Baltimore County officials plan to repaint a giant orange “8” in a Towson intersection to honor local Olympic champion Michael Phelps’ gold medals Monday.
The numbers were painted at various county-owned intersections last year to commemorate Cal Ripken’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Officials said they would have been thrilled if Phelps won six gold medals — or even seven to match Mark Spitz’ record — but his grand total of eight conveniently matches Ripken’s Orioles uniform number.
“That obviously wouldn’t have come up if the number wasn’t eight medals,” said Ellen Kobler, a spokeswoman for County Executive Jim Smith.
Phelp’s mother, Debbie, will join Smith in repainting the “8” at the intersection of Pennsylvania and Baltimore Avenues in Towson. Kobler said the county plans to “spruce up” an orange “8” on Chesapeake Avenue to continue honoring Ripken. Several other orange “8s” remain throughout the county.
Ripken’s spokesman, John Maroon, said the baseball great is a big fan of the 23-year-old swimmer and is happy to share one of his “8s.”
“I think it’s ironic that the eights matched up, and I’m glad they are going to keep some of them orange,” Maroon said. “It’s a cool thing.”
On Thursday, Smith said he will present “keys to the county” to two other local Olympians: Katie Hoff, a Towson swimmer who captured one silver and two bronze medals in Beijing, and Jessica Long, a paralympian swimmer from Middle River who won four gold medals.
