Tommy Orndorff

Tom Orndorff is well known in Arlington and beyond the metropolitan area as the head varsity softball coach at Arlington's Bishop Dennis J. O'Connell High School. He is also O' Connell's Assistant Athletic Director tasked with all the responsibilities and chores associated with that position.

A West Virginia University grad and former journalist, Orndorff has been coaching softball at O'Connell for the past 25 years and has compiled one of the most phenomenally successful records of any coach, anywhere, in any sport, over that period of time. Over the past quarter century, more than just a few of his teams have been ranked in the top echelon of high school softball teams in the U.S. Orndorff's success is the height of consistency. Competing in the metropolitan Catholic Girls leagues (the CGAA and WCAC) and against strong public high school teams over the past 20 years, his O'Connell teams have compiled a record of 450-54 and many regular season league, tournament and Virginia Independent School state championships.

Orndorff's reputation as a coach/teacher in developing outstanding players extends to colleges throughout the country, particularly those with strong women's softball programs. Many of his players have received full athletic scholarships and others partial scholarships based on their participation in softball at O'Connell.

Orndorlf also coaches softball outside of high school when the school is out on extended vacation. The age grouping for his teams (The Shamrocks) mirrors his high school  teams, usually 18yo and under. He's been coaching the Shamrocks for 30+ years with much of the same winning success, even though his teams have competed at a level of competition even greater than his high school teams. His Shamrock teams are "Travel" teams playing 60-70 games a season. Over the past 30 years, they've traveled the country, qualifying and playing in 20 ASA 18U Gold National tournaments. These national tournaments are huge, up to 64 of the best fast-pitch softball teams in the U.S. The travel team tournaments are usually dominated by West Coast and southwestern U.S. teams. Eastern teams do very well to finish in the top ten. Orndorff's teams have finished in the top ten seven times, finishing 2nd in 2003, and winning the tournament championship outright in 2005 with his Arlington-based Virginia Shamrocks - a truly outstanding achievement.

Orndorff has been honored with a number of prestigious awards for his success coaching softball. Twice he has been named National Travel Ball Coach of the Year (2002 & 2005) by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). Other coaching honors include: Arlington Coach of the Year awarded by the Better Sports Club (1991), and being named "Coach of the Year" on several occasions by Washington Post, Journal Newspapers, Sun Gazette, its predecessors and other newspaper publications and periodicals.

Orndorff is held in the highest regard in softball circles nationally. He is one of 31 coaches from throughout the U.S. which include a great many who are collegiate Division I coaches that were named to the USA/ASA Team Coaching Pool for the Olympic quadrant years of 2005-2008.

Following in someone’s shadow is always difficult. Following your brother is even more difficult, especially when his shadow is created from a height of seven feet and you are only six foot nine! But the Washington-Lee High School basketball program did not mind, particularly when they played together.

Henry Crawford Palmer was born September 14, 1970 and entered W-L in 1984. At 6’6”, Crawford’s impact on the W-L basketball program was immediate and impressive, especially as a sophomore playing with his 6’11” brother, Walter. Growing to 6’9”, Crawford was captain of W-L’s team as a senior, earned All-District, All-Region, and All-Met recognition, named to the nationally prestigious McDonald’s All-American team, and played in D.C.’s Capital Classic against the best high school seniors in America. He was graduated from W-L in 1988 and is a member of the W-L Hall of Fame.

During his first three years of college, Crawford played at Duke University, where his team won the 1991 NCAA Championship. In the Fall of 1991, he left Duke and followed his father’s and brother’s footsteps to Dartmouth College. Joining the basketball program for the 1992-93 season, Crawford was chosen a Dartmouth tri-Captain, earned second team All-Ivy League, named Dartmouth’s Most Valuable Player, and selected a second team GTE Academic All-American. In 2004, Crawford was inducted to Dartmouth’s Wearers of the Green club (Dartmouth’s Sports Hall of Fame).

After college, Crawford played professional basketball in Europe for thirteen years primarily in France and Spain. Selected to join France’s National team, he played in the 2000 Olympics winning a Silver Medal.

When his playing career concluded, Crawford served for four years with the French Basketball Federation as assistant general manager and as liaison to French players in the United States, to NBA franchises, and to the NCAA, then as general manager of two French elite basketball programs.

