Robert Dabney Asher

Bob Asher graduated Bishop O’Connell in 1966, a multitalented who lettered in four sports: football, basketball, track & field, and tennis. He was named the school’s Athlete of the Year his senior year. Bob’s O’Connell school-record shotput distance of 55’5” has held for 60 years; he also set the school record in the discus at 146’6.”  In football, he played both ways at offensive tackle and nose guard, earning multiple local newspaper honors.

Bob received a football scholarship to Vanderbilt University, where he started every game of his varsity career at offensive tackle, earning Ironman status . Known as an impenetrable blocker, he acquired the nickname “The Smasher.” As a junior, he was named 1st Team All-SEC and All-South. In 1969, his teammates elected him  team captain, and he anchored the offensive line in the Commodores’ improbable 14-10 upset of the Alabama Crimson Tide. That same year, he repeated as 1st Team All-Sec and was named a 1st Team All-American by the AP.

Bob was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys early in the 2nd round of the 1970 NFL draft. Though injured most of the 1970 season, he was on the roster and played in Super Bowl V against the Colts. The Cowboys traded him to Chicago before the 1972 season, where he started all but one game through 1974. Several nagging injuries limited his playing time in 1975, and he retired in 1976.

Bishop O’Connell established its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991, and Bob was among the inaugural class, judged as one of the 10 best athletes in the school’s 30-year history. In 1995, The Southeastern Conference officially designated Bob Asher an SEC Legend. In February 2026, Bob was inducted into Vanderbilt University’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

James D. Barbe grew up in Arlington and was arguably the greatest Little League baseball player in County history.  At 12 years old he batted .703, a then all-time record, and hit 9 home runs, then second all-time.  As a pitcher, in 61 innings he gave up only six hits and recorded 154 strikeouts.  Translation: Out of the 183 outs made by opponents, Jim struck out 154 batters.  He had similar statistics in junior and senior major ball leading up to a stellar high school career.

He began his high school career at Wakefield in the 1970-71 academic year, then transferred to Washington-Lee for his junior and senior years, where he graduated in 1973.  He was a starter in basketball and baseball his junior and senior years at W-L, and started at quarterback in football his senior year.  In 1973, he was voted high school pitcher of the year in the state of Virginia, and was named All-District and All-Region.  He went on to star at James Madison University in baseball and became the school’s all-time leader in home runs, RBIs, and walks. He was an All-America baseball selection in 1975 and voted JMU’s most valuable player, and named the 1977 Offensive MVP.

Jim was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 19th round of the Major League Baseball Draft and went on to lead the Western Carolina League in home runs and RBIs, and was 2nd in batting average in 1978.  That season he was voted the league’s Player of the Year.

As a result of his baseball career, Jim was inducted into the W-L High School and James Madison University Athletic Halls of Fame.  Currently, as a professional Super Senior Pickleball player, he is rated in the top 3 of players 65 and older in the United States.

Kristy Burch Bergmann attended High School in Arlington, VA at Bishop Denis J  O’Connell High School between the years of 1982 and 1986 and for the last 28 years  has been employed by Arlington County Public Schools as a teacher at Francis Scott  Key School Elementary. In 2019 she was awarded Key School Elementary Teacher of  the Year Award.  

Kristy’s four years as a student-athlete at Bishop O’Connell High School were  highlighted by her dominance on the pitching mound. She was a 1st Team All-Met  selection as both a junior and senior – dominating in what was then known as the  Catholic Girls Athletic Association leading both those teams to CGAA championships.  

Kristy’s dominance in the circle at the National level for the Shamrocks earned her an athletic  scholarship as she took her talents to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  

Collegiately, Kristy put Miami on the map in softball for the first time ever. She left Miami in 1990  holding every school single-season and career pitching mark, including 15 records she set during her  senior campaign. Burch’s on-field accomplishments over her last two years at Miami made her the first  and only Miami softball player to be named first-team all-MAC two years in a row. Her record of 25-9  with a 0.74 ERA in 1990 led Miami to its second winning season since joining the MAC.  

In 1990, her senior year at Miami, she was named the school’s Female Athlete of the Year. She earned  both All-League and All-Region recognition playing in the Mid-American Conference. Kristy had an  unbelievable career at Miami, so much so that she was the first softball player ever to be inducted  into the Miami University Athletic Hall of Fame.  

Jim Bregman began his judo career at the age of twelve when his parents enrolled him in the Washington Judo Club located at the Pentagon. At the age of fifteen, he had earned his black belt and competed in his first international competition winning a trophy for first place. In his junior and senior years at Wakefield High School, he placed third both years in the Virginia State wrestling championships. 

