Unsung Heroes

AS WE CELEBRATE America's birthday, as we mourn lives being lost in Iraq, there's a growing movement that, while not directly linked, has much to do with freedom, the costs of war and whether our nation is truly committed to mopping up the stains of its complex racial past. It's time black veterans had a special memorial of their own on the National Mall, advocates say. The endeavor by the Washington-based Black Patriots Foundation dates to 1986 -- having long ago received approval from both Congress and the National Park Service -- but remains far short of the $20 million needed (about $8 million has been raised thus far)

The One Love Foundation announced Thursday that North Carolina's Zoe Skinner (Towson High) and Loyola's Jason Crane (Chesapeake-Anne Arundel) have been selected as the 2013 Yeardley Reynolds Love Unsung Hero Award winners.  Now in its third year, the award celebrates selfless acts of initiative and commitment performed by Division I lacrosse players; it is named after the former Notre Dame Prep and Virginia player.  Skinner and Crane are being rewarded...

Krisan Pfeiffer of Perry Hall and Brad Hoppenstein of Pikesville were the winning athletes at last night's 55th annual McCormick Unsung Heroes Awards Banquet.Hoppenstein, 18, who is headed for Frostburg to major in biology, and Pfeiffer, who will attend Towson State and major in elementary education, will receive McCormick scholarships valued at $3,500 per year.The banquet, which salutes football and female basketball players, featured 102 players nominated from the 67 Baltimore City and county schools.

Sarah Dorl and James Frieson both regularly took care of many jobs that helped their respective teams, tasks that wouldn't show up in a score sheet. But the work Dorl did for the Dulaney basketball team and Frieson put in for Towson football finally earned some notice Monday night when they won top honors at the 73rd Annual McCormick Unsung Heroes Awards banquet at the Hunt Valley Inn. Dorl and Frieson became the 70th and 71st winners of the Charles Perry McCormick Scholarship, established in 1969.

When the spotlight shines on Baltimore and its ballpark during the All-Star Game next week, many people who deserve credit for its success may not even be in the crowd.To be sure, plenty of the key figures will be on hand -- the Orioles' owners and executives, Maryland Stadium Authority officials, the architects with Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Sports Facilities Group. But over the years, countless others have contributed ideas that influenced the design of Oriole Park at Camden Yards yet received little or no recognition.

The 62nd annual McCormick Unsung Heroes Awards Banquet will be held tonight at the Marriott Hunt Valley Inn. Two winners will be chosen from a pool of 107 candidates who represent 68 Baltimore City and County high schools. McCormick scholarships, valued at $5,000 per academic year, will be presented to one male athlete and one female athlete selected as Unsung Heroes. Jim Tunney, educator and former NFL referee, will deliver the keynote address. Unsung Heroes nominees Archbishop Curley: Neal Baer; Archbishop Spalding: Marcin Orlowski, Angela Schaech; Arlington Baptist: Cassandra Wall; Boys' Latin: Ryan DiPasquale; Bryn Mawr: Danielle Moore.

A total of 100 candidates have been chosen to represent 65 Baltimore City and County public, private, parochial and independent schools at the 54th annual McCormick Unsung Heroes on Friday at the Marriott Hunt Valley Inn.One male and female athlete will be chosen as the 1994 Unsung Heroes and will receive a McCormick scholarship, valued at $3,500 per year for each of four academic years.Originally established in 1940 by the late Charles P. McCormick, the program recognizes unselfish team play and honors those who contribute substantially to the success of their teams without receiving acclaim.

A total of 104 candidates, two of whom will be honored as the 1996 Unsung Heroes scholarship winners, have been chosen to represent 67 Baltimore City and County public, private, parochial and independent schools at the 56th annual McCormick Unsung Heroes Awards Banquet on Friday night at Marriott's Hunt Valley Inn.Established in 1940 by the late Charles P. McCormick, the program recognizes unselfish team play and honors those who contribute substantially to...

Mary Lou Retton, winner of the all-around gold medal in women's gymnastics at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, will be guest speaker Friday at the 52nd Annual McCormick Unsung Heroes Awards Banquet at Marriott's Hunt Valley Inn.One hundred candidates have been chosen to represent 64 Baltimore city and county public, private, parochial and independent schools.McCormick scholarships, valued at $3,500 per year for each of four academic years, will be presented to one male athlete and one female athlete selected as Unsung Heroes.

