Meet The Scheelers

The Fall 2022 issue of ONE MARYLAND Magazine recently arrived in the mailboxes of Terrapin Club members. ONE MARYLAND features stories of strength and perseverance, of determination and spirit. These stories define our athletics program, and this new magazine will allow us to share these stories with you. Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out these stories on umterps.com as a preview of what you will find in ONE MARYLAND. To receive future issues of the magazine when they debut, please join the Terrapin Club. We hope you enjoy.

Few people embody a Maryland family like Don and Laura Scheeler do.

Both sets of their parents were Terps who met at Maryland. Don and Laura met on campus as well. The couple's two children, Michael and Natalie, also attended Maryland. Michael attended his first Maryland tailgate at just six months old.

"Maryland is just home," Laura said. 

Laura's father, John Irvine, was a co-captain of the 1953 national championship football team. Her parents married in the Maryland chapel. And though she grew up just outside of Pittsburgh in Harmony, Pennsylvania, that didn't stop Laura and the rest of her family from making it to every Maryland football home game. They would bring their motorhome and tailgate in Lot 1 and then rush home to make it back for Pittsburgh Steelers games. 

When it was time for Laura and her sister to apply to colleges themselves, there was no debate.

"We were raised loving Maryland," Laura said. "We didn't even apply to any other schools. There was no question we were going to go there."

"As soon as we were accepted, we got a membership into the Terrapin Club," she added.

Don had a similar upbringing. A Towson native, he grew up around all types of Maryland sporting events. Some of his earliest memories include freshmen basketball games and traveling as far as Honolulu for Terrapin basketball games. His mother even gifted his father with a Terrapin Club membership as an anniversary gift in 1953. 

"It really runs deep from that perspective," Don said. "I basically grew up in Lot One and Z."

Even Don's birth story has Maryland sports all over it.

"My parents like to say I was born at kickoff on Oct. 14, 1961 during the Maryland and UNC game," he said. "They were heading to the game and I delayed their departure."

Laura and Don met in an elevator on campus and were friends for a few years before it developed into a romance. 

In 1990, it made sense for the married couple to dive deeper into their love for the University of Maryland, and they officially joined the Terrapin Club. 

"The Terrapin Club was something we could get excited about in terms of the sports, but also in terms of giving back to the student-athletes who in a lot of cases don't have the opportunity for this type of education without the financial assistance," Don said. 

"Even though I lived in Pittsburgh, I feel like I grew up on (Maryland's) campus," Laura added. "We always want to go back and support and do anything we can to help the students be successful."

Terrapin Club members for 32 years, the couple is Director's Circle members. Don is a past president of the Terrapin Club Board, and Laura is a current UMCP Foundation Board of Trustees member. 

"We've been able to meet similar, like-minded folks who have the same passion for Maryland and the same passion for providing a first-class, quality education for all of our students, but particularly our student-athletes," Don said.

The pair has also been able to form relationships with numerous student-athletes.

"We've met kids there who are basically our kids at this point as well," Don said.

"Maryland means a lot to my parents and the reason it means so much to them is because of the student-athletes," Natalie added. "They care so much about the kids and really want them to succeed not only at the University of Maryland, but more so beyond Maryland." 

When it was time for Michael and Natalie to choose a college, the Scheeler parents took a hands-off approach and didn't force the Maryland route—their children decided to become Terps on their own. 

"Our kids made those decisions themselves because they grew up like we did and really wanted to be there," Don said. "This school isn't right for everyone, but it's right for so, so many people."

"It was a home away from home for us," Michael added. "We were so familiar with every stadium, parking lot, every spot on campus. We definitely never needed a map."

Michael and Natalie were recently recognized as Terrapin Club 30 Under 30, and both have been Terrapin Club Young Alumni board members for multiple years. 

"We realized through seeing what our parents have done that there is more to giving back than just writing a check," Michael said. "We're stuck with Maryland for life, so it's important to do what we can to help the school and the players."

"Growing up knowing what the Terrapin Club actually did, I recognized that's a huge part of getting athletes who want to go to Maryland to the school with the help of scholarships," Natalie said. "I was always drawn to being a part of that even when I was still in college." 

While at Maryland, Michael played lacrosse for the Terps and was part of multiple Final Four runs. 

"I did have a shorter official visit than most people because they knew how much I had been on campus," Michael joked.

In addition to the bonding experiences with the other parents and the chance to watch their son suit up for a National Championship game in M&T Bank Stadium, the Scheelers also got to see the true definition of what it means to be a Maryland student-athlete.

"It opened up a totally different aspect of Maryland that I was aware of, but didn't have an insight too," Don said. "The support that Maryland provides the student-athletes, the work the student-athletes have to do athletically and in the classroom, it's an amazing amount. The support is most necessary and dollars need to go to that."

In recent years, the Scheelers have not only worked with the Terrapin Club but also with other support organizations throughout the University. For example, Don sat on the board of the University System of Maryland Foundation, where he worked to broaden access to high-quality higher education through grants and scholarships. He also partners with the C.D. Mote, Jr. Incentive Awards Program, which helps economically disadvantaged students in Baltimore City and Prince George's and Montgomery counties get full scholarships plus additional assistance to get through the four years of college. 

"That's what Laura and I have been working very hard on for the last decade," Don said. "We need to do that with Baltimore and PG county schools to allow those kids the opportunities that I was born into because of the zip code I was born into."

For the Scheelers, that type of work is the true meaning of Maryland Pride.

"Maryland Pride obviously contains the flagship school, all the sporting events, but Maryland is much larger than College Park," Don said. "Maryland Pride is doing what's necessary to pick the communities up around us to make us all better, and that's what we're doing here." 

The Scheelers couldn't be prouder to be a part of it and a part of everything the school stands for. 

"We have a great school," Laura said. "It means a lot to us, it means a lot to our kids. Ninety percent of Don's wardrobe has Maryland on it somewhere. Any conversation we have anywhere we go, we always get into the University of Maryland. We're just really proud to be a part of it all."