Walter Scott Palmer was born October 23, 1968, and had an unlikely career in sports. He was cut from his 8th grade team and only continued to play basketball at Washington-Lee High School due to the flexibility and kindness of varsity coach, Dale Bethel, who allowed him to participate in theater productions throughout high school. He graduated in 1986 and chose to follow in the footsteps of his father, Scott, and attend Dartmouth College.

Injured as a freshman, Walter grew to 7 feet and started at center for the next three years. He holds the single game Ivy League record for blocked shots with 12 against Harvard. His 54.8% field goal shooting is third best in Dartmouth history and he is third on the Ivy League list for career blocked shots with 225 and made the All Ivy League second team as a Junior and

first team as a Senior. In 1994, Walter was inducted into Dartmouth’s Wearers of the Green club (Dartmouth’s Sports Hall of Fame) and as a “Legend of the Ivy League” (the Ivy League’s Hall of Fame) in March 2022.

Selected by the Utah Jazz with the 33rd pick of the 1990 NBA Draft, Walter played two seasons in the NBA for the Jazz and the Dallas Mavericks before continuing for another 11 years, playing for teams in Spain, Italy, France, Argentina, and Germany.

When his active playing career ended in 2003, Walter founded a players association in Germany, and then co-founded the European Elite Athletes Association and the World Players Association. In 2015, he served briefly as Deputy Executive Director of the NBA Players’ Association. Alongside his current job at Dartmouth College managing alumni career programming, Walter continues to consult with player unions globally while also serving on the Board of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Bob Peck has been involved in the Arlington sports scene for over fifty years. His enthusiasm for sports developed on the field of play, as a participant in his early years, and remains to this day as an active golfer. But Bob's main impact on sports has been and continues to be his sponsorship of community youth activities. Since 1939, his steadfast support of youth has brought him many accolades, including 1967 Arlington Sportsman of the Year.

As a civic leader Bob has served the Arlington community with distinction, first as an elected member (1952) of the County Board (serving as Chairman in 1953); active in the Arlington County Chamber of Commerce, serving as president in 1956; and member of the Arlington County School Board 1958-61, serving as chairman two years.

Daniel Pototsky began playing baseball in Arlington in 1969. In 1972, he received the Arlington Better Sports Club’s Outstanding Player award for youth baseball. In 1977, he helped Washington-Lee High School to a regional championship and was selected All-Met and All State. In the Clark Griffith Collegiate League in 1979, he went 5 for 5 with four home runs, two right-handed and two left-handed. Collegiately, he played for the University of Kentucky where he earned All SEC honors in 1980 and was an All-SEC tournament selection in 1981. He took over the coaching helm from Del Norwood at Washington-Lee in 1987. In 1992, he was named Washington Home Plate Club Coach of the Year and, in 1994, was selected Coach of the Year by the Better Sports Club.

Pototsky began a long and rewarding teaching career in the Arlington Public Schools in 1987, primarily teaching at Carlin Springs and Ashlawn where he was named Teacher of the Year in 2005. After retirement, he coached Arlington Senior Babe Ruth All Star teams winning five state championships beginning in 2014 and the last in 2023. Two of those teams made it to the Babe Ruth World Series.

Presently, he coaches with his son Dane in the Potomac Collegiate League and plays in a couple of adult baseball leagues where he managed to hit a home run over the fence at Lake Braddock at the age of 63. He’s thankful to the coaches he had like Norwood, Sam Fox, Tim Hill, Keith Madison, and many others. He feels very lucky to have grown up in Arlington and, especially, to have been part of the Arlington Public Schools as a student and teacher.

John Randolph is a 1960 graduate of Washington Lee, where as an athlete he excelled in indoor & outdoor track and cross country. John continued his track career at William & Mary, running the 220, 440 and 880 events. After serving as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, John returned to his alma mater in 1967 to begin his distinguished coaching career capturing many Southern Conference and Virginia State championships. He became track coach at West Point in 1976, where his teams compiled a record of 54-4 in three years. For the next six years he headed the track program at the University of Florida during which time he also served as chairman of the U.S. Men's Olympic Development Committee, the group that prepared track and field athletes for the 1984 Olympics.

John served as Athletic Director at William & Mary from 1985 until 1995, when he died of cancer at the age of 53.

