Robin Adair became the state’s most successful field hockey coach after leading Salisbury to the NCAA Division III championship and leading the state in scoring at Cape Henlopen High School.

At Cape Henlopen, where was twice the state’s leading scorer, she was named All-State in 1982, when she led the Vikings to the state title game.

After playing two years at Davis & Elkins (WV), she transferred to Salisbury, where was named the national NCAA Division III Player of the Year in 1986, when she led the Seagulls to a 21-0 record and their first national title in any sport. Adair scored the title-winning goal while playing with a broken foot. She was named Tournament MVP and was voted an NCAA All-American.

She coached Tower Hill to 10 state championships, and two other title game appearances, when the sport was contested in one division. Her record over 24 years was 396-44-16 (.886) against a powerful schedule. Her athletes earned national and international recognition at the University of North Carolina, Maryland, Stanford, and Ivy League schools. Two of her athletes – Meredith Keller and 2024 DSMHOF inductee Caitlin Van Sickle – played on the U.S. National Team.

In 1987, the Lower Delaware Gridiron Club named her as the first woman to receive its Collegiate Athlete of the Year Award. In 2007, she received the Tubby Raymond Award from the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association as the state’ top coach. She was also an assistant coach at Miami (Ohio) in 1988 while earning her master’s degree.

Jake Bergey, a two-sport All-State athlete at the Tatnall School, starred in the National Lacrosse League after an NCAA Division III All-American career at Salisbury University.

At Salisbury University, he was a three-time NCAA Division III All-American. His five goals in the championship game led the Sea Gulls to the 1994 NCAA title, he powered the Sea Gulls back to the 1995 title game, where he scored three goals, and led the team the Final Four once again in 1997.

Over his four-year career at Salisbury, he led the team to a record of 59-3 (.952). In addition to leading the team to national success, he was named the NCAA III Midfielder of the Year in 1995 and was selected as the Capital Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 1997.

After being named Most Valuable Player at the Hawaii Lacrosse Invitational, he joined the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League and led that team to outstanding success, finishing his career as the program’s all-time leading scorer. He led the Wings to league titles in 1998 and 2001, was third in the league Rookie of the Year voting in 1998, earned league all-star notice in 2004, and ranked among the league’s Top 10 scorers four times.

At Tatnall, he was a high school All-American in lacrosse, where he led the Hornets to the state title in his senior year and contributed to the Hornets state championship in 1990 as a freshman. Also an outstanding football player, he earned All-State honors as a defensive back as a senior.

Lenny Brown became one of the leading players in Xavier University basketball history, after a brilliant career at William Penn High School.

He was the leading scorer in the Atlantic 10 Conference, where he was twice first-team all-conference, and as a senior was a nominee for the John R. Wooden Award. He is the sixth leading scorer in Xavier history, has the most steals and is third in three-point field goals.

In his first year at Xavier, the 6-2 guard led the team in scoring (15.8), was named to the A-10 all-rookie team, and led the Musketeers, who finished 13-15, to a near upset of #1-ranked Massachusetts. A year later, his game-ending jumper gave Xavier a victory over #1 Cincinnati.

He started all four years at Xavier, aside his high school teammate Gary Lumpkin. They led XU to a 70-25 record over the next three seasons, including Xavier’s first A-10 regular season titles in 1997 and 1998 and its first Atlantic 10 tournament title in 1998. He was named honorable mention All-American by Basketball Weekly in 1997.

Sixth on Xavier’s all-time scoring list with 1,885 points, having led the team in scoring three years, Brown was elected to the Xavier Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004. He led Xavier to the second round of the 1997 NCAA Tournament and a berth in the 1998 NCAA Tournament.

At William Penn HS, he was the state’s Player of the Year in 1994, when he led the Colonials to the state championship and to the first-ever Delaware title at the Slam Dunk to the Beach.

Maxine Fluharty was an All-American field hockey star at the University of Maryland after twice being named Delaware’s high school Player of the Year at Sussex Tech High School.

She was Big Ten Player of the Year, first team All-American and unanimous All-Big 10 selection as a senior in 2014. She was National Field Hockey Coaches Association Mid-Atlantic Region Player of the Year and one of five finalists for its national Player of the Year award.

As a junior, she was third team All-American and first team All-ACC. She was All-Mid-Atlantic first team as a sophomore and junior, helping Maryland reach the Final Four both seasons. As a frosh, she was All-Mid Atlantic second team as a freshman in 2011 as the Terrapins captured the national title. Over her career, she was conference Player of the Week three times.

She competed internationally with the American Under-21 national team in the Junior World Cub and Junior Pan-Am Games, and the Senior Women’s National Team at the Four Nations Tour in New Zealand in 2013. After her collegiate career, she spent 18 months playing professionally with the Netherlands team of Hoofdklasse, Bloemendaal Dames.

