Black attainments in music and athletics, so visible at a national level, find winning echoes in Sandy Spring. Out of Brighton, for example, came Benny Waters, who for most of his 90-plus years has played the alto saxophone and clarinet to standing-ovation audiences in Europe and America. Local black baseball players, long limited by the color barrier, enjoyed brushes with the big leagues by playing sandlot and Negro League baseball. Robert H. Hill played second base and, in travels with the Sandy Spring All-Stars, became a friend of Jackie Robinson. One of the All-Stars' superstars was Russell Awkard, who moved up to play with two teams of the National Negro League. "I would have liked a shot at the major leagues," he once said. "I think I could have played at that level. I wouldn't have been an outstanding player, but I think I could have been an average player. I guess I'll never know."

The Sandy Spring Melody Makers gained regional fame in the 1930s and '40s as a cappella singers of gospel and spirituals. They are, from left, standing: Richard Love, John Hopkins, Richard Hill, and Robert H. Hill; seated, Vernon Hill, William Bishop, and Bernard Hill. Robert H. Hill also sang with William and Charles Campbell and Sunn Jackson in the Harmony Four Quartet. In1935 it became the first all-black vocal group to sing on radio, on a now-defunct station in Frederick.