William Reinhart was the dean of coaches in local colleges and universities while at George Washington University, where he coached basketball, baseball and football. A resident of Arlington, he helped many athletes gain stardom from his tutelage. 

While he compiled a 193-133 baseball record and a 16-17-1 mark in football, it was in basketball that he earned a national reputation as an outstanding coach. In 24 seasons (1935-1942 & 1949-1966), his teams were 316-239, with 16 winning seasons in his first 18 years. His 1954 and 1961 teams made the NCAA Tournament after winning Southern Conference championships. His baseball teams won four conference championships. A champion throughout his athletic career, he was selected to the Helms Basketball Hall of Fame in 1956.

A collection of papers and memorabilia related to Reinhart is housed in the Special Collections Research Center of George Washington University, where he was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1993. 

He coached Red Auerbach at GW who once said Reinhart’s coaching and fast-break offenses were “15 years ahead of their time.”  He died in 1971.

Brian Rosenberger is one of the most accomplished lacrosse players in Arlington history.

In his youth, Rosenberger played Annandale Red Raiders soccer on teams that qualified for the Virginia State Cup, played in the Annandale-North Springfield Little League, and competed in Catholic Youth Organization basketball at St. Michael’s School in Annandale.

Rosenberger attended Bishop O'Connell High School playing varsity soccer for two years under renowned coach Aldo Zito. But Rosenberger took an interest to lacrosse, and, playing attack under head coach Dick Abood, Rosenberger became a four-year standout and the team’s leading scorer. He was twice chosen a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference All-Conference selection and helped the team reach the private-school state tournament. He also played in the prestigious Metro-Area North/South All-Star lacrosse game for seniors, scoring two goals representing O'Connell. 

Rosenberger’s success carried into college, first at nationally ranked Lynchburg College, then at Marymount University (Arlington, VA University, where he scored University, where he scored nearly 100 career college goals combined. At Lynchburg during his 1995 rookie season, he was one of the team's only freshman starters, scoring 12 goals and dealing 12 assists while playing attack. Rosenberger transferred to Marymount his sophomore year, and became a three-year starting attack, earning first-team All-Capital Athletic Conference honors as a junior and senior and CAC Player of the Year in 1998—at the time, the only non-Salisbury University player to earn that distinction, and a player considered for All-American selection. He scored 41 goals his senior season, 84 during his Marymount career, and totaled 117 total points during his career. When he graduated in 1998, he held three Marymount records: most goals in a season (41), most goals in a game (7) and most points in a game (10). He was inducted into the Marymount Sports Hall of Fame in the in 2010. 

After graduation, Rosenberger played club lacrosse for four years for Ream Reebok ranking among the top scorers in spring, summer and fall play. He stayed closely connect to the lacrosse programs at O'Connell and Marymount, serving as a Marymount assistant coach from 1999 to 2001 under Stewart Moan, a period that included the program’s first top-20 Division III national ranking. He then joined O'Connell as an assistant coach in 2002 before becoming head coach from 2003 to 2011, leading the Knights to state-tournament appearances. He currently assists the Lake Braddock Secondary School's fall high-school team, where his son Drew plays.

Bob Rusevlyan played varsity baseball, basketball and football at SI. John's High School, in D.C., 1951-1953. Bob was All-Metropolitan in all three sports as a junior and senior, and received the Touchdown Club award as the Prep School Player of the Year in 1953 and 1954. As a senior, Bob was elected captain of all three teams and was named Scholastic Sports Association Football Player of the Year as well as Athlete of the Year.

Bob accepted a football scholarship to the University of Maryland in 1954 and became a three-year starter as quarterback, defensive back and kick returner. He still holds the Terps record for most minutes played in a career and twice played 60 minutes in a game during his senior year. Bob received the Terps Coaches Award as Defensive Back of the Year in 1957 and 1958, and Offensive Back of the Year in 1958, when he was named All-ACC.  As a senior, Bob received the A V. Williams Award given to the Outstanding Citizen/Scholar/Athlete and the TEKE Trophy (now known as the Terrapin Club Award) as the student who, during his four years at the university, rendered the greatest service to football.

In 1959, Bob accepted a football coaching positon at O'Connell and remained head coach for five years, gaining a reputation as an outstanding football strategist. In 1960, he became head basketball coach, winning two state Catholic League Championships in 1962 and 1963. In 1961, Bob became athletic director and head golf coach. His golf teams were undefeated 1962 through 1964. In 1964 he left O’Connell to go into the banking business.

