Washington, D.C. – Six area natives, including basketball greats Len Bias, Grant Hill and Walt Williams, a Washington Capitals record-setting player and franchise-saving executive and perhaps the greatest players at their respective positions for DC United and the Washington Senators have been selected for induction into the Washington DC Sports Hall of Fame. The 10 honorees will be inducted in a special ceremony on Sunday, May 6 at Nationals Park prior to the 1:35 p.m. game between the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies.
 
The 2018 DC Sports Hall of Fame class includes longtime sports statistician Marty Aronoff, late University of Maryland basketball star Bias, Capitals scoring great Peter Bondra, popular broadcaster Steve Buckhantz, South Lakes High School-Duke University-NBA luminary Hill, legendary DC United striker Jaime Moreno, excellent hitting Senators second baseman Buddy Myer, former Capitals General Manager David Poile, former Washington Tennis and Education Foundation Executive Director Eleni Rossides, and Maryland basketball standout Williams.
 
“This year’s outstanding group of inductees consists of extraordinary individuals who have achieved excellence in sports here in the Nation’s Capital and includes six who come from this area,” said DC Sports Hall of Fame committee chairman Bobby Goldwater. “It will be a privilege to add these 10 names to the Sports Hall of Fame honor roll on May 6 at the induction ceremony at Nationals Park.  The committee is grateful once again for the generous and enthusiastic support of Mark Lerner and the Washington Nationals.”
 
The DC Sports Hall of Fame selection committee includes co-chairmen emeritus and veteran D.C. sports executives Charlie Brotman and Andy Ockershausen, former radio and TV reporter/producer Brenda J. Curtis-Heiken, journalist David Elfin, Georgetown University Sports Industry Management master’s program faculty member and sports industry consultant Bobby Goldwater, NBC Sports Washington anchor/commentator Chick Hernandez, attorney Phil Hochberg, Washington Nationals vice chairman and principal owner Mark D. Lerner, Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism Director at the University of Maryland George Solomon, attorney Mark Tuohey, radio and television personality and former Washington Redskins tight end Rick “Doc” Walker, baseball commentator and historian Phil Wood and former Comcast SportsNet managing editor and Merrill College visiting professor Joe Yasharoff.
 
Nominees for inclusion must have gained prominence in the Washington area through their achievements in sports as an athlete, coach, owner, executive, member of the media or contributor.
 
The 2018 inductees:
 
MARTY ARONOFF: A longtime District resident and the nation’s guru for sports statistics, Aronoff has worked for over 40 years with the best broadcasters in sports including Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Football League and college football and basketball. He has been a statistician for the Washington Wizards franchise since 1979. A graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School in D.C., Aronoff began in the industry on Bullets telecasts before becoming a sports producer at Channel 9 in Washington.
 
LEN BIAS (1963-1986): One of the all-time great basketball players in University of Maryland and ACC history, Bias set 15 school records and is still the third-leading scorer in school history. A two-time ACC Player of the Year, he led the Terps to four NCAA tournaments and the 1984 ACC championship. He was chosen second overall in the 1986 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics just before his untimely death at 22 years old.
 
PETER BONDRA: One of the Washington Capitals’ all-time greats, Bondra led the team to numerous playoff appearances, including the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals. Over the course of 14 years with the Capitals, Bondra racked up 472 goals as well as holding team records in power play goals (137), game-winning goals (73), short-handed goals (32) and hat tricks (19). A five-time NHL All-Star and two-time goal-scoring champion, Bondra is one of 45 players who scored 500 career goals.
 
STEVE BUCKHANTZ: A staple in Washington sports broadcasting, Buckhantz has been the television play-by-play announcer of the Washington Wizards for the past 21 years, was a sports anchor for Channel 5 and was the Navy football voice for seven years. In his 33 years in D.C., he has memorably added the terms “dagger,” “backbreaker” and “not possible” into the local sports lexicon. Buckhantz was elected into the NATAS Silver Circle in 2011 and, for 18 years, has been the spokesperson for the Steve Buckhantz/St. Jude Celebrity Golf Tournament benefiting Children’s Hospital in Memphis, TN.
 
GRANT HILL: A Reston native, Hill starred in basketball at South Lakes High School, and then at Duke University where he was a two-time NCAA champion, the 1994 ACC Player of the Year and two-time All-American. He went on to a successful career in the NBA, including six seasons for Detroit averaging 21.6 points per game, being a co-Rookie of the Year and becoming a seven-time NBA All-Star. He also was a member of the United States Olympic gold medal-winning team in 1996. Hill is now a television commentator and a part-owner of the Atlanta Hawks.
 
