Ryan Zimmerman headlines D.C. Sports Hall of Fame’s 2024 class

The other honorees in this year’s class include former H.D. Woodson swimming coach Bruce Bradford, D.C. basketball pioneer E.B. Henderson, longtime D.C. United and Washington Wizards play-by-play man Dave Johnson, former Washington Senators pitcher Emil “Dutch” Leonard and former D.C. United defender Eddie Pope.

Zimmerman spent his entire career in Washington after the Nationals made the former Virginia standout the team’s first draft pick in 2005. The two-time all-star and 2019 World Series champion retired before the 2022 season as the Nationals’ all-time leader in home runs (284), hits (1,846), RBI (1,061) and games played (1,799). Later that year, he became the first National to have his number retired.

Casserly began his career in Washington in 1977 as an unpaid intern for then-Redskins Coach George Allen. He went on to serve as Bobby Beathard’s assistant general manager for seven years, during which Washington won two Super Bowls. When Beathard resigned in 1989, owner Jack Kent Cooke tapped Casserly as his successor. Washington won a third Super Bowl after the 1991 season. Casserly spent four seasons as the GM for the expansion Houston Texans before becoming an NFL analyst.

Bullett averaged a Maryland single-season best 21.4 points as a senior in 1988-89, when she was named ACC player of the year and helped lead the Terps to the Final Four. A member of the United States’ gold medal-winning Olympic team in 1988, Bullett played three seasons for the WNBA’s Charlotte Sting before being traded to the Mystics in 2000. In Washington, she teamed with Holdsclaw, who was the No. 1 pick in the 1999 WNBA draft after a standout career at Tennessee that included three national titles. Holdsclaw, a six-time WNBA all-star, was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.

“The combination of athletes, coaches and contributors in this year’s class collectively showcase a diversity of achievement and representation that we are proud to honor,” Bobby Goldwater, the selection committee chairman for the D.C. Sports Hall of Fame,” said in a statement.

Bradford led what was perennially one of the District’s top swimming programs at H.D. Woodson for more than 30 years, despite the high school’s deficient facilities. Some seasons, his team had to travel across town just to practice when its pool was shut down.

Henderson, who is known as the “Grandfather of Black Basketball,” introduced the sport to Black students in his native D.C. in 1907 after learning to play as a graduate student at Harvard. Henderson raised money for the District’s first YMCA building for Blacks, which opened on 12th Street Northwest in 1912, and devoted the rest of his career to promoting the game. Henderson, who died in 1977 at 93, was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

Johnson has called D.C. United games since the team’s inception in 1996 and has been the beloved play-by-play voice — and “Radio Party” host — for the Wizards since 1997. Johnson, who served as sports director and morning sports anchor at WTOP from 1995-2022, was named the 2019 D.C. Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.

Leonard pitched nine of his 20 major league seasons with the Senators from 1938 to 1946. The right-handed knuckleballer was a four-time all-star with Washington and retired as the second-winningest pitcher in franchise history behind Walter Johnson.

Pope made 143 appearances for D.C. United from 1996 to 2002 and helped the club win three MLS Cup titles. The U.S. men’s national team defender, who appeared in three World Cups, scored the golden goal on a header in to clinch D.C.’s first championship in its inaugural season. He was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2011.

The 1983-84 Hoyas, led by D.C. Sports Hall of Fame inductees Thompson and Patrick Ewing, as well as David Wingate and Reggie Williams, defeated Hakeem Olajuwon’s Houston Cougars to win the school’s first national title. They join their fellow D.C. champion Bullets (1978), Capitals (2018), Mystics (2019), Nationals (2019) and Spirit (2021) in the D.C. Sports Hall of Fame.

The D.C. Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1980 but went dormant for about a decade starting around 2001. Nominees for inclusion, as determined by a 14-member selection committee, must have “gained prominence” in the greater D.C. area through their achievements in professional, collegiate, amateur or high school sports as an athlete, coach, owner, executive, member of the media or contributor. Honorees’ names are displayed on a sign hanging beyond the outfield at Nationals Park.