Bill Belichick will one day be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Before that happens, Belichick will be inducted into the Anne Arundel County Sports Hall of Fame.
Belichick, widely regarded as one of the greatest coaches in National Football League history, headlines the 2024 class that also includes Major League Baseball player and coach Mark Budzinski, former Navy boxing coach Emerson Smith and standout multi-sport athlete Jenny Parsons.
Kenny Dunn, a legendary two-sport coach at South River High, will receive the Bernie Walter Memorial Award for longtime, exemplary service to Anne Arundel County athletics.
Those five individuals will be honored during the 33rd annual Anne Arundel County Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet, being held Nov. 13 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Annapolis.
Belichick was raised in Annapolis and grew up on football as the son of the longest-tenured assistant coach in Navy football history. Steve Belichick was the scouting director and special teams coach for Navy football from 1956 through 1989, a tenure spanning seven different head coaches.
As a boy, Belichick spent countless hours studying film along with his father, who he has called the most important mentor of his coaching career.
Belichick played football at Annapolis High under Hall of Fame coach Al Laramore, another major influence on his career.
Belichick is best known as New England Patriots head coach and de facto general manager from 2000 to 2023. His nine Super Bowl appearances and six Super Bowl championships with the Patriots are both NFL records.
Belichick earned two more Super Bowl rings as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants from 1985 to 1990. He also holds NFL records for most Super Bowl appearances (12), most playoff wins as a head coach (31) and most divisional championships as a head coach (17).
Belichick was named NFL Coach of the Year by the Associated Press in 2003, 2007 and 2010. He was selected to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Belichick began his NFL coaching career in 1975 with the Baltimore Colts and also had assistant stints with the Detroit Lions and Denver Broncos. His overall record as a head coach, which includes a five-year tenure with the Cleveland Browns, is 333-178 (.652 winning percentage).
The Anne Arundel County Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors determined many years ago that Belichick was a slam dunk selection for induction and was waiting for a year in which he could attend the banquet. With Belichick currently out of coaching and working as a television analyst, 2024 became the year he was formally voted into the Hall of Fame.
Budzinski has the distinction of reaching the major leagues as both a player and a coach. The 1991 Severna Park High graduate is currently the first base coach for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Budzinski was a two-time, first team All-County selection as an outfielder at Severna Park and earned a scholarship to Richmond, where he was a four-year varsity letterman. He was selected in the 21st round of the 1995 Major League Baseball draft by the Cleveland Indians and spent seven seasons with the organization.
After spending a total of 11 seasons in the minor leagues, including seven at the Triple-A level, Budzinski finally reached the major leagues with the Cincinnati Reds in 2003. He appeared in four games without getting a hit before being sent back to Triple-A.
Budzinski retired as a player in 2005, but returned to professional baseball in 2014 as manager of the Lake County Captains, the High-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. He also managed the Lynchburg Hillcats (Low-A) and Akron RubberDucks (Double-A) before being promoted to Cleveland’s major league coaching staff in 2017.
Parsons is widely considered one of the finest female athletes in the history of Anne Arundel County — a first team All-County selection in volleyball, basketball and softball. She was named Capital Gazette Player of the Year in both volleyball and softball as a senior.
Parsons was an all-conference selection in both volleyball and softball at East Carolina University. She was a standout pitcher in softball and graduated as the program’s all-time leader in nine categories, including ERA (1.52), innings pitched (969.1), wins (102) and shutouts (34).
As a junior in 1992, Parsons led all NCAA Division I pitchers with 38 wins. She was the first pitcher in East Carolina history to amass 100 wins, 400 strikeouts and 400 innings pitched in a career.
As a setter in volleyball, Parsons was the first East Carolina player to surpass 2,000 career assists.
Parsons has been softball coach at the University of Central Arkansas since 2021. She led Central Arkansas to a program record 45 wins and its first Atlantic Sun Conference regular season and tournament championships in 2023.
Smith served as head boxing coach at the Naval Academy for 27 years, retiring in 1985. He produced seven national champions and 11 second or third team All-Americans.
Smith succeeded Tony Rubino as Navy boxing coach in 1964. He originally came to the Naval Academy as both an assistant basketball coach and assistant boxing coach. Navy annually presents the Emerson Smith Sportsmanship Award during the Brigade Boxing Championships.
Smith earned international recognition for his work with the Everlast Corporation to make boxing equipment safer. He played an instrumental role in developing the thumbless glove.
Smith died in August, 1998, seven years after he was inducted into the USA Boxing Hall of Fame. As a physical education instructor at the Naval Academy for 29 years, Smith taught thousands of midshipmen how to box.
Dunn is synonymous with South River High as he helped open the Edgewater school in 1978 and served 44 years as a physical education teacher and varsity coach.
Dunn spent 35 years as the baseball coach and 29 years as the boys basketball coach. He led South River baseball to the Class 4A state championship in 2013. This past spring, South River named its baseball complex Ken Dunn Stadium.
Dunn grew up in St. Michael’s and blossomed into a multi-sport star in the small Eastern Shore town. He transferred to Severna Park High as a senior in 1964 and was a standout in football, basketball and baseball. He was inducted into the Severna Park Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005 and is also a member of the Eastern Shore Baseball Hall of Fame.
Dunn played multiple sports at Central Connecticut State College before returning to Anne Arundel County armed with a teaching degree and taking a job with the public school system.