JAIME MORENO: A premier striker for DC United, Moreno is considered one of the greatest players in Major League Soccer history. He is one of only two MLS athletes with 100 goals and 100 assists and scored the fourth-most goals in league history. A four-time MLS Cup champion with United, Moreno was the MLS Cup MVP in 1997 and was named to the MLS Best XI five times. He retired as the league’s all-time leading scorer.
 
CHARLES SOLOMON “BUDDY” MYER (1904-1974): A member of the Washington Senators in 16 seasons from 1925 to 1941, Myer finished his career with 2,131 hits and a .303 career batting average, with eight seasons hitting above .300 with the Senators including leading the American League with a .349 average in 1935. The left-handed hitting second baseman was twice named an All-Star and helped lead the Senators to the 1933 AL pennant.
 
DAVID POILE: Poile’s 15-year tenure as General Manager of the Washington Capitals transformed the team from also-rans to contenders. His strategic trades, shrewd draft picks and strong leadership saved the franchise from relocating, and renewed Washington-area fans’ interest in hockey. He led the Capitals to the first playoff appearance in their ninth season and to the postseason for 14 consecutive years.  Poile currently is the GM of the Nashville Predators, and is the winningest general manager in NHL history.
 
ELENI ROSSIDES: A District native and a graduate of Sidwell Friends, Rossides brought honor to her hometown as an NCAA tennis champion at Stanford University and as a professional singles player who was ranked among the world’s top 200 women. She also played a critical role in bringing her sport to the city as the Executive Director of the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation. During her 13-year tenure at WTEF, she extended the organization’s outreach to nearly twice as many children in the area and was honored with the 2009 EXCEL Leadership Award recognizing outstanding nonprofit leadership.
 
WALT WILLIAMS: A native of Temple Hills, Williams was widely credited with saving the University of Maryland men’s basketball program, deciding to stay when the school was placed on NCAA probation. During his senior year, he averaged a school record 26.8 points per game, scored 20 or more points in 19 straight games and broke Bias’s senior scoring record. He was selected seventh overall by Sacramento in the 1992 NBA Draft and went on to play in the league for 11 years. In honor of his father, Williams established a $125,000 fund at Maryland benefiting minority students.
 
The names of DC Sports Hall of Fame inductees are prominently displayed at Nationals Park, the site of the annual induction ceremony. Information about the DC Sports Hall of Fame, including the honor roll of all inductees, is available at the organization’s website, dcsportshall.com. 
 
Contact for Washington DC Sports Hall of Fame:
Bobby Goldwater
bobbygoldwater@gmail.com
(202) 330-9270
 
Contact for Washington Nationals:
Christopher Browne
christopher.browne@nationals.com
(202) 640-7702

​By Phil Hochberg

Bob Wolff died last week at his home in South Nyack, NY, having worked right up to the very end of his 77-year career as a sportscaster and his 96-year lifetime as a gentleman. Guinness lists his career as the longest ever for a sportscaster. Inducted into the Washington Sports Hall of Fame in 2012, he was localy noted primarily for his years a s the radio and television play-by-play announcer for the Senators from 1947 through 1960. Bob left with the Senators to go to Minneapolis for the 1961 season, but then joined NBC full time where he was its lead sports announcer for years. He did the radio play-by-play of two of the greatest games in sports history: Don Larsen’s 1956 World series perfect game and the first sudden death NFL Championship game, where the Colts beat the Giants in 1958. Bob also was the only man to do championship games in the NBA and the NHL. He spent the rest of his career in New York with Madison Square Garden and Cablevision, writing and announcing “think pieces” until the very end.

I last saw Bob, a member of baseball and basketball’s Halls of Fame (Broadcasting wings) this past February when my son Jeff and I visited him and his wife Jane at their home in South Nyack. I had known him for nearly 60 years and had promised to visit him when in New YOrk. When I was a junior at Wilson High School in Washington, my friend Dick Heller— who later went on to a newspaper career in D.C.— happened to mention me that he had done some “go-fer” work for Bob, but that he no longer wanted t o do it. He suggested I call Bob and ask if I could step into Dick’s shoes. Bob lived almost around the corner, right off Linnean Avenue near Rock Creek Park and I walked over to his house and went to the ball game with him. For the next year, I used to go to games with him, doing whatever he needed, including spotting for him. A testament to his approach to broadcasting, he always had someone by his side, listening to his broadcast, correcting him when necessary and passing him notes. When the writers from the Washington Daily News, the ones he usually used and paid $10 to do it, werent’ available, I filled in. You can imagine what this was like for a 16-year-old kid. For me, that lasted a year until Bob— no fool he— hired Shirley Povich’s son Maury to work for him in 1958. 

