Kevin Plank, founder of Under Armour, grew up in Kensington. He is the youngest of five brothers born to William and Jayne Plank. His father was a prominent real estate developer who passed away in 1993. A local project of his was the Al Marah subdivision off River Road, just off of exit 39 on the Beltway. His mother was the mayor of Kensington for 8 years, from 1974-1982. She went on to direct the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs at the United States Department of State under President Ronald Reagan, and was a real estate broker until the early 2000s.
Plank grew up playing youth football with the Maplewood Sports Association (photo below). He even featured a Maplewood team in an Under Armour commercial. While growing up in Kensington, Plank has mentioned that one of his favorite places to eat was Continental– a family owned and operated restaurant that has been serving the Kensington community since 1957. Plank attended Georgetown Preparatory School, but left the school due to poor academic performance and behavioral issues. According to Forbes, he was thrown out of private high school after failing two classes and for his part in what Forbes described as a “drunken brawl” with football players from Georgetown University.
