In a few days, Craig Esherick will be inducted into his second Hall of Fame in two years.
The evening of Oct. 19 at Argyle Country Club in Silver Spring, the Arlington resident and former Georgetown University men’s head basketball coach (and player) will be one of nine inductees into the Springbrook High School Sports Hall of Fame.
In 2022, Esherick was inducted into the Arlington Sports Hall of Fame.
Esherick graduated from the Silver Spring school in 1974, where the 6-foot-3 guard/forward was a standout for the Blue Devils in boys basketball.
“I feel very lucky to have played for Springbrook and for good coaches along the way,” Esherick told ARLnow. “It was so much fun, with great memories.”
Esherick became a good outside shooter for Springbrook, chosen all-county and all-state, along with being selected all-Met by The Washington Post and now-defunct Washington Star newspapers. He averaged 18 points per game his senior season. Esherick scored a career-high 38 points in one game for Springbrook and 26 in his final contest, a semifinal loss in the state tournament.
Esherick helped the Blue Devils win county championships and reach the state tournament as sophomore, junior and senior. Following his senior season, Esherick was selected to play in the preliminary game of the first Capital Classic boys all-star high school basketball game at the old Capital Centre in Maryland.
Among top high-school players Esherick played against were Adrian Dantley, Hawkeye Whitney and Clyde Austin.
Growing up, Esherick also played baseball and was a quarterback in football for youth leagues and in junior high school. He began concentrating on basketball when he entered ninth grade.
Esherick was recruited to play basketball in college at Georgetown. He did so for four seasons, graduating in 1978, later becoming an assistant coach for the Hoyas and eventually the head coach.
Esherick currently serves as an associate professor of sport management at George Mason University. He is married to former Arlington/Falls Church Commonwealth’s Attorney Theo Stamos; they have two sons.
Coincidentally, Esherick’s 50-year reunion at Springbrook also is scheduled for the night of Oct. 19. Then, on Nov. 8, Esherick plans to attend a 40-year anniversary dinner marking the Georgetown basketball team’s NCAA championship in 1984. He was an assistant coach on that team.