Memories? Too many. I helped script is 6 p.m. sportscast on WWDC. I was with Bob when he interviewed a “government employee” at one game, Vice President Richard Nixon. And I was there when he did many of his “Dugout Chatter” interviews, including a famous one with a generally disinterested Ted Williams. And I sat in the dugout only a couple of feet away from Ty Cobb as he was being questioned by the press. (Why didn’t I have the presence of mind to get a ball autographed by Cobb?)

Bob and I maintained the association and the friendship as the years passed. I helped him get an assignment from the National Hockey League and I had continuing contact with his younger son, Rick, on behalf of a client of mine. Seven years ago, I proposed to the Nationals that they honor Bob by having him throw out the first pitch in a game. Stan Kasten, then President of the Nationals, did me one better, by producing a video of Bob’s career, honoring him before the game, and naming the Radio-TV booth for him. That led to an inquiry from the Library of Congress about Bob’s collection of tapes and discs of interviews that he had done in his 70-plus year career, which in turn led to Bob and his family asking me to handle the Library negotiations and the tax and personal estate issues which were involves. Those negotiations went on for a year, finally culminating in a 2013 ceremony at the Library and a huge article about the Bob Wolff Collection going to the Library of Congress on the front page of The New York Times Sports Section.

Bob’s last trip to D.C. was for a Smithsonian appearance in September 2014 that I moterated with about 150 baseball fans, listening to him reminisce. The first inquiry from the audience asked Bob if he thought the final pitch to Dale Mitchell in Larsen’s World Series perfect game was actually outside (some fans never forget!). 

When I graduated from Wilson in January 1598, Bob and Jane gave me a stadium blanket as a gift; I still have it along with many fond recollections.
​
Phil Hochberg, a Washington, D.C., attorney, is a member of the selection committee of the D.C. Sports Hall of Fame.

By Alex Holt

​
 
July 9, 2017 was a day to remember for nine Washington, D.C. Sports Hall of Fame inductees at Nationals Park. Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Katie Ledecky (represented by her family), retired NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and nationally renowned sports columnist and radio-television commentator Tony Kornheiser were inducted into the club.
 
Joining them were University of Maryland basketball icons Tom McMillen, Juan Dixon and Brenda Frese, local broadcasting luminaries Glenn Harris and Ron Weber. Retired Washington Redskins defensive back and kick returner Mike Nelms rounded out the nine-member class honored before the Washington Nationals’ game against the Atlanta Braves.
 
Ledecky was unable to attend the ceremony, as she was training for the FINA World Championships in Budapest later in July. Instead, her brother Michael represented the Bethesda native and accepted on behalf of the Ledecky family.
 
“It’s such an honor to represent Katie. The D.C. area means so much to us,” said Michael Ledecky. “We both grew up in this area our whole lives and watched and interacted with a lot of the honorees here today -- and on that big poster (wall) outside Nationals Park (with the names of previous inductees) as well.”
 
Weber, who called the Washington Capitals’ games from the franchise’s inception in 1974 to his retirement in 1997, was grateful but also “a little surprised” to receive the call for induction into the Hall.
 
“Twenty years into retirement, I thought I was sort of forgotten. I understood that; I wasn’t bitter,” said Weber.  “But to be selected-- what an honor.”
 
Nelms said he was humbled to be recognized by the Hall -- so far out from his retirement.
 
“It was a surprise and an honor to receive something so late after having retired 80 years ago,” joked Nelms, who actually retired in 1984. “I say it’s not really for me, it’s for the guys (on special teams) because special teams don’t really get a lot of attention.”

It was also University of Maryland Day at Nationals Park and the Terrapins were represented in this year’s class. Dixon, who helped the Terrapins win their only national title in men’s basketball as a player in 2002, and Frese, who coached the Terrapins to a national championship in 2006, had to miss the ceremony due to prior commitments. But McMillen was on hand to represent the university.    
 
McMillen said that basketball wasn’t nearly as popular in Washington or for that matter, in College Park, when he arrived at the University of Maryland in 1970.
 
“With coach (Lefty) Driesell’s leadership, it became really ascendant so it was fun kind of getting something off the ground,” McMillen said. “I think the greatness of a program is that it can continue to grow and continue to build a tradition. I think that was one of the fun reasons why I came to Maryland in the first place, to kind of get something like that started.”
 
