Thea LaFond: A Dominican-American track and field athlete who graduated from Kennedy High School in Silver Spring, Thea won a gold medal in the triple jump at the 2024 Olympics in Paris competing for the nation of Dominica. She is the first athlete to win an Olympic medal for that nation. She also was the 2024 world indoor triple jump champion. At the University of Maryland, LaFond was a multi-event athlete who competed in the heptathlon and indoor pentathlon. She is the first University of Maryland graduate to win a gold medal. After her gold-medal-winning performance in Paris, Dominica appointed her as a national sports ambassador.
Oguchi Onyewu: Onyewu, a Nigerian-American who grew up in Silver Spring and Olney, is a graduate of Sherwood High School. After playing one season for Clemson, he went on to a 15-year professional career as a defender for world-class teams including Newcastle United (England), AC Milan (Italy), Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) and Malaga CF (Spain). As a 10-year member of the United States men’s national team, he played in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. He has served as vice president of sporting for the United States Soccer Federation, as the sporting director for Orlando City B and secretary-general of R.E. Virton.
Paul Rabil: After he started playing lacrosse at Watkins Mill High School in Montgomery Village, Paul transferred to DeMatha High School in Hyattsville and became a high school star. He played at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he won All-America honors all four years and set records for most playoff goals, assists and points. His teams won NCAA championships in 2005 and 2007. In 2007, he won the McLaughlin Award as the nation’s best midfielder. He played professional lacrosse in Major League Lacrosse (MLL) with the Boston Cannons and New York Lizards from 2008-2018, when he cofounded the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) with his brother, Mike. He played in the PLL from 2019-2021. He won the MLL offensive player of the year award in 2009, 2011 and 2012, and MLL MVP awards in 2009 and 2011. His teams won MLL championships in 2011 and in 2015. He retired from the PLL in 2021 to concentrate on the business aspect of the league.
Haley Skarupa: Skarupa, who was raised in Rockville and graduated from Wootton High School, won a medal gold as a member of the United States Women’s Ice Hockey at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. She also helped the U.S. win gold medals at three straight world championships from 2015-17. Skarupa played college hockey at Boston College where she was the second highest scorer in school history. She then embarked on a five-year professional career playing in the National Women’s Hockey League and the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association. She is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at Wootton High School’s graduation ceremonies this year.
Al Thomas: One of the most successful football coaches in Maryland history, in 47 years, Al Thomas’s teams won a record eight state championships, five with Seneca Valley in Germantown, two with Damascus and one with Sherwood in Sandy Spring. He finished with a 242-47 record and four undefeated seasons. After a decade as an assistant coach to John Harvill at Gaithersburg High, in 1974, Thomas was hired as the first head coach at Seneca Valley. His Screamin’ Eagles compiled a 120-24 record and won state titles in 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980 and 1987. At Damascus, his Swarmin’ Hornets won state titles in 1992 and 1993. In five seasons at Sherwood, his teams were 54-10—including 14-0 in the state title year of 2008. He was inducted into the Maryland Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 1997. He passed away in 2016.
Bob Windsor: An agile athlete who helped Blair High School in Silver Spring win a Maryland state basketball title in an undefeated 1961 season, Bob Windsor then went on to star on the football field as a junior college All-America at Montgomery College and then at the University of Kentucky. He was drafted as a tight end in the second round of the 1966 NFL draft and played nine seasons in the NFL—five with the San Francisco 49ers and four with the New England Patriots. One of his most memorable NFL plays came in a 1974 game with the Patriots against the Minnesota Vikings, who had been to the Super Bowl the previous year. Windsor scored the winning touchdown with no time left by taking a short pass from Jim Plunkett, breaking several tackles and dragging a tackler into the end zone for a 17-14 Patriots victory. After retiring from football, Bob operated a highly successful sporting goods store in Laurel.