Maryland Athletics 2024 Hall of Fame Spotlight: Jill Fisher-Galli

Jill Fisher thought her career as a gymnast was over after her sophomore year at UMass in 1999. 

The school’s program was falling apart, and Fisher-Galli began questioning her love for the sport she had been competing in since she was 5. The year prior, her lifelong idol Wendy Marshall was hired as an assistant coach at Maryland. Fisher-Galli’s prior relationship with her and her older sister Tammy Marshall played a role, and the gymnast finished her career as a Terp. 

“I ended up over there, and I was really proud to be there,” Fisher-Galli said. “I couldn't even believe it. It was almost like I got saved. I always felt so lucky that they trusted me to go there, chose me to have this spot and that they had this availability for me. I thought my career was over.”

Fisher-Galli didn’t just re-ignite her career as a gymnast in College Park. With her confident and energetic style, she set a precedent for Maryland gymnastics as an all-around competitor. The gymnast still holds program records in competition, where her excellence was particularly showcased on the floor exercise.  

Achieving an incredibly rare feat, Fisher-Galli, 45, will be inducted into the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 18 despite competing for just two seasons as a Terp. She will become one of just two Terps in the history of Maryland gymnastics to receive the honor. Fisher-Galli tossed and tumbled back in 2000-01 to a permanent spot amongst the best to ever compete in a varsity sport at the University of Maryland. 

“To see someone finish that way is amazing,” Bob “Duke” Nelligan, Fisher-Galli’s head coach at Maryland, said. “It's so rewarding as a coach. I appreciate the 10.0 floor routines, but seeing the joy as she accomplished her career and degree, that's more. It’s totally more as a reward for a coach and a fleeting moment. A floor routine is a minute and change. It doesn't sum up what she did at Maryland.”

Growing up on Long Island, Fisher-Galli started gymnastics very young. In her dance class, she pulled off cartwheels while everyone was doing ballerina turns and leaps. Her parents moved her to gymnastics, and she immediately fell in love with the sport. Fisher-Galli later became a Junior Olympic national floor champion in 1997, a Junior Olympic national beam champion in 1995 and a two-time Suffolk County champion competitor.  

Tammy Marshall, a distinguished member of the UMass Athletics Hall of Fame, coached Fisher-Galli throughout her youth. According to Nelligan, Fisher-Galli was a No. 1 recruit and could’ve gone to just about any college of her choosing. However, Fisher-Galli wanted to be like her instructor and committed to UMass.  

Fisher-Galli achieved immediate success at Massachusetts in 1998. She ended her freshman season with All-American honors. She was also an NCAA Northeast Regional floor champion and Atlantic-10 beam, floor and vault champion.

However, Fisher-Galli’s sophomore year took a drastic turn. The women’s gymnastics program at UMass began to disband. Fisher-Galli recalls competing in only a few competitions in 1999 with uncertainty for her and the program’s future in mind. 

Knowing Wendy Marshall had begun coaching at Maryland the year before, Fisher-Galli looked at Maryland as a potential school to transfer to. The Terps coincidentally had a scholarship spot open, but Marshall pushed Fisher-Galli to weigh all her options because she didn’t want to be the sole reason Fisher-Galli chose Maryland. 

“I didn’t want anyone to come to Maryland because I was there,” Marshall said. “I didn't want that to happen, so I really didn’t recruit her. I didn't push the issue. I would help her with all these other schools, but I wanted her to come here because she wanted to go to the University of Maryland.”

But Fisher-Galli couldn’t resist the opportunity of being able to compete for one of her idols. She became a Terp, and the NCAA granted her a waiver that overrode the rule at the time, requiring transfers to sit out and redshirt for a year because of how her career at UMass ended. 

Despite never scoring lower than a 9.9 on floor at UMass and even scoring a perfect 10 during one of her meets, Nelligan saw Fisher-Galli as someone who had yet to reach their full potential. Fisher-Galli was happy he and the Maryland coaching staff had taken a chance on her, but Nelligan knew Fisher-Galli would be a star. She just needed proper coaching and support around her. 

“We found ways of explaining to her that you have an internal clock,” Nelligan said. “You have a sense, and people have to trust that sense and encourage it. That was different for her at Maryland. One of the greatest parts of her being here was when her parents wrote a letter when she graduated, and they said, ‘We all sat back and held our breath because we were waiting for the other shoe to fall.’”

UMass officially eliminated women’s gymnastics and seven other sports in 2002. One year after Fisher-Galli wrapped up her two-year career with the Terps — two years highlighted by record-setting performances. 

As a junior in 2000, Fisher-Galli became the first Maryland gymnast in school history to score a perfect 10 in any event with her floor routine at the fifth-annual Governor's Cup in Towson, Md., on Feb. 4. She remains the only competitor to score a 10. Fisher-Galli followed her performance with a string of impressive scores on floor, earning the No. 1 ranking nationally in the event. 

Fisher-Galli ended her inaugural season in College Park with two All-East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) honors. She made the first team in the floor exercise and the second team on beam. She also became an EAGL floor champion with a record score of 9.975. The Terps placed third at the EAGL Championships and finished the season with the No. 21 national ranking. 

“She was a fierce competitor,” Sarah (Hoenig) Roesel, one of Fisher-Galli’s teammates growing up and at Maryland, said. “She went out there and gave it her all every time. She was a great person to look up to. … It was an unforgettable experience competing alongside her.”

Another teammate of Fisher-Galli at Maryland, Elize (Burke) Carson, shared a similar sentiment. “Above and beyond her natural talent, she brought in energy that was unsurpassed. She was amazing and entertaining to watch. I think she deserves the recognition for what she contributed to Maryland gymnastics.” 

Fisher-Galli greeted her senior year in 2001 with even more success. As a co-captain, she scored two more perfect 10s on floor. The first was against George Washington University at Maryland’s last home meet of the season on March 19. The second occurred at the EAGL Championships on March 25. Fisher-Galli was the first gymnast to record a 10 on floor at the EAGL Championships, defending her title from last season. The Terps placed second at the meet.  

The gymnast once again was named All-EAGL first team on floor and second team on beam. However, Fisher-Galli added All-American honors to her resume. She was also one of three NCAA championship individual competitors in 2001 after scoring a 9.9 on floor at regionals. Only two others in program history have since matched the score. Maryland ended the 2001 season ranked 14th nationally. 

“She learned how to be a standout within a team,” Marshall said. “Showcasing that, she was willing never to do all-around again. But there she was, doing all around and qualifying for nationals. She stepped up and was definitely a leader of the team and a motivator.”

Fisher-Galli had one final semester to complete before earning her degree at Maryland, so she decided to take a gap semester before promptly returning to school in 2003. While finishing up school, she met her future husband, Robert. 

Robert Fisher-Galli became a licensed pharmacist, and Jill helped him establish Carman Drugs, a traditional neighborhood pharmacy. The pair owns two locations on Long Island in Westbury and Carle Place. 

The pair has two children — Michael, 14, and Jaclyn, 15. When Jill first received the news that she would be inducted into the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame, she joked that she now had proof for her kids that she was a former star gymnast.

“I did more than I ever thought was a dream,” Fisher-Galli said. “It’s special to be recognized as a Hall of Famer, especially at Maryland. The time of my life was being there, being a Terp, being part of that campus and feeling like I was chosen to represent Maryland. It was always very special.”