When Washington goes national: Sports Illustrated covers

“The Unlikely Sports Capital.’’ That’s how Sports Illustrated described Washington and Baltimore and its charging baseball teams on the magazine’s Oct. 1 cover. But Washington area teams (Nats, Redskins, Wizards, Hoyas, Terrapins) have had their cover moments. Here’s when sports in the nation’s capital shone — at least for a while.

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‘The Gay Athlete’

“I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.” With those words in SI’s May 6 issue, Jason Collins, who played for the Wizards and the Boston Celtics this season, became the first active male athlete in U.S. pro sports to come out.

/ Sports Illustrated

'Mr. October'

Stephen Strasburg is on one of six different regional covers for the MLB preview issue. The magazine predicts the Nationals to win the World Series in 2013.

/ Sports Illustrated

'What Does Bryce Harper Have in Mind for His Encore?'

SI asks the 20-year-old Nats superstar in its Feb. 25 issue whether he'll fall victim to the sophomore slump, and his answer is priceless: "I'm not going to put it my head. Sophomore slump? I was a sophomore in college and raked. Why can’t you rake in the big leagues?"

/ Sports Illustrated

RGIII — 'Power Surg3'

SI commemorated the record-breaking entry of Robert Griffin III into the NFL with the East Coast cover for the Sept. 17 issue. The rookie quarterback earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors after he threw for 320 yards and two touchdowns while leading the Redskins to a 40-32 season-opening victory over the New Orleans Saints. Plus, he has his own impromptu celebration move. "He gets it,'' said veteran wide receiver Santana Moss. "And he knows that every week is going to come with a different challenge.”

/ Sports Illustrated

Stephen Strasburg — 'National Treasure'

Another rookie phenom captured SI's imagination on its June 21, 2010, cover. The Nationals' Strasburg struck out 14 in his debut that June 8. Six days later, he had another overpowering victory — and ended up striking out 92 in 68 major-league innings that year. In 2012, he bounced back from Tommy John surgery performed in late 2010, winning 15 games for the first-place Nationals.

/ Sports Illustrated

Roy Hibbert — 'Big Is Back'

'Will it be a big year for the Hoyas?' SI asked on its Nov. 20, 2006, cover featuring the 7-foot-2 Georgetown center. It certainly was. Hibbert helped lead Georgetown to its first Big East conference championship since 1989. He skipped the draft to go his senior year to Georgetown, as did Hoya legends Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo. Hibbert, now with the Indiana Pacers, made the 2012 NBA All-Star Game. In July, he signed a four-year, $58 million contract with the Pacers.

/ Sports Illustrated

Michael Jordan — 'Happy 40th Birthday, Michael'

Glistening with sweat on the court, a smiling Jordan graced the Feb. 7, 2003, cover, his third with the Washington Wizards. He had joined the team in 2000 after his second retirement from the NBA as part-owner and president of basketball operations. In September 2001, he returned to play and said he would donate his salary to victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In 2003, he was the only Wizard to play in each of the team's games, and every home game was sold out. Two weeks after this SI cover, he became the first 40-year-old to score 43 points in an NBA game. Two months later, he played in his last NBA game.

/ Sports Illustrated

Juan Dixon — 'Mighty Maryland'

"Fear The Turtle,'' SI's April 8, 2002, cover said of the Terrapins and of Dixon, who led 32-4 Maryland to its first NCAA championship in 2002. The son of heroin addicts, both of whom died before he was 17, Dixon played basketball with intensity and set the school scoring record, which had been held by Len Bias. He played for the Washington Wizards, Portland Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors before moving on to play in Greece, Spain and Turkey.

/ Sports Illustrated

Mark Rypien — 'Let 'Er Rip'

The pass-happy Redskins quarterback had his best year in 1991, leading the 14-2 Redskins to the Super Bowl and making the cover on the Feb. 3, 1992, issue. The first Canadian-born quarterback to start in the NFL, Rypien had been a longtime Redskins backup, watching the 1988 Super Bowl from the sidelines. He made the Pro Bowl in both 1989 and 1991, and he led the Redskins to the playoffs in 1992. After a knee injury in Game 2 of the 1993 season, he was a backup for the rest of his career. Like RGIII, Rypien also passed for more than 300 yards in his first NFL game.

Walter Iooss, Jr / Sports Illustrated

Doug Willliams — ‘WOW!’

"What A Super Day For Washington's Doug Williams,'' crowed SI in its Feb. 8, 1988, issue. Except that Williams had had a six-hour root canal a day earlier and played with his jaw wired shut. Nonetheless, the backup for most of the 1987 season directed a rout of Denver and John Elway in the Super Bowl, completing 18 of 29 passes for 340 yards (including four touchdown passes) in Washington's 42-10 victory. He was named the game's most valuable player. Injured the next season, he and Rypien competed for the job, but their support for each other set an example for the city. These days, Williams is coach at his alma mater, Grambling State.

John Biever / Sports Illustrated

Patrick Ewing — 'Rough, Tough and Terrific'

This March 19, 1984, cover was one of four featuring Ewing during his Georgetown years. And why not? The Hoyas reached the NCAA championship game three of the four years he attended, defeating the University of Houston for the 1983-84 title. He was so dominant that the NBA began a draft lottery to prevent teams from deliberately losing to get a better shot at signing Ewing. In the ultimate show of friendship, Ewing had offered to donate a kidney to ailing center Alonzo Mourning in 2000 (Mourning's cousin was found to be the best match).