At Sussex Tech, she was first-team all-conference in field hockey all four years and first team All-State three years. As a junior and senior, she was Delaware high school Player of the Year, led Sussex Tech to two state championships, and was named a field hockey All-American in 2009 and 2010 by the NFHCA. She was also first team All-State in lacrosse three times.

Kurt Howell has been among Delaware’s most accomplished competitors and coaches in the sports of wrestling. Howell was World Schoolboy under-16 champion at age 14 in 1982 at 88 pounds and was the national 105-pound Greco-Roman champion in 1984.

He then attended Newark High School where he became the first Delaware high school wrestler to win 100 career matches. Howell won four Blue Hen Conference and four state titles – at 98, 105, 112, and 119 pounds – while compiling an undefeated 108-0 record from 1983-86.

He accepted a wrestling scholarship to Clemson University. His college career was undermined by injuries, but Howell did win an Atlantic Coast Conference title at 126 pounds in 1990 and earned All-American status with an eighth-place finish at the 1991 NCAA Tournament, also at 126 pounds.

Howell then returned to Delaware to coach, first serving as head coach at Indian River High School before moving to Smyrna High School. Howell coached Smyrna to five state team titles, in Division II in 2005 and in Division I from 2013-16. His teams reached the title match four other times.

Howell also coached numerous Henlopen Conference and DIAA individual champions, including 4-time state champion Brent Fleetwood (2011-14) and 3-time state champions Chase Archangelo (2015-17) and Tony Wuest (2015, 2017-18). He was inducted into the Delaware Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2019.

Over a span of five decades, as a standout swimmer, multiple-sport coach, and Director of Athletics, few individuals have devoted as much time and talent to University of Delaware Athletics than Edgar Johnson. A native of Wilmington, Edgar was a record-breaking swimmer and two-time captain who earned UD degrees in 1967 and 1970 (master’s). He also starred as a prep swimmer at Salesianum.



He joined the UD Athletics staff in 1969 and served in a variety of roles, including assistant swimming & diving coach, assistant athletic trainer, assistant track & field coach, instructor in physical education, associate professor, and head coach for the men’s cross country and men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams. His women’s swimming teams won 42 straight dual meets and placed ninth at the 1981 AIAW national championships.



As athletics director he enjoyed a distinguished 25-year career in which he led the Blue Hens program to new heights, directing UD from the East Coast Conference to the America East Conference and to its current home in the Colonial Athletic Association. Delaware captured 10 consecutive America East Commissioner’s Cup Awards, won 83 conference titles, and appeared in 32 NCAA Championships during his tenure. He was inducted into the UD Wall of Fame in 2011 and received the prestigious ECAC James Lynah Service Award for contributions to college athletics in 2014.



The Edgar Johnson Award is presented in his honor each year to the UD senior male athlete who best exemplifies the characteristics of hard work, dedication, fairness, and striving for excellence. A former board member of the Delaware Sports Museum & Hall of Fame, he was inducted into the UD Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017. He earned the UD Medal of Distinction in 2009.

After her own championship career, Laura LeRoy Travis coached University of Delaware tennis for 26 successful years. As a student athlete at UD, she played #1 singles and doubles for four years, leading her team to four consecutive East Coast conference championship titles.  She earned three individual conference singles titles, and one doubles title.   She was the MVP for UD tennis all four years and was named to the academic all-district teams each year.  She was one of three seniors nominated for the prestigious Amelia P Warner award, given to the UD senior woman who demonstrates leadership, academic success and community service.

At Tower Hill school, she played #1 singles for five years, helping the tennis team to win four consecutive state championships titles and picking up one individual title. She was a member of the 1982 field hockey state championship team, was captain of both field hockey and tennis her senior year and was named the outstanding female athlete as a senior.

She was the first woman to coach a men’s sport at UD and one of a handful of women ever to coach an NCAA Division I men’s athletic team for over 20 years.  Highlights of the 26-year coaching career include winning the men’s America East Conference title in 1997, a two-year unbeaten record of 42-0 with the women’s team (longest win streak in UD history for any sport) and the women finishing 2nd in the conference for seven consecutive years.  She was a five-time conference Coach of the Year.

While coaching, Travis taught college classes for many years and advised the UD Club Tennis Team, being selected as the Outstanding Club Sport Advisor of all 32 sports in 2008.  She captained the UD Corporate Tennis Team and offered tennis camps on campus in the summer.  In 2003, she was recognized with the USTA/ITA National Campus Recreation Award for growing the sport of tennis on a college campus.

Travis has been deeply committed to community, serving on various USTA and USPTA Delaware and Middle States Board of Directors for many years, organizing community tennis events and participating in Tennis in the Streets for 20+ years, a community event that bussed in hundreds of under resourced children to expose them to “tennis in the streets” in front of Hotel DuPont.  She was inducted into the UD Athletics Hall of Fame (2001), the USTA Delaware District Hall of Fame (2009) and the USTA Middle States Section Hall of Fame (2014). She recently started competing again, earning the opportunity to represent Delaware and Middle States in national level age group team competitions.