Merritt, Ellis lead 2024 class
Nine-member group will be inducted in April in Henrico County
Track star LaShawn Merritt and Women’s World Cup-winning soccer coach Jill Ellis headline the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024.
The nine-person class will be inducted April 19-20 in Henrico County. The 2024 induction will be the first in the Hall’s 52-year history to be held outside Hampton Roads.
Merritt went to Wilson High, now called Manor, in Portsmouth. After sprinting to the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes at the 2004 VHSL state championships, Merritt found success on the world stage. He appeared in the Olympics in 2008, 2012 and 2016, taking a total of four medals — three gold and a bronze — in the 400 meters and 4×400 relay. He was an eight-time world champion who won 23 medals, including 19 golds, in international competition.
Ellis, who attended Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, scored 32 goals as a forward for William & Mary’s women’s soccer team in the 1980s before a stellar coaching career.
In 14 seasons as a coach with Illinois and
UCLA, Ellis compiled a record of 248–63–14, and her teams made eight appearances in the Women’s College Cup.
Then she spent the next 20 years with the U.S. Women’s National Team, including seven as its head coach (2012, 2014-2019). In that span, she guided the Americans to back-toback World Cup championships in 2015 and 2019. In 132 matches as head coach, Ellis led the U.S. to a record of 106-7-19. She already is in the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame.
The hall’s executive director, Will Driscoll, said in a release, “The Class of 2024 highlights everythingthatisgreataboutsportsinVirginia. Fromtheiraccomplishmentsonthefield,tothe impact they have created in their communities through sports, this class embodies the Hall’s core values, recognition, impact and integrity.”
Here are the other inductees selected by the Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors and Honors Court Committee:
spent 45 years with the University of Virginia, first as an assistant coach on the men’s basketball team (19761982 and 1988-1990), and then in athletics administration from 1990-2017, the last 16 as the director. During his time as their AD, the Cavaliers won 76 Atlantic Coast Conference championships and 13 national titles.
Craig Littlepage
from St. Anne’s-Belfield School in Charlottesville and UVA, was a two-time All-ACC selection, the 2007 ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Dudley Award winner and unanimous first-team All-American for the Cavaliers.
Chosen No. 2 overall in the 2008 NFL draft by the St. Louis Rams, he played 11 NFL seasons with the Rams, New England and Philadelphia. He had 332 tackles and 70 sackls and forced 15 fumbles in the NFL, and he was part of consecutive Super Bowl winners with the Patriots and Eagles.
For his charitable pursuits, he was the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year in 2018.
Monica Wright Rogers, from Forest Park Highin Woodbridge, was the 2006 Gatorade Virginia Player of the Year in girls basketball. She went to UVA and set Cavaliers career records for total
points (2,540), scoring average (19.1 ppg), field goals made (962), field-goal attempts (2,207) and 25-point games (28). She was the 2010 ACC Player of the Year, ACC Defensive Player of the Year and WBCA National Defensive Player
of the Year.
Following college, she won two championships in seven WNBA seasons and was on the league’s all-rookie team in 2010.
The late Hal Nunnally, who grew up in Petersburg, posted a 431-232 record in 24 seasons as Randolph-Macon’s men’s basketball coach. He took the Yellow Jackets to NCAA Division II runner-up honors in 1977 and is in R-MC’s Athletics Hall of Fame.
Dave Smith, who grew up in Roanoke, graduated from Virginia Tech and was an often-honored sports information contact with the Hokies after beginning his career with Ferrum. After he retired in 2015, he gained a College Sports Information Directors of America Lifetime Achievement Award.
Rick Jeffrey, a native of Richmond and graduate of Hampden-Sydney, is the Distinguished Virginian Award recipient. He has spent 36 years with Special Olympics Virginia, the last 22 as its president.
Paul Woody, a Roanoke native and VCU graduate, spent 40-years as a sportswriter and columnist for the Richmond News Leader and Richmond Times-Dispatch. He won frequent awards for his writing.