Kornheiser said induction into the Hall was particularly meaningful for him because recognition wasn’t as common for him as some of the other inductees.
 
“Maybe there are a lot of people here who’ve been in a lot of Halls of Fame, I’m not one of those,” Kornheiser said. “It’s very pleasant to have anyone to just say, ‘look at what you’ve done and we’re just going to thank you for it.’  It’s really nice.”
 
Long before Tagliabue became commissioner of the NFL, he was  captain of the men’s basketball team at Georgetown University, where the career rebounds record he’d set would later be broken by Patrick Ewing. So he was particularly pleased to receive a Washington, D.C.-related honor.
​
“Being recognized in your hometown is a unique thing and D.C. is basically my hometown,” said Tagliabue. “I came here in 1958 as a freshman at Georgetown on a basketball scholarship and I’ve been here basically ever since then. That’s 60 years  --  so you get recognition not just from family but from friends and neighbors that you’ve been living with for 60 years. It’s special.”
 

By Alex Holt
​
The Washington D.C. Sports Hall of Fame induction,   July 9,  at Nationals Park,   will recognize  nine honorees well-known to sports fans, including former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue,  Olympic champion swimmer Katie Ledecky and Pardon-The-Interruption co-host Tony Kornheiser.

Others to be honored are former Maryland basketball stars Juan Dixon and  Tom McMillen,  Maryland Women’s Basketball Coach Brenda Frese,  retired Washington  Redskin Mike Nelms  and retired  broadcasters Glenn Harris and Ron Weber.  

For sure, all  the honorees  this year will remember the moment,   as do many of the previous inductees.  Those past  inductees have come from sports as varied as field hockey and football, disciplines as different as agents and executives,  and almost every single branch of media. And each honoree  -- with some identity  to Washington, D.C. and its suburbs --    is linked not just by their accomplishments but by the recognition of the rarefied company.

Take Bob Molloy, for example. Over the course of 47 years coaching  high school football at Good Counsel, Springbrook,   Sherwood  and Walt Whitman,   Milloy’s teams won a Maryland record 405 games and eight state public school championships. Yet the thing that stood out most to Milloy,  who retired at the end of the 2017 school year,  when he was inducted into the Hall in 2016 was the quality of his fellow inductees.

“It was the thrill of a lifetime for me to have my name associated with the greatest professional athletes, college athletes, coaches and reporters that are in that hall of fame”, Milloy said. “I never expected it, I’m very proud to be in it and it was really a thrill.”

Morgan Wootten’s certainly no stranger to halls of fame, currently standing as one of only three high school coaches ever to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. Yet the coach who turned Hyattsville-based DeMatha Catholic High School into a nationally recognized basketball powerhouse seemed equally proud to be honored by his fellow local legends in 2011.

“You name the sport, we got it here in Washington and it’s not only the capital of the country, it’s like the sports capital of the country too,” Wootten said. “So it was certainly a great honor to have my name mentioned along with so many outstanding coaches and players and so on that were inducted.”

Wootten’s sentiment is also echoed by another coaching legend,   Lefty Driesell,    whose success at the University of Maryland  has earned him widespread recognition.    
“Every Hall of Fame I’m in means a lot to me. And Washington, D.C.’s the capital of the United States so that makes it even more important”, said Driesell, who helped put Maryland on the map nationally in college basketball during his time at College Park.   “It (his induction)  was a great honor.”

The Hall honored another University of Maryland mainstay, Terrapins field hockey coach, Missy Meharg,  in 2016. In Meharg’s 29 years at Maryland, the Terrapins have made the NCAA tournament 27 times and won over 500 games and seven national titles. But when Meharg entered the Hall, she was  awestruck.

“What a complete honor to walk with the D.C. region’s best of the best in sports”, said Meharg. “Looking at the wall of outrageous past honorees while being escorted onto the field at Nationals Park felt like “Field of Dreams” and “Game Day” all at once.

Johnny Holliday has called over 1,200 different University of Maryland football and basketball games since 1979 and served as the Washington Nationals’ studio host since 2008. But when he got the call from the Hall in 2014, he could hardly believe it.

“I was absolutely blown away and somewhat shocked that I would be selected to be put amongst some of the great names in Washington sports,” Holliday said. “It really humbles you to see your name with any of the people on the wall  at Nationals Park. I was absolutely thrilled beyond words and caught completely off guard.”

Last year’s induction  ceremony  honored the late Hymie and Phil Perlo – D.C. sports legends of  the 1940’s and 1950’s.  Aviva Perlo,  Hymie’s  niece and Phil’s daughter,  remembers the moment in 2016.  “The induction of the Perlo brothers marks the awesome legacy, honor and responsibility that it means to be a Perlo.”