After graduation from Wakefield High School in 1960, he moved to Japanfor judo training at Meiji University and enrolled in Sophia University for academics. Four years later, Jim became a member of the 1964 USA Judo Team winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. In 1965, he competed in the World Championship in Sao Paulo, Brazil and won another bronze medal, was a gold medalist at the Maccabiah Games, and gold medalist again at the Pan American Championship. Due to a severe knee injury, Jim retired from competitive judo.

In 1968, Jim was a founding director of the United States Judo Association serving multiple terms on its Board of Director and, over the years, served as president of the association for three terms. In the early 1970’s, he opened Bregman’s Judo and Karate Center on Fairfax Drive in Arlington, and started Camp Olympus as an international summer training center in Buffalo Gap, West Virginia. Teams and coaches from Austria, England, Scotland, and other nations trained at Camp Olympus. Jim coached and sponsored international team travel for training and competition throughout Europe. He traveled to apartheid South Africa for training and “unofficial” team completion with a racially integrated team when the USOC was boycotting South Africa. He also spoke out at a press conference on Capitol Hill with Senators and House members when Congress was considering boycotting the Peking Olympics believing that sports brings diverse people together and enhances tolerance and understanding. 

In 1996, Jim retired from the Senior Executive Service of the Federal government and created DeCo International, Ltd., which was designed to generate economic development on Native American reservations. He is now fully retired and resides in Leesburg, Virginia.

Steve Buckhantz grew up in Arlington and played on the Washington-Lee H.S. football team in the early 1970’s. He then went to Madison College (James Madison University) where he began his professional career in radio before becoming an intern with WHSV-TV in Harrisonburg, VA. He went on to anchor the station’s sports and weather. After stints in Tennessee and Atlanta he came home to anchor weekends at WTTG in Washington until 1988 when he was named Sports Director and lead sports anchor. He began calling basketball and football games, including from 1991-1997 being the play-by-play radio voice for the US. Naval Academy football games and handling play-by-play for NFL on FOX in its inaugural season. 

In 1997, after handling some spring basketball games for the Washington Bullets, Steve became the voice of the Washington Wizards as their play-by-play announcer for the 1997-98 season. There he became a staple and won one of his five Emmy Awards as the Wizards announcer on Comcast SportsNet. 

Steve’s awards also include being inducted into the Halls of Fame for Washington-Lee, DC Sports, Washington Metropolitan Basketball, and the Greater Washington Jewish Sports. In 2018, he was selected DC Sportscaster of the year by his peers.

Charlie Butt Jr. was the crew coach at W-L starting in 1949. From 1957-1964, his team won nine straight varsity championships, 11 National Schoolboy Championships and the Henley (England) Royal Regatta. Butt helped start crew teams at numerous area high schools and was instrumental in establishing programs at Georgetown and George Washington in the late 1950s. 

In 1964, his team was the first American high school to ever participate in the Henley regatta and that year won the Princess Elizabeth Cup. His crew retained the cup in 1969.

From 1961-1980, Butt hosted and coached boats comprising parts of the Junior Men’s National Team out of the Potomac Boat Club. He has also coached many Olympians. Over the years, his crews earned 19 scholastic national titles and numerous Stotesbury Cup and Northern Virginia Championships.

The creation of new rowing venues was also a passion for Butt. He helped create the Sandy Run Regional Park rowing facility on the Occoquan River (site of many local regattas) and consulted on the development of Thompson Boat Center, a public rowing facility in Washington, D.C.

He continued to coach into the fall of 1991, and died in 1992. In his honor, The Charlie Butt Regatta was created as a Virginia Scholastic Rowing Association event held annually on the Potomac River.

 John Crone’s athletic career began in 8th grade at Williamsburg Middle School and continued into his freshman year at Yorktown High School as a member of the Yorktown freshman football program, which won every game during those two seasons. Crone became a member of the varsity as a sophomore as a tight end and earned recognition as an All-District talent. During his junior and senior seasons, Crone was a three-way starter, playing offense as a fullback, switching to linebacker for the Patriot defense, and serving as the long snapper. He earned both All-District and All-Region recognition each season. Crone was voted team captain during both his junior and senior years, the first junior to earn this role under Coach Bruce Hanson’s three decades as head coach. During his senior year, Crone rushed for more than 1,800 yards and scored 35 touchdowns, and was recognized as an All-Met running back.  

In addition to playing football at YHS, Crone played baseball during his sophomore, junior, and senior years. John hit .511, set school records for RBIs with 42 and a slugging percentage of over 1,000, and hit seven home runs during his senior year. This effort earned him First Team All-Region and All-Met honors.

