Washington County Sports Hall of Fame Inducts Class of 2024

The “Undisputed Queen of the JFK 50 Mile” was inducted into the Washington County Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday night.

So did one of the area’s most successful high school volleyball coaches, following in the footsteps of those who taught her the game.

The same goes for a beloved high school teacher, coach and athletic director who served in that role for more than 40 years.

The same was true for a Hagerstown High athlete who played in 74 Major League Baseball games in the mid-1940s.

Carolyn Showalter, Megan Crawford, Bill Sterner and the late Vic Barnhart made up the 36th class inducted into the county gymnasium. They were recognized during a ceremony at Hagerstown Elks Lodge No. 378 in Hagerstown.

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Carolyn Showalter

Showalter is a six-time JFK women’s champion, including five consecutive years (1985-89). The six titles, including the last in 1994, tie the all-time record with Donna Aycoth, who was Showalter’s inspiration.

“In the late ’60s, I started hearing about the first woman to run the JFK 50 Mile, and that was Donna Aycoth,” Showalter said. “She ran 50 miles at a time when the longest distance a woman had ever run in the Olympics was 800 meters. … When I saw what she had accomplished, it planted a seed in the back of my mind.”

Showalter has completed the JFK 36 times, including an incredible streak of 22 consecutive events (1982-2003) to become a member of the race’s 1,750 Mile Club. She has finished second in the JFK three times and in the top 10 16 times.

“In some ways, coming back to JFK year after year is a bit like a family reunion,” she said. “You see a lot of the same people who share a common goal of finishing the race.”

Showalter is also a two-time top 100 women’s finisher in the Boston Marathon, the only woman from Washington County to accomplish this feat. She has competed in marathons in Gettysburg, New York City, Chambersburg, Virginia Beach and Carlisle.

Showalter holds the active U.S. record for the most consecutive years in which he completed an ultramarathon of at least 50 miles. That is 45 years, from November 28, 1978, to November 18, 2023. That period is also the second best internationally.

Showalter graduated from Lancaster Mennonite High School in 1972, where she participated in field hockey, basketball, and track. She later graduated from Hagerstown Community College and Shepherd University.

Megan Crawford

Crawford began playing volleyball in the fifth grade and became a standout for Williamsport. She played on the Wildcats’ 1999 Class 1A state championship team and earned a spot on The Herald-Mail’s All-Area team. She also earned all-county honors in basketball and tennis for the Wildcats.

She played volleyball at Catawba College in North Carolina, where she is among the top players in a season, and at Shepherd University, where she was team captain in 2004.

“I was fortunate enough to play for a lot of great coaches — Cindy Neugebauer, Rose Williams, Cheryl Wilkes, Susie Miller (and) Tracy McKinsey, to name a few,” Crawford said. “These women were all very knowledgeable, and (their) love for the game was what amazed me. It made their players want to live and breathe volleyball. … These coaches taught me what it meant to be a coach. They had the ability to teach the game while having high expectations for their players, and they pushed them to take it to the next level.”

Immediately after graduating, Crawford was named head coach of North Hagerstown’s varsity team in 2006. During her tenure, North went 231-55, won six regional titles, and appeared in five state finals, winning four championships (2011, 2012, 2014, and 2022). She has coached nine Washington County Players of the Year and has been named county coach of the year four times. In 2022, she was named Maryland Coach of the Year by the NFHS Coaches Association.

“Let’s face it, if my record wasn’t a winning record, I might not have been considered for this award,” Crawford said. “My girls were the ones who went out there and performed on the field and were very successful over the years. They put in the time and worked hard day in and day out. I was so happy for these girls to experience winning, and I’m most proud of watching these young women grow up and be successful in their own lives.”

Crawford also gave credit to Katie Eck, an assistant coach of 15 years. Eck’s work with the JV team allowed the Hubs to reload, not rebuild.

“A lot of people would think it would be a rebuilding year for next year, since we had a bunch of seniors leave. That was never the case,” Crawford said. “Eck’s JV teams rarely lost — even after I took some of her freshmen and sophomores. She got them ready for the varsity team. … That record is as much hers as it is mine.”

Bill Sterner

Sterner spent 41 of his 44 years as a teacher, coach and athletic director, primarily at Hancock as the Swiss Army Knife of the athletic program, before completing his education at Clear Spring.

“This is not something you do alone. This is something where you have to stand on the shoulders of others, and I had plenty of shoulders to stand on,” Sterner said. “Yogi Martin, Doug Cochran, Ed Masood — I was able to go through a lot of people who took me under their wing and worked with me on a lot of things, especially when I became the athletic director.”

After starting as a volunteer line coach in football, Sterner joined Hancock’s faculty as a lecturer in 1983. Shortly thereafter, he assumed the duties of athletic director. It was his first of two terms in the post.

Sterner became Hancock’s head football coach, leading the team to its first playoff berth in 1986. He later led the softball team to the state semifinals in 1993. His work kept the football program going at the smallest public school in Maryland.

In 2018, he left Hancock to support the Blazers’ program as AD of Clear Spring.

“One thing I was good at was surrounding myself with good people, and that helped,” Sterner said. “I wanted people who were inspired, I wanted people who were enthusiastic, I wanted people who were friendly and excited to have the opportunity to coach the kids and work in the games that they were working in.”

Vic Barnhart

Barnhart represented the third generation of the Barnhart baseball family and played three seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He followed his father Clyde, who played nine seasons with Pittsburgh, and his brother Bob, who played in the minor leagues.

Vic began his baseball career at age 17, before his senior year of high school. One sportswriter called Vic the “top prize third baseman” of the Class C Western Association League while playing for the Hutchinson affiliate of the Pirates. Upon joining the Pirates, he eventually moved from third base to shortstop.

He played most of his 74 major league games in 1945, supplemented by two brief stints in 1944 and 1946. He batted .270 in the three seasons with seven doubles and 19 RBIs.

He played 1,047 games over 10 seasons at various minor league levels, posting a .292 batting average with 27 HRs and 410 RBIs.

Vic graduated from Hagerstown High in 1940, where he excelled in football, basketball and baseball. Bob and Vic played together on the 1938 Washington County championship team, Hoffman Chevrolet, while Clyde watched from the stands.

After his baseball career, Vic spent 20 years as the athletic director at the Maryland Correctional Institute.

“Growing up, I always had a ball in one hand and a mitt in the other,” said daughter Cathy Betker, who accepted the honor on her father’s behalf. “I want to thank everyone who helped my dad get into the Hall of Fame.”

Honorable Mentions and Scholarships

The regional sports hall also presented the following scholarships and awards to local high school athletes and coaches:

Donald Stoner Coach of the Year Award: Cullan Ganley, Smithsburg
William Lightner Civil Servant of the Year Award: Dave Grams, Referee
Sara “Skip” Ward Scholarship: Haylee Hartman, Boonsboro
Harry L. Cunningham Jr. Scholarship: Samuel Atkinson, Boonsboro
Millie Shank Athletic Academic Scholarship: Camryn Eichelberger, Smithsburg
Gregg DeLauney President’s Award Scholarship: Deontae Blake, South Hagerstown
Carroll I. Reid Jr. Scholarship, sponsored by Cumberland Valley Athletic Club: Priemen (Odin) Desir, North Hagerstown
Carroll and Virginia Reid Memorial Scholarship: Zachary von Garrel and Ashton Redman, Smithsburg
Jeff Scuffins Memorial Scholarship, sponsored by Cumberland Valley Athletic Club: Michaela Gross, Smithsburg
Dotty Piccolomini Fair: Avery Byard, North Hagerstown