Numbers.  So much of what I do is related to numbers.  Batting averages in baseball, shooting percentages in basketball, goals scored in lacrosse, passing yards in football, times in track and swimming, victories for teams and coaches … the list is seemingly endless.
 
As I wrote my release last week announcing that five of our football players had been selected as Academic All-Americans – you know, our national-best five – I pointed out to the other members of our athletic communications staff another number of note – 300.
 
Johns Hopkins entered the 2025-26 academic year with 292 all-time Academic All-Americans. So, when we had one men's soccer player, two women's soccer players and two volleyball players earn Academic All-America honors in the fall, we bumped that number to 297.  Five football players later and we ticked past 300 all-time Academic All-Americans and landed at 302.
 
Three hundred – officially now 302 - all-time Academic All-Americans.  Think about it.
 
If you're like most, you don't really know how to quantify that.  Sure, 300 sounds like a lot, but with no frame of reference how many other schools have, is it?  Let me help you.
 
There are more than 1,100 schools that compete under the NCAA umbrella in either Division I, II or III.  Additionally, there are approximately 250 schools that compete in the NAIA.  That's more than 1,350 four-year schools across the country at varying levels.
 
Let me give you another number – four.  As in, among those 1,350-plus schools, there are exactly four, including Johns Hopkins, with more than 300 all-time Academic All-Americans.  When I put it that way, 300 doesn't just sound like a lot, it is a lot.
 
The three schools that join Johns Hopkins in the ultra-selective fraternity of schools with more than 300 Academic All-Americans?  MIT, Stanford and Nebraska.  That's it.

The first Academic All-America Team was selected in 1952 in the sport of football.  Since then, the program has grown significantly and there are now 14 different sports that have an Academic All-America Team selected with all other sports lumped into the At-Large category.  For Johns Hopkins, our at-large teams include field hockey, water polo, wrestling, fencing and lacrosse.
 
Need a little historical perspective from Homewood?  I can handle that.
 
Johns Hopkins did not produce its first Academic All-American until the spring of 1976, when baseball player Lou Podrazik earned first team honors.
 
By the end of the 1977-78 academic year, six more Blue Jay student-athletes added their name to the list, including the first two-time Academic All-American in Johns Hopkins history, David Lewing (baseball).
 
A funny thing happened after Lewing and teammate George Coutros earned first team honors in the spring of 1978; a Johns Hopkins athlete wouldn't earn Academic All-America honors again until 1989-90, when Andy Enfield (men's basketball) and Scott Tarantino (baseball) were selected. 
 
Of course, by funny I mean not funny at all.  Are you telling me that Bill Stromberg, who graduated as the national all-time receptions leader in Division III history and was later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, and Larry Quinn, the two-time USILA National Player of the Year in men's lacrosse, weren't worthy in the 1980s?  That's a discussion for another day.

From the selection on Enfield and Tarantino through the decade of the 1990s, a total of 28 Blue Jay athletes would earn Academic All-America honors, including women's lacrosse standout Nancy Lentz, who became the first female athlete in school history honored when she grabbed first team honors in 1994.
 
If you are doing the math, that means we had 35 Academic All-Americans at the turn of the century.  Since then, we've produced 267.  Does that sound like a lot?  That's a rhetorical question … it is.
 
Yes, the Academic All-America program has expanded significantly through the years with a number of those 14 individual sports added since Y2K.  The opportunity to be selected has certainly increased, but what our athletes are achieving is remarkable. 
 
Need some proof?
 
Since 2000, only MIT and Stanford have produced more Academic All-Americans than our 267. 
 
Since 2011, the Blue Jay football program has produced 49 Academic All-Americans – no other football program at any level has produced more than 32 in that time.
 
Johns Hopkins has produced more Academic All-America baseball players – 36 – than any other baseball program in the nation at any level.
 
In the last four academic years, Johns Hopkins has produced at least 20 Academic All-Americans each year with a program-best 32 in 2022-23.
 
Six different Johns Hopkins teams have produced at least 20 all-time Academic All-Americans and 10 teams have produced at least 10.
 
One Blue Jay – men's soccer player Logan Falzarano (2021-24) - has earned Academic All-America honors four times.  Eight athletes have turned the trick three times, a group bookended by a pair of men's fencers in Kevin Little (1998, 1990, 2001) and Alan Zheng (2023, 2024, 2025).
 
Fifty-three Blue Jay athletes have earned Academic All-America honors twice – Lewing was the first and Ella Macko (women's soccer), Simone Adam (volleyball) and Helena Swaak (volleyball) have added their name to this distinguished list in the last six weeks.
 
So many numbers associated with our Academic All-Americans and I've shared just a few.  For now, we'll focus on 300.  Think about it.