Southern Maryland has had numerous sporting achievers throughout history, with the best going on to represent NFL or MLB franchises to outstanding effect. SoMD’s history is also blessed with individual athletes who gained national representative status and inspired the county’s youth to greater heights.
We’ll look at three of these Southern Maryland athletic achievers, saluting their achievements in their chosen sports – sporting codes all popular with fans and bettors alike, among whom athletes of their quality and ability are revered these days.
Larry Johnson was born in Pomfret in Charles County, attending State College Area High School before playing college football as a running back for the Penn State Litany Lions. In his 2002 senior season, Johnson rushed for over 2,000 yards with the fewest carries in college football history, a record that stood until 2014. He received unanimous first-team All-American status that year.
In the following year’s NFL draft, The Kansas City Chiefs picked Johnson 27th in the first round. He represented the franchise for six seasons, being named The Chiefs MVP in the 2005 NFL season while carrying out an NFL record 416 rush attempts in the 2006 campaign. Statistics similar to Johnson’s are the kind that sports bettors savor when seeking value bets on PA sports betting apps.
Johnson’s influence, and those of players like him, has been instrumental in seeing The Chiefs emerge as the major force in the NFL at present. The two-time defending Super Bowl champion has odds of +700 in the early betting, behind only the San Francisco 49ers (+500), as it prepares its bid to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls in 2025.
After an acrimonious departure from The Chiefs, Larry Johnson went on to represent the Cincinnati Bengals and Washington Redskins before ending his NFL career with the Miami Dolphins in 2011.
Now 43, Mechelle Lewis was born in Oxon Hill in Southern Prince George’s County. In a memorable 2007 season, she represented the US in the 100-meter and 4×100-meter relay at both the World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan, and the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Lewis came away from the international meets with three medals, taking gold in the relay in Osaka and silvers in the relay and individual events in Rio. A year later, the SoMD native lined up in the 4×100-meter semi-final at the Beijing Olympics, but sadly her US team was disqualified for a missed baton hand-off.
After retiring from competitive athletics, Mechelle Lewis became involved with Athletes For Hope, an NPO to educate professional athletes about philanthropy. She also founded TrackGirlz, another NPO promoting mentorship to girls through track and field, in 2015.
Brett Cecil, hailing from Dunkirk in Calvert County, is a retired 2013 All-Star pitcher who plied his trade for the Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals between 2009 and 2020. After graduating from DeMatha Catholic High School in Prince George’s County, he attended the University of Maryland.
Cecil played collegiate summer baseball in 2006, pitching for the Orleans Cardinals (now the Firebirds) in the Cape Cod Baseball League, where he achieved All-Star status. Three years later, he received a call-up to The Blue Jays, where he pitched eight scoreless innings in only his second MLB start. Cecil went on to represent the Toronto franchise until 2016.
In 2017, while contracted to the Cardinals, Brett Cecil represented the United States in the World Baseball Classic, helping his country to the gold medal. His later St. Louis career was, unfortunately, beset by injury, causing his release in 2020 and subsequent retirement from pro baseball the following year.
While fans and sports bettors in Pennsylvania were sorry to see the retirements of these standout South Maryland athletes, Larry Johnson, Mechelle Lewis, and Brett Cecil represented their sporting codes with distinction, in so doing, inspiring current and future SoMD to do the same for years to come.
