WASHINGTON — The latest class of the D.C. Sports Hall of Fame was inducted on Sunday at Nationals Park before the Nats took on the Cincinnati Reds. Nine people were honored. One of the big names on that list was former Nats star Ryan Zimmerman.
The World Series champion was joined by former Maryland Terrapins basketball star Vicky Bullett, former Washington football General Manager Charley Casserly and former sportscaster Dave Johnson. We spoke with each of them about what the special honor means.
"Having this as a representation of your hard work at Maryland, and playing in the WNBA, and even spending time overseas for love of the game, it brings a lot of joy to me," Bullett said.
Casserly said he never thought he would be inducted.
"Certainly it's a dream come true. I didn't dare to dream it, is one way to look at it," he said.
Johnson said it meant a lot to be honored by his hometown.
"It hard to imagine. This is my hometown. This is my mom's hometown," he said.
Zimmerman acknowledged that the awards were not just for the stars on the field or the court, but all of those who make sports special in the District. He said he was honored and humbled to be included.
"When you look at the history of sports in this city, a lot of really awesome things have happened here. Obviously a ton of good players. Great executives, owners, journalists, broadcast people. It's a really cool group to be a part of because it's not just players, it's everybody that's been responsible for the rich sports history in this city," he said.
Here is the full list of 2024 inductees:
BRUCE BRADFORD: Widely respected and deeply revered for his coaching prowess and unlimited positivity as a health and physical education teacher, Bruce Bradford’s H.D. Woodson teams won DCPS swimming championships even when his pool had no water due to financial restraints. He also built a strong tennis program at Woodson and later oversaw all high school tennis programs in the District.
VICKY BULLETT: More than 30 years after she left College Park, Vicky Bullett is second only to fellow Terp Alyssa Thomas in career scoring average with 16.9 points per game and is tied for sixth in career rebounding with 8.5 per game. She powered Maryland to the NCAA tournament’s Elite Eight as a junior in 1988 and to the Final Four as a senior in 1989 when she was named the ACC Player of the Year. Bullett’s 21.4 points-per-game average during her senior season remains the Maryland single-season record.
CHARLEY CASSERLY: Starting as an unpaid intern to coach/general manager George Allen in 1977, Charley Casserly was a Washington football fixture for 22 years. He served as assistant general manager for seven years, including two Super Bowl champion seasons, and another decade as general manager, winning the Lombardi Trophy in 1991 with the team that finished with a 17-2 overall record. Casserly also had extensive sports broadcasting experience in Washington, appearing on local television shows for WUSA, WJLA, WTTG and Home Team Sports, as well as on WTOP and WJFK radio.
E.B. HENDERSON: A 2013 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and known as the father of Black basketball, E.B. Henderson learned to play the new sport of basketball early in the 20th century while a graduate student at Harvard and later introduced the game to African American students when he returned to his native Washington. Henderson founded the Eastern Board of Officials and organized the Interscholastic Athletic Association in 1905. A year later, he established the first scholastic conference, the Colored Public School Athletic League. Leading his teams as coach and center, his 1909-10 team, the YMCA 12th Streeters, won a tournament in New York to become the unofficial “Colored Basketball World Champions.” Henderson convinced Howard University to adopt the rest of the 12th Streeters to become its first varsity team, and he coached them to consecutive championships. Henderson also helped establish the Colored Citizens Protective League, which would later become the NAACP, in 1915. He wrote two volumes of “The Negro in Sports” (1939 and 1949) before retiring in 1954 after 28 years as director of health and physical education for Washington’s Black schools.
CHAMIQUE HOLDSCLAW: The No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 WNBA Draft, Chamique Holdsclaw spent the first six of her 11 pro seasons with the Washington Mystics, earning Rookie of the Year honors and becoming a five-time All-Star. During her time with the Mystics, Holdsclaw led the league in scoring in 2002 and rebounding in 2002 and 2003, was a three-time All-WNBA second-team selection and averaged 18.3 points and nine rebounds per game. A three-time NCAA national champion with the University of Tennessee (1996-98) and an Olympic gold medalist with Team USA in the Olympic Games Sydney 2000, she was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
DAVE JOHNSON: Arguably the area’s most popular and versatile sports voice, Dave Johnson has been associated with D.C. United since the team’s first season in 1996, including 17 seasons as its play-by-play television announcer, and served as the play-by-play radio broadcaster for the Washington Wizards since 1997. The National Sports Media Association’s D.C. Sportscaster of the Year in 2019, Johnson received an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2008 for best writing in recognition of his sports commentaries on WTOP, where he served as Sports Director and morning sports anchor from 1995-2022, his second stint with Washington’s top-rated news station that first began from 1990-1992. Johnson has won Emmys for his coverage of the Nationals and Capitals; has worked as a local sports television anchor; and has called high-profile events including a variety of college sports and soccer, including the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
EMIL “DUTCH” LEONARD: A right-handed pitcher whose 20-year career included nine seasons with the Washington Nationals (1938-46), Dutch Leonard is the second-winningest pitcher in Washington baseball history, behind only Walter Johnson. A four-time All-Star with Washington, he led a starting rotation of four knuckleballers in 1945 when the Nationals finished a game-and-a-half behind the American League champion Detroit Tigers. Baseball-Reference.com, using the most up-to-date baseball metrics, ranks Leonard as one of the top 100 starting pitchers in baseball history in terms of WAR, ranking higher than several National Baseball Hall of Famers. He started 251 games with Washington, recording 130 complete games and 23 shutouts.
EDDIE POPE: Considered by many soccer observers to be the greatest USMNT defender ever, Eddie Pope is recognized as one of D.C. United’s legendary stars. A stylish and intelligent force, Pope scored the golden goal in United’s first MLS Cup championship in the inaugural 1996 season, played 143 games for the team and won three MLS Cups while playing in Washington for the organization’s first seven seasons. Pope was a four-time MLS Best XI and won the league’s 1997 Defender of the Year Award. He was courted with offers from premier international football destinations but chose to stay and promote MLS in the United States. He was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2011.
RYAN ZIMMERMAN: After spending his entire 17-year career with the Washington Nationals, Ryan Zimmerman retired following the 2021 season and had his No. 11 retired in Washington the following year. A World Series champion in 2019, he was selected in the first round as the fourth overall pick by the Nationals in the 2005 MLB June Amateur Draft out of the University of Virginia and made his Major League debut later that year in the team’s inaugural season. Zimmerman was a stellar third baseman for the first 10 years of his career before excelling at first base. He was a two-time All-Star and was the recipient of one Gold Glove and two Silver Slugger awards.
TEAM OF DISTINCTION – 1983-84 GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY MEN’S BASKETBALL: Led by two DC Sports Hall of Fame inductees, legendary coach John Thompson and All-American center Patrick Ewing, Georgetown’s men’s basketball team won the 1984 NCAA national championship by defeating Hakeem Olajuwon and the University of Houston, 84-75, in a historic final game. Thompson became the first African American coach to win a Division I men’s basketball national title, and Ewing was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. After a one-point loss in the championship game two years earlier, the Hoyas were successful in their return to the Final Four with a stellar lineup that included guards David Wingate, Michael Jackson and Fred Brown along with forwards Reggie Williams and Bill Martin.