Washington County Sports Hall of Fame set to induct five new members

After a two-year layoff due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Washington County Sports Hall of Fame is ready to induct a new class of members next month.

The Class of 2022 will include five inductees, set to be enshrined during the Hall of Fame’s 34th banquet on July 16 at Elks Lodge No. 378 on Robinwood Drive in Hagerstown.

Gregg DeLauney, the Hall of Fame’s longtime president, said the wait has been worth it.

“We could have given out the recognition (in 2020 and 2021), but it’s more about their celebration,” he said. “I like the fact that they’re there with their peers, with their family, with their friends. It’s their night. For them to be able to join the celebration with those people, it makes it all worthwhile. That’s why we held off doing it for two years.

“The nice part about it is that it’s not only the inductees’ night, but we have past inductees from the last 34 years that will come year after year and share in the celebration,” he added. “The stories get bigger, the lies get bigger, but it really is a great evening to mingle with their friends.”

The Class of 2022 includes:

Greg Eversole

Washington County baseball has been a lifelong passion for Eversole.

As a young player, he was part of the 1962 West End Little League team that won a state title, and in 1966, he played for Hagerstown in the Colt League World Series.

He continued his playing career at North Hagerstown High, Hagerstown Community College and Frostburg State and is a member of the HCC Athletic Hall of Fame.

His high school coaching career began in 1977 at St. Maria Goretti, where he guided the Gaels for six years, highlighted by a Blue Ridge league title in 1978.

Eversole then spent three years as an assistant coach under Chuck Zonis at North Hagerstown and helped lead the Hubs to a state runner-up finish in 1984 and the state title in 1986.

After that, Eversole coached at South Hagerstown for more than a decade, leading the Rebels to a state title in 1996, a year after they were state runners-up.

After a 12-year break from coaching, Eversole returned in 2014 to St. Maria Goretti, where he remains. The Gaels won Old Line League titles in 2017, 2021 and 2022 and are 38-6 over the last two seasons.

Ling Louie

Louie, who officiated sports for more than a half-century, will be inducted posthumously. He died on Oct. 21, 2021.

He worked at all levels — professional, college, high school and youth leagues — in multiple sports, including baseball, softball, football, basketball, volleyball and bocce.

Louie’s officiating career began while he attended South Hagerstown High School and continued through his days at Hagerstown Community College, Shepherd University and the U.S. Marine Corps.

He umpired minor league baseball in the Gulf Coast, South Atlantic and Carolina leagues in 1981, before returning to Washington County. He also officiated for the U.S. Olympic and national baseball teams.

He was selected to work high school state final and semifinal games in baseball, softball, football and volleyball and was a longtime member of several county officials associations.

As an athlete, Louie became one of the first members of the JFK 50 Mile ultramarathon’s 500 Mile Club, having completed the legendary race 10 times.

Scott Jennings

In his 41 years as a head baseball coach, Jennings never has had a losing season while racking up 1,083 victories.

He recently completed his 22nd season at Hagerstown Community College and is the winningest coach in program history with 691 victories.

His Hawks have won Region 20 and Eastern District titles and finished as high as third in the country at the NJCAA Division I World Series.

Jennings has coached numerous All-Conference and All-Region players, as well as several All-Americans and Academic All-Americans. Twenty-two of his players either have been drafted or signed professional contracts.

He’s earned numerous Coach of the Year honors, including for the Maryland JUCO Conference, the Maryland JUCO Coaches Association, Region 20, the Eastern District and Louisville Slugger.

In 2020, Jennings was inducted into the Maryland State Association of Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame.

Bob Parasiliti

Parasiliti, a mainstay of The Herald-Mail, has reported on local sports since joining the newspaper in 1987.

Highlights have included in-depth coverage of the Hagerstown Suns minor league baseball team and the University of Maryland football and basketball teams. He interviewed many famous athletes while covering the Suns, including Frank Robinson, Willie Mays, Brooks Robinson, Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman and Deion Sanders.

Parasiliti chronicled the short, dynamic career of Nick Adenhart, from Little League to Williamsport High School to the Los Angeles Angels, before the star pitcher’s tragic death.

Parasiliti has won numerous MDDC Press Association awards, and in 2017, he was named the Maryland State Association of Baseball Coaches Media Person of the Year. He also is a member of the Heisman Trophy voting committee.

Parasiliti, who writes a popular weekly column, has a knack for digging deeper than the scores and statistics in his work.

Ray Shriver

At Smithsburg High School, Shriver has been the head cross country coach since 2001 and either the head or assistant track and field coach, indoors and outdoors, since the fall of 1999.

He became the first Washington County coach to win a state title in each season — fall, winter and spring — and, overall, his teams have captured eight state championships and 12 state runner-up finishes.

While at Smithsburg, he was instrumental in introducing Fully Automatic Timing to the county’s track and field programs.

Shriver began his coaching career in 1985 as a JV football coach at North Hagerstown High School, where he continued to coach the JV and freshman teams for five years.

He began coaching track at North as an assistant in 1986 and became the head track coach in 1990, the same year he started the Hubs’ indoor program. He continued to coach both indoor and outdoor track at North through the spring of 1999.

Other honors and awards

The Washington County Sports Hall of Fame will present a number of awards and scholarships for high school sports. They include:

• Harry Cunningham Jr. Male Athlete of the Year: Jevon Yarbrough, Williamsport.

• Sara “Skip” Ward Female Athlete of the Year: Alexis Zimmerman, Smithsburg.

• Dotty Piccolomini Scholarship: Micah Stine, Boonsboro.

• Millie Shank Scholarship: Ava Selby, Boonsboro.

• Gregg DeLauney President’s Scholarship: Maggie Schmidt, Boonsboro.

• Nick Adenhart Scholarship: Reed Gordon, Boonsboro.

• Past Inductee Scholarship: Ryan Linn, Smithsburg.

• Jeff Scuffins Memorial Scholarship: Jarrett Winders, Smithsburg.

• Carroll Reid/Cumberland Valley Athletic Club Scholarship: Jairik McCauley, Clear Spring.

• Carroll and Virginia Reid Scholarship: Dillon Smith and DJ Miller, Smithsburg.

• Greg Shank Memorial Scholarship: Matthew Stine, North Hagerstown.

• Robert “Turtle” Smith Scholarships: Dylan Moser, Smithsburg; Mike Hawbaker, South Hagerstown; Maddux Grove, Williamsport; Brooks Aleshire, Clear Spring; Chanse Phillips, South Hagerstown.

• Don Stoner Coach of the Year: Eric Gerber, Smithsburg boys basketball.

Banquet info

The event will begin with a social hour at 5:30 p.m. Dinner starts at 6:30 and the program follows.

To purchase tickets, which cost $35 each, mail a check to W.C.S.H.O.F., 19738 Meadow Brook Rd., Hagerstown, MD, 21742; or Gregg DeLauney, 90 Byron Dr., Smithsburg, MD, 21783.

For information, call DeLauney at 240-675-1228 or Frank Linn at 301-730-8401.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Washington County Sports Hall of Fame set to induct five new members