One of the reasons so many of the D.C. Sports Hall of Fame’s inductees are so humbled by their induction, according to Hall chairman Bobby Goldwater, is because the D.C. area has such a rich sports history.

“There’s a great sports history and tradition in the nation’s capital”, said Goldwater. “And I think it’s very clear that anyone who has had any kind of connection to sports in this area has been affected by being here.”



​

By Alex Holt
​
The Washington D.C. Sports Hall of Fame induction, July 9, at Nationals Park, will recognize  nine honorees well-known to sports fans, including former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue,  Olympic champion swimmer Katie Ledecky and Pardon-The-Interruption co-host Tony Kornheiser.

Others to be honored are former Maryland basketball stars Juan Dixon and Tom McMillen, Maryland Women’s Basketball Coach Brenda Frese, retired Washington  Redskin Mike Nelms  and retired  broadcasters Glenn Harris and Ron Weber. 

For sure, all the honorees  this year will remember the moment, as do many of the previous inductees. Those past  inductees have come from sports as varied as field hockey and football, disciplines as different as agents and executives,  and almost every single branch of media. And each honoree  -- with some identity to Washington, D.C. and its suburbs -- is linked not just by their accomplishments but by the recognition of the rarefied company.
 
Take Bob Molloy, for example. Over the course of 47 years coaching  high school football at Good Counsel, Springbrook, Sherwood and Walt Whitman, Milloy’s teams won a Maryland record 405 games and eight state public school championships. Yet the thing that stood out most to Milloy,  who retired at the end of the 2017 school year, when he was inducted into the Hall in 2016 was the quality of his fellow inductees.

“It was the thrill of a lifetime for me to have my name associated with the greatest professional athletes, college athletes, coaches and reporters that are in that hall of fame,” Milloy said. “I never expected it, I’m very proud to be in it and it was really a thrill.”
 
Morgan Wootten’s certainly no stranger to halls of fame, currently standing as one of only three high school coaches ever to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. Yet the coach who turned Hyattsville-based DeMatha Catholic High School into a nationally recognized basketball powerhouse seemed equally proud to be honored by his fellow local legends in 2011.

“You name the sport, we got it here in Washington and it’s not only the capital of the country, it’s like the sports capital of the country too,” Wootten said. “So it was certainly a great honor to have my name mentioned along with so many outstanding coaches and players and so on that were inducted.”
 
Wootten’s sentiment is also echoed by another coaching legend, Lefty Driesell, whose success at the University of Maryland  has earned him widespread recognition.  
 
“Every Hall of Fame I’m in means a lot to me. And Washington, D.C.’s the capital of the United States so that makes it even more important,” said Driesell, who helped put Maryland on the map nationally in college basketball during his time at College Park. “It (his induction) was a great honor.”

The Hall honored another University of Maryland mainstay, Terrapins field hockey coach, Missy Meharg, in 2016. In Meharg’s 29 years at Maryland, the Terrapins have made the NCAA tournament 27 times and won over 500 games and seven national titles. But when Meharg entered the Hall, she was  awestruck.

“What a complete honor to walk with the D.C. region’s best of the best in sports,” said Meharg. “Looking at the wall of outrageous past honorees while being escorted onto the field at Nationals Park felt like “Field of Dreams” and “Game Day” all at once.
 
Johnny Holliday has called over 1,200 different University of Maryland football and basketball games since 1979 and served as the Washington Nationals’ studio host since 2008. But when he got the call from the Hall in 2014, he could hardly believe it.

“I was absolutely blown away and somewhat shocked that I would be selected to be put amongst some of the great names in Washington sports,” Holliday said. “It really humbles you to see your name with any of the people on the wall at Nationals Park. I was absolutely thrilled beyond words and caught completely off guard.”

Last year’s induction ceremony honored the late Hymie and Phil Perlo – D.C. sports legends of the 1940’s and 1950’s. Aviva Perlo,  Hymie’s niece and Phil’s daughter,  remembers the moment in 2016. “The induction of the Perlo brothers marks the awesome legacy, honor and responsibility that it means to be a Perlo.”
 
One of the reasons so many of the D.C. Sports Hall of Fame’s inductees are so humbled by their induction, according to Hall chairman Bobby Goldwater, is because the D.C. area has such a rich sports history.

“There’s a great sports history and tradition in the nation’s capital,” said Goldwater. “And I think it’s very clear that anyone who has had any kind of connection to sports in this area has been affected by being here.”