Best Of 2020

Throughout the past year, scores of current and former local athletes and coaches have taken active roles in the fight against COVID-19 and for social justice. These are just a few of their stories. 

All comments were made to PressBox unless otherwise noted.

Madeline Swegle

Lt. j.g. Madeline Swegle, a track and field athlete at Navy before graduating in 2017, became the U.S. Navy’s first Black female tactical air pilot when she received her Wings of Gold during a ceremony at Naval Air Station Kingsville in Texas in July; her final undergraduate tactical air training flight came in a T-45C Goshawk jet.

Not long after, Swegle reported to NAS Whidbey Island in Washington state to train as an EA-18G Growler pilot.

“I’m excited to have this opportunity to work harder and fly high-performance jet aircraft in the fleet,” Swegle said in a news release. “It would’ve been nice to see someone who looked like me in this role; I never intended to be the first. I hope it’s encouraging to other people.”

Photo Credit: Naval Academy Public Relations

For more Best Of, visit PressBoxOnline.com/BestOf

Plus: Check out PressBox’s 2020 Mo Gaba Sportsperson of the Year, Trey Mancini.

Trey Mancini

PressBox

For more from PressBox, read the latest news here.