RAMBLER FEATURE: Carl Sell Honored as Fairfax County Community Champion

By Daniel Bearth

Carl Sell, president of the Rose Hill Civic Association and a long-time advocate for youth sports, parks and recreation and historic preservation in Fairfax County, was recognized as a 2023 Community Champion in a ceremony May 10 at the Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center in Fairfax, Va.

Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk nominated Carl for the Volunteer Service Award and praised his work over six decades as a youth baseball coach, community organizer and representative of Lee District (now Franconia) for the Fairfax County Park Authority and Fairfax County Planning   Commission.

“He has made many outstanding contributions resulting in the preservation of our district’s history, expansion of our parks and development of our neighborhoods,” Lusk said. “Because of Carl’s servant leadership, his work will continue to positively impact our residents for decades to come.”

Carl was a sportswriter and editor at the Evening Star newspaper in Washington, D.C. when he began coaching baseball in the early 1960s. He helped to expand the Pioneer Baseball League, coached the first female to play organized youth baseball in Fairfax County and extended opportunities for black youths to play.

While serving at the Park Authority, Sell oversaw the acquisition of an abandoned gravel pit that would become the site of Franconia Park and Rec Center. And in 1975, working with Supervisor Joe Alexander and Sen. Harry F. Byrd of Virginia, he helped negotiate a transfer of federally owned land to create Huntley Meadows Park and a nationally recognized wetland.

As a member of the Planning Commission, one of the major   accomplishments was the planning and rezoning of another former gravel pit for what is now the large and thriving community of Kingstowne.

Carl is an author of several books about the Civil War and serves as chairman of the Franconia Museum.