Kelly, Crane among finalists for Yeardley Love Unsung Hero Award North Carolina junior midfielder Frankie Kelly (Calvert Hall) and Loyola freshman defenseman Jason Crane (Chesapeake-Anne Arundel), North Carolina junior defender Zoe Skinner (Towson High) and Notre Dame junior defender Molly Shawhan , who lives in Fulton, are among the 10 finalists for the Yeardley Reynolds Love Unsung Hero Award. Established in 2011 in honor of the late Virginia player, a Cockeysville native, the award recognizes the selfless acts of initiative and commitment by Division I lacrosse players.

More than 100 student athletes from 73 Baltimore-area  high schools will be honored Monday night at the 73 rd Annual McCormick Unsung Heroes Award Banquet at the Hunt Valley Inn. One football player and one girls basketball player will be awarded the Charles Perry McCormick scholarships, valued at $36,000 over four years of college. They keynote speaker will be best-selling author Wes Moore, whose book 'The Other Wes Moore" is set to be made into a movie. An paratrooper with the Army in Afghanistan, Moore played football at Johns Hopkins, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 2001.

Elizabeth "Buff" Conklin, who operated a Towson travel store, worked as an administrative assistant at the Johns Hopkins University and enthusiastically volunteered for numerous local groups and causes, died of lung cancer Tuesday at her Glen Arm home. She was 73. Born Elizabeth Martin to a family with a long Irish Catholic heritage, the Roland Park native was a graduate of Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson. As a teen, she volunteered as a candy striper at Baltimore's Good Samaritan Hospital — beginning a life of volunteerism that would continue for nearly 50 years.

The Orioles certainly aren't playing their best baseball of the season, not after losing 10 of their past 13, not after starting this road trip 1-5. That's why Tuesday night's 8-6, 10-inning, sloppy victory against the Boston Red Sox resonated within the clubhouse. Maybe it was ugly, but it also was rewarding. “I try not to get too high or too low, but that's one of our better wins of the year,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “That was a real test for us a little bit.” It's a game they could have lost - maybe should have lost - and instead they pulled it out thanks to some unsung heroes.

The One Love Foundation, the nonprofit organization created in 2010 to honor the memory of Yeardley Reynolds Love (YRL), announced that Maryland attackman-midfielder Joe Cummings (Loyola High) and Virginia Tech senior attacker Ryan Rotanz were selected as the 2012 YRL Unsung Hero Award recipients. The award is given annually to one men's and one women's lacrosse player within the Atlantic Coast Conference for their dedication to leadership, for their community service, and for being a positive role model on and off the field.

Whether teammates needed help developing their skills or just a few words of encouragement during a particularly challenging practice, Western Tech's Geraldine Ezeka and Loch Raven's Ryne Schanberger each were eager to step up. Ezeka often ran behind teammates to offer support if they were struggling with conditioning drills during Western's basketball season. She was also ready to dive for a loose ball in a practice or game, always leading by example. Schanberger, an offensive guard, was dedicated to the summer workout program for Loch Raven's football team, and learned how to punt after the team desperately needed a kicker.

For the 72 nd year, the area's most deserving unheralded football and girls basketball players will be honored at the McCormick Unsung Heroes Award Banquet Monday night at the Hunt Valley Inn. One male and one female will receive the 2012 Charles Perry McCormick Scholarships, which are valued at $36,000 over four years of college. The athletes - 112 seniors - come from 68 schools in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association and the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland.

Tyler Joseph Thomas will turn 4 years old Friday, Feb. 17. But perhaps a bigger event will take place at some point in the fall of 2015. "When we hit that milestone we will throw a big party," said North Laurel resident Brenda Frese, the mother of Tyler and his twin brother, Markus William Thomas. Frese is the head women's basketball coach of the No. 8-ranked University of Maryland Terrapins. Her husband and the father of Tyler and Markus is Mark Thomas, a 1988 graduate of Laurel High and member of the school's state title-winning football team of 1987.