Upon graduation from Yorktown, Crone earned a football scholarship to the University of Richmond where he majored in criminal justice. Initially, he played both football and baseball, but after his sophomore year, he decided to focus his energies on football. As fullback on the Richmond Spiders, Crone earned All-Conference recognition after his sophomore, junior, and senior years. His teammates voted him Captain for both the 2007 and 2008 seasons, and the Spiders won the NCAA Division I Football Championship after the 2008 season. Crone threw a touchdown pass during Richmond’s 24-7 win over Montana in the championship game.     

Clayton Dudley Deskins, Sr. was born on February 9, 1950, and raised in the Halls Hill community in Arlington, Virginia. Surrounded by a loving family, lifelong friends, and a neighborhood that valued faith, education, and perseverance, Clayton developed the qualities that would define his life: determination, humility, service, and athletic excellence.

Clayton was the son of Welbe Earline “Peggy” Deskins and Carroll Austin Deskins. He grew up alongside his siblings Leslie Deskins Muhammed and Ronald Deskins, in a family shaped by sports, hard work, and community service. In 1962, after Arlington County desegregated its recreation department, his older brother—one of the first African American students to attend Arlington public schools—encouraged Clayton to try out for the local recreation football team. His first season, the team went undefeated without allowing a single point. Clayton proudly wore jersey number 24 throughout junior high school, recreation league football, and high school.

From 1965 to 1968, Clayton attended Washington-Lee High School excelling as both a football and track athlete. As a halfback on the football team, he earned the Football Most Valuable Player honor in 1967. On the track, his 1968 season was even more decorated: Track Most Valuable Player, the Arlington County Outstanding Track Award, and established high school records in the broad jump and triple jump. That year, he also became the Virginia state champion in the long and triple jump, establishing himself as one of the state’s finest high school athletes.

Clayton was recruited to play at Appalachian State University by legendary coach Carl Messere, joining the team in 1968 shortly after the university integrated and becoming one of its first African American football players. His success on the field quickly demonstrated that he belonged among the program’s elite athletes. During his collegiate career, He set numerous school records, including a then-school record 98-yard touchdown run against Bluefield State on October 23, 1971, in a 49–0 victory, and finished his career second in program history with 1,869 kickoff return yards. His achievements extended beyond football. He was named as an All-District football player in 1969 and was named to Outstanding College Athletes of America in 1970. He also competed on Appalachian State’s track and field team, participating in the broad jump, triple jump, and sprint events. In 2004, Clayton was inducted into the Appalachian State University Athletics Hall of Fame. 

Following graduation, Clayton joined the Arlington County Fire Department, following in his father’s footsteps—first as a firefighter, later as a paramedic, serving at several stations including Station 8, where his father served with distinction. On September 11, 2001, his station was among the first to respond to the attack on the Pentagon; his voice was captured on a 911 emergency recording during the response. 

Tom Dolan was born and raised in Arlington. He attended school in Arlington, graduated with honors from Yorktown in 1993, and earned a swimming scholarship to the University of Michigan.

Tom was an exceptional swimmer before college setting many scholastic records but gained immediate success as a freshman at Michigan. There he was a member of the Wolverines NCAA Championship 800m freestyle relay squad and earned All-American honors in the 500m freestyle, 800m freestyle, 1,650m freestyle and 400m individual medley. For his efforts, Dolan was named both Big Ten Swimmer of the Year and Freshman of the Year. Tom capped his spectacular season by representing the United States at the 1994 World Championships in Rome where he established the world record and won a gold medal in the 400m IM (4:12.30).

As a sophomore, Dolan continued to dominate and to set even more records. At the Pan Pacific Championship, he captured first place honors in the 200m IM and set a meet record in the 400m IM. Tom continued his excellence at the collegiate level, becoming the first swimmer in seven years to set three American records at the NCAA Championships. As a result, he was named the U.S. Swimming "Swimmer of the Year" for a second time, and added the NCAA Swimmer of the Year award to his trophy case.

In the spring and early summer of 1996, Tom qualified as a member of the U.S. Olympic Team in the 200m individual medley, 400m IM and 400m freestyle competitions by winning all three events at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis. At the NCAA Championships, he repeated as a triple winner in the 500m freestyle, 1,650m freestyle , 400m individual medley and anchored the championship 800m freestyle relay team that broke a 12 year-old American record.

At the 1996 Summer Olympics, Tom Dolan captured the United States' first Gold Medal by winning the 400 IM. Not only did this achievement earn him both the cover of Sports Illustrated and a Wheaties box, but it also confirmed his reputation as one of the world's most talented swimmers. 

At the 2000 Olympics, he defended his Gold Medal in the 400 IM and picked up a Silver in the 200 IM.

Tom has had to overcome severe allergy problems to achieve success and is an inspiration to us all. Arlington is proud to claim him and the Arlington Sports Hall of Fame is doubly proud to honor him.

He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2006, followed by induction into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.

He now runs Tom Dolan Swim School in Northern Virginia.