. You thought Don Newcombe could pitch. You should have seen Day! One of the best complete athletes I’ve ever seen.” — Former San Francisco Giants outfielder Monte Irvin on the Hall of Fame website
Watch the official MDSAHOF Inductee video below:
Starring for the University of Maryland football team Darryl Hill broke the color barrier in 1963 as the first African American to receive an athletic scholarship for any sport from any school below the Mason-Dixon line, including the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Southeastern Conference, and the Southwestern Conference. Now 78, the D.C. native who lives in Laurel finished the season holding Maryland’s single-game record for receptions, set an ACC season record for touchdown catches with seven, and threatened the school’s single-season record for receptions with 43, despite challenges that included death threats. After success in business, he returned to his alma mater in 2003 as the athletic department’s director of major gifts. In April 2021, Maryland announced its new facility at Cole Field House, bringing together research, science, athletics, and entrepreneurship, would be named the Jones-Hill House, after Hill and Billy Jones, the first Black basketball player in the ACC.
Memorable quote:
Hill played with some great quarterbacks, Roger Staubach at Navy, Dick Shiner at Maryland, and Joe Namath in a brief stint with the New York Jets. “Well, let me tell you. It made life easy as a receiver,” he said.
On being a successful entrepreneur: “I’m a big proponent of Black business development. I think that’s one of the solutions to the ethnic issues that we face in this nation. If there’s economic parity, then you don’t have all of this nonsense that goes on racial wise, and the root, the base for economic parity, is business not just jobs. You know, we put a lot of emphasis on jobs, but you’ve got to own the business economy if you really want to be a competitor and on the same level. So, I push hard for minority businesses, and that building [Jones-Hill House] is a weapon to use in that battle.”
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Watch the official MDSAHOF Inductee video below:
The son and grandson of exceptional tennis players, Fred McNair IV wasted no time excelling on his own, winning the Mid-Atlantic championship at age 11 and then 12- and 14-under titles. He and his father, Fred McNair III, teamed up to win six National Father & Son Clay Court Doubles Championships and held the No. 1 ranking in the U.S. Tennis Association, when Fred IV was 19, 20, and 21. A four-time All-American at the University of North Carolina, he turned pro in 1973 and had some success in singles, twice reaching the third round of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open (a tournament his dad and granddad also competed in — the only family to compete in singles there in three consecutive generations). But like with his dad, McNair excelled in doubles. He won the French Open and Masters Grand Prix among 18 doubles titles and was a runner-up in another 23. He and Sherwood Stewart were ranked No. 1 in the world in 1975 and 1976. Now 72, McNair is president of McNair & Co. estate planning firm and limits his tennis to Friday evening sessions with his son Fred V, a USTA teaching pro.
Memorable quotes:
On winning doubles championships with his father: “It was a magical time. My dad was 28 years older than I was, so that was a perfect melding of son to father. We had four weeks alone, 11 straight summers, and my achievements flowed from that.”
“As a kid, maybe on a warm day in January/February, we’d ride our bikes down to Columbia Country Club [in Chevy Chase] and hit on the backboard, the cement wall. That’s really where you learn. The wall is the tennis player’s driving range.”
Watch the official MDSAHOF Inductee video below:
Called “one of the greatest amateur golfers of all-time” by ESPN’s Michael Wilbon, Marty West III qualified for 38 U.S. Golf Association championships, including 19 U.S. amateur championships, and won 26 Maryland State Golf Association championships, two Washington Metro championships, seven Middle Atlantic Golf Association championships, and 52 club championships. He is the fourth member of his family to be president of Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, where he won both the club championship and senior club championship in 2003 and 2015, 50 years after being Columbia junior champion in 1965 at age 17. A two-time All-American at the University of North Carolina (1970-’71), West turned down a pro golf career to be a family man and is proud of his wife, Betsy, two sons, and five grandkids. Now 74, the Rockville resident still golfs competitively and works as a financial planner at Morgan Stanley.
Memorable quotes:
“To hit balls next to Nicklaus, Palmer and Trevino, that was fun, especially back when I was thinking I could have done this for a living.” — West on competing at The Masters in 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1980, making the cut in 1973
“I think the No. 1 priority in my life is to serve my Lord, and then from there the others fall in. One may have a little higher priority on a given day, but you know, as long as your first priority is set, that gives you the basis from which to operate.”
Watch the official MDSAHOF Inductee video below:
Carl Runk, 86, was Towson University’s lacrosse coach from 1967 to 1998. With a 261-161 record, he was then one of seven active Division I coaches to win more than 200 games. He directed the Tigers to seven consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 1973 to 1979, to the Division II national title in 1974, and to the Division I national championship game in 1991. He infused his players with determination, something the East Baltimore native learned growing up near Patterson Park. He also coached Towson’s football team for several years, before turning the reins over to his friend from his University of Arizona days, Phil Albert. After retiring from Towson, Runk, a Parkton resident, got a call from nearby Hereford High School, which he led to two state championships in eight years there.
Memorable quotes:
“We weren’t Hopkins. No one had heard of what was then Towson State Teachers College. My intention at clinics and conventions was to make an impression. I wanted them to remember Carl Runk so when they talked to their players about where to go, they could say, ‘I know of a school where the coach is very personable and you would enjoy playing for him.’"
“I got 11 grandkids. Nine of them are girls and I got two boys. I’ve got three great-grandkids. All of them daughters. We do a job of breeding ladies around here. I have a beautiful family. My family and friends are very supportive,” said Runk, whose wife of 61 years, Joan, died in 2021. “And my players call me a lot, too. I’m very fortunate.”
Watch the official MDSAHOF Inductee video below:
With a record of 461-252 (.646), Gary Williams, 77, stands as the University of Maryland’s all-time winningest men’s basketball coach. He led the Terps to the program’s only NCAA national championship in 2002, beating Indiana in the final, 64-52. Williams was heralded as the national and Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year during the Terps’ 2002 championship run, which followed a season where they reached the Final Four but lost a heartbreaking game to Duke in the semifinals. A three-year starter who was captain of the Terps team as a senior in 1967-68, Williams returned to his alma mater in 1989 after coaching at Lafayette, American University, Boston College, and Ohio State. Williams was one of only five coaches to boast a string of 11 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament from 1994 to 2004. He retired as Terps coach in May 2011 and still serves the university as senior managing director for alumni relations and athletic development. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014. Maryland honored him in 2012 by naming the Xfinity Center playing surface Gary Williams Court.
Memorable quotes:
“I took the responsibility very seriously of trying to develop each player, but as you’re doing that, you’re also developing the person, especially when you’re a high school or a college coach. You can have a lot of influence on the rest of their lives while they’re playing for you.”
“It was a great thrill and it gave me confidence I could coach. I found out quickly what having great players meant. Five Division I scholarship players came off that team.” — On his first head coaching job at Woodrow Wilson High School, going unbeaten and winning the New Jersey state championship, from his Naismith acceptance speech.
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Watch the official MDSAHOF Inductee video below: