Top 100: Pat Toomay, Edison, Football, 1966
Although he considered himself a basketball player in high school, Pat Toomay went on to have an amazing NFL career. He was a Super Bowl champion with Dallas, a member of a winless team with Tampa Bay and was coached by John Madden while in Oakland.
Top 100: Katie Smrcka-Duffy, Madison, Basketball, 1996
Record-setting Smrcka-Duffy showed competitive fire leading Madison to 1996 region title and two state finals appearances before college and pro career.
Katie Smrcka-Duffy was one of the most competitive athletes ever to come out of the Northern Region. If her play didn't show it, her mouth certainly did. Smrcka-Duffy was often the subject of media scrutiny even as just a junior and senior at Madison High School.
Top 100: Keith Burns, T.C. Williams Football, 1990
It almost seems as if Keith Burns of the Denver Broncos has been playing in the NFL forever. Well, the fact is, by NFL standards where a players' average playing career is about four years, he practically has been.
Top 100: Andy Heck, Woodson Football, 1985
After intimidating teams in the Northern Region, Heck went on to win an NCAA title and played 12 years in the NFL.
After he finished terrorizing the opposing teams' players in the Northern Region, Andy Heck spread his terror onto the top-program college stadiums across the nation. The 1985 Woodson grad's name is still spoken in reverence in the local football circles.
Top 100: Jeremy Ferry, Centreville, Wrestling, 1995
The sellout crowd of 3,850 at Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake gave Jeremy Ferry a standing ovation. The senior from Centreville high school had just won his 126th-consecutive match to earn his third-straight AAA individual state wrestling championship.
Top 100: Pete Schourek, Marshall, Baseball, 1987
Schourek catapulted Marshall to baseball success in mid-80's before 11-year MLB career.
Pete Schourek gained national notoriety in 1995 when he finished second to Major League Baseball pitching sensation Greg Maddux in the race for the National League Cy Young Award — awarded to baseball's top pitchers each year. Schourek nailed down 18 wins that season and picked up the Game 1 victory for the Cincinnati Reds in their eventual five-game series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series.
Top 100: Rickey Harris, Centreville, Track and Field
When Centreville’s Rickey Harris was entered in a race, it was almost a foregone conclusion that he was going to win. "You almost got to the point where you didn’t watch him that much because you knew that he was going to win," said Centreville track coach Roy Ferri.
Top 100: Reggie Harrison, Washington-Lee, Football, 1969
Former Generals star had huge punt block in Super Bowl X.
Reggie Harrison found football fame as both a collegiate and a professional NFL running back. But he found his true love for the game as a high school standout at Washington-Lee in Arlington.
Top 100: Jay Franklin, Madison, Baseball, 1971
Northern Region's highest MLB draft pick continues 20-year battle with mental illness.
Each time that Jay Franklin takes a sip of his soda, he unwillingly flashes the scar on the bottom of his right arm. It’s a reminder to his mother, Pat, and sister, Trudy — sitting just feet away and listening to him tell his story — of just how bad things have gotten.
Top 100: Will Montgomery, Football
During his time at Centreville High School, there wasn’t a season that Will Montgomery didn’t excel in sports. In the fall, Montgomery was a leader on the offensive and defensive line for the Wildcats football team. During the winter, he was a starting basketball player that finished second on the team in rebounds as a senior.
Top 100: Seth Greisinger, McLean baseball, 1993
Greisinger ended a 33-year district title drought for McLean baseball before going to UVA, Olympics, and pro baseball.
The Koreans never forgot the name Seth Greisinger. But, neither did anyone else that Greisinger, a right-handed pitching sensation out of McLean, threw against in his career. In the 1996 Olympics, Greisinger held Korea's bats to seven hits and two runs to push the United States to a 7-2 victory and one step closer to an eventual bronze medal.
Top 100: Evan Royster, Football
Westfield head football coach Tom Verbanic knew what he was getting when Evan Royster showed up on the football field during the summer before Royster’s freshman year. Verbanic, who coached Evan’s older brother Brandon for four years from 1996 to 1999, was well aware of the talent that the younger Royster possessed.
Top 100: Eric Dorsey, McLean Football, 1982
Man among boys: Dorsey went from quiet kid to two-time Super Bowl champion.
What most people who knew Eric Dorsey before he went on to stardom with Notre Dame and the New York Football Giants would remember is his quiet demeanor, which was in sharp contrast to his fear-injecting football ability.
Top 100: Barry Johnson, Herndon, Football, Basketball, Soccer, 1986
Unforgettable Johnson is still the name Herndon fans remember the most.
The frigid cup of coffee sitting in front of Barry Johnson is evidence of how forgetful he is. Johnson, arguably the greatest athlete in the history of Herndon High School, strolls down memory lane, telling stories of his high school, college and National Football League careers for nearly an hour before realizing that, not only has he not tasted the cup of joe sitting in front of him, he hasn't even dashed it with any cream or sugar.
Top 100: Scottie Reynolds, Herndon Basketball, 2006
Reynolds led Herndon to regional superiority and broke 13-year McDonald's All-American drought.
Scottie Reynolds is gone now. He has left the Northern Region's gymnasiums behind. They are now only a part of his past — one that is so much more important than all the awards or games he played in.