Manny Millan / Sports Illustrated

John Riggins — 'The Skins Were Super'

The high-spirited running back — he once told Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to ''loosen up'' at a National Press Club event — represented the rambunctious Redskins of the era. He set an NFL record just before his Dec. 19, 1983, cover by scoring in 13 consecutive games. He scored 24 touchdowns that regular season, then a league record. But his biggest moment came the previous season, when he scored a late 43-yard touchdown to push the Redskins toward their first-ever Super Bowl victory. Retiring after the 1985 season with a bad back, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame seven years later. He also has worked as an actor on "One Tree Hill'' and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent.''

Andy Hayt / Sports Illustrated

Elvin Hayes — 'Close Call For the Champs'

Future Hall of Famers Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld led the Washington Bullets to three NBA finals and the 1978 championship over Seattle's SuperSonics. "Elvin Hayes Saves the Bullets,'' says the May 7, 1979, SI cover, following the team's come-from-behind push to a championship rematch with the Sonics. This time, however, the Sonics won. Hayes, a legendary college player with the University of Houston, made the NBA All-Star team 12 straight years.

Manny Millan / Sports Illustrated

Calvin Hill — 'The Redskins Shop for a Super Bowl'

Enormous buzz greeted free-agent Calvin Hill, one of several big-money signings by the Redskins in that era. Hill, a Yale grad, had helped lead Dallas to one Super Bowl victory and two NFC championships. Hill played two seasons for the Redskins as a backup running back and settled in Reston, Va. His son, Grant Hill, starred at Duke and has played in the NBA since 1994.

Neil Leifer / Sports Illustrated

Larry Brown — 'Washington Is a No. 1 power'

Unlike Hill, Larry Brown played exclusively for the Redskins. Then-Coach Vince Lombardi discovered that Brown was hearing impaired and reacted late to snaps; an earpiece inside his helmet did wonders. The Nov. 6, 1972, SI cover was prophetic: the running back was the NFL's MVP that year and led the Redskins to the Super Bowl against another ''No. 1 power'' — that year's never-defeated Miami Dolphins. A four-time Pro Bowl pick, Brown's career was cut short in 1976 after numerous injuries. He has been involved in many charitable activities in the Washington area over the years and has worked as a financial adviser and a restaurant owner and in commercial real estate.

Neil Leifer / Sports Illustrated

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

A protestor in a Guy Fawkes mask walks past razor wire outside a security perimeter of the G-8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland on Monday, June 17, 2013. The summit is taking place under heavy security, with some 7,000 police lining roads and checking vehicles. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Photos of the day

G-8 summit, massive protests rock Brazil, Britain’s Royal Ascot and more.

Two-year old male rat named Dyatlik wears a costume during a rodent exhibition in Minsk, Belarus, Saturday, June 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Animal views

Rodent exhibition, swimming with elephants, Mexico’s feline mayoral candidate and more.

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 14: Johnathon Carrington, valedictorian at Dunbar High School, laughs with family and friends after his school's graduation ceremony at Howard University on Friday, June 14, 2013, in Washington, DC. Carrington, who grew up in Tyler House public-housing apartments and is graduating from one of DC's low-performing high schoolsy, where academic expectations are high. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

Johnathon’s journey

Johnathon Carrington graduated Friday as the valedictorian of his neighborhood school, Dunbar High, and is headed to Georgetown University. But Carrington, 17, is nervous, and so are...

U.S. actress Sandra Bullock poses for the media during a photocall to promote her latest move 'The Heat' in Berlin June 18, 2013. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch (GERMANY - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT)

Eye on entertainment

Sandra Bullock, Jessica Sanchez, Snooki, Billy Porter, Billy Crystal, Sean Hayes, Gwen Stefani and other celebrities.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 16: Reenactors dressed as knights stage a medieval jousting competition at Eltham Palace on June 16, 2013 in Eltham, England. The 'Grand Medieval Joust' event at Eltham Palace, an English Heritage property which was the childhood home of King Henry VIII, aims to give a great insight into life at the palace during the medieval period. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

The Grand Medieval Joust

The Grand Medieval Joust at Eltham Palace, an English Heritage property that was the childhood home of King Henry VIII, aims to lend insight through reenactment into life at the palace...

In this June 8, 2013 photo, youth compete in the Sao Carlos slum local soccer tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The pitch is just dirt and the incandescent lights aren't so bright. But when the boys' feet strike the football in the Sao Carlos slum as night falls every Saturday, big league dreams glow, inflated by the hope of escaping the shantytown with sporting skills. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Brazil’s other soccer fields

With the Confederations Cup opening this week and the World Cup one year away, all eyes are on Brazil, where soccer is arguably played with more passion and art than anywhere else....

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 16: John F. Tatum Sr. hugs his grandson John F. Tatum III during his annual Father's Day block party on Sunday, June 16, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Amanda Voisard/For the Washington Post)

Father’s Day picnic in Northeast D.C.

A decades-old backyard barbecue in Northeast Washington draws hundreds in honor of dads everywhere. “It’s off-the-chain fun,” says Butch McNair, who has worked one...

LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 16: Miss Connecticut USA Erin Brady reacts after being crowned Miss USA during the 2013 Miss USA pageant at PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on June 16, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Miss USA 2013

Miss Connecticut USA Erin Brady is crowned Miss USA 2013 in Las Vegas.

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