From 1970 to 1982, Bob was a highly successful coach in the Arlington County youth baseball and basketball programs. His teams won numerous county championships in both sports.

A Californian by birth, but an Arlingtonian since 1981, Mary O'Connor Schade has become an Arlington women's sports legend over the past 37 years, cutting a wide swath in swimming, soccer, Senior Olympics, triathlon, and coaching in Arlington schools and sports leagues. A competitive swimmer in freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke, she is a 25-time gold medalist at the Virginia Senior Games, a five-time qualifier for the National Senior Games, and has recently become an outstanding open-water swimmer, conquering the Potomac River and becoming the second-oldest finisher in the Alcatraz Escape From the Rock Swim across San Francisco Bay last year. In soccer, she is a nationally recognized goalkeeper with a 36-year career in Arlington and Northern Virginia leagues and national tournaments for many local and state teams, and recognized as the best goalkeeper in her age group in the nation. And as a triathlete beginning at 50, she has completed 16 triathlons and qualified for the National Triathlon in Cleveland this year.

Her accomplishments as a 36-year Arlington soccer coach are impressive, helping raise a generation of student-athletes by emphasizing focus, fair play and fun. She coached Potomac Kiwanis for over 20 years; and, starting in 1987, she also coached boys and girls soccer at Williamsburg Middle School. As Williamsburg's girls coach from 1987 through 1999, she amassed a 92-4 record Into her 70s, Mary Schade continues to inspire Arlington with her athletic achievements and service to Arlington.

Milt Sherman grew up in Arlington, attending Tuckahoe Elementary and Swanson Middle School before graduating from Yorktown High School in 1969. He became a wrestler while at Swanson, and it changed the course of his life. At Yorktown, he was All State, as well as “Outstanding Wrestler” for the D.C. AAU at both the Junior Olympic and Open levels. Then, at East Carolina University, where he attained undergraduate and master’s degrees, he won 88% of his matches as a 4-year starter, won 11 championships while with the Pirates, was an All-American with USA Wrestling, and defeated three NCAA Division 1 national champions and two national runners-up. Settling in rural North Carolina, he became a career educator and coach, teaching at D.H. Conley High School in Greenville, N.C. for 30 years and then part-time at his alma mater ECU for 13 years. As a coach, he won a high school state championship and 2 state runner-up honors over three decades. He coached five high school All Americans, one of whom went on to be a 3-time national champion and Olympics coach. At retirement, Milt ranked # 2 all time in North Carolina coaching wins. 

As a writer, Milt has been published nationally over 25 times in Scholastic Coach, Wrestling USA, Amateur Wrestling News, and is author of the novel “Wrestling Spoken Here.” He continues to assist area high school wrestling teams and the ECU club team he founded nine years ago, and competes as a Senior Games athlete in badminton at the state and national level, placing 2nd and 3rd at national championships and winning 37 golds at North Carolina and Virginia state championships. Milt is an inductee in the ECU Athletic Hall of Fame and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame’s North Carolina chapter.
 

Alberto Starace was born in Italy, where he brought the passion of soccer to Northern Virginia when he moved here in 1967. 

He graduated from James Madison H.S. and George Mason University, before starting his coaching career at his alma mater. There he won a district title at Madison in his first year, before becoming the girls head coach at Bishop DenisJ. O'Connell H.S. in 1985. He continued to coach at both O'Connell (in the fall) and Madison (in the spring), until leaving Madison in 1990, after finishing with a record of 129-36. 

He coached at different clubs in Northern Virginia over my coaching career. Some of the clubs include Vienna, Mclean, Arlington, Vista, Great Falls and Loudoun. 

At O'Connell has amassed a record of 540-135-71 through the 2024 season. 

There, he has won the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference ten times and has been to the WCAC finals 14 other times. 

Through the years, he has coached 30 Washington Post 1st Team All-Met selections and six All-Met Players of the Year. Five players have been named Gatorade Player of the Year. 

He has accumulated over 650 career wins at the high school level, and eight times has been named State Coach of the Year. He has also been selected as United Soccer Association National Coach of the Year and named as All-Met and Journal coach of the year. 

In 2005, he was named Better Sports Club Coach of the Year, after O'Connell had its best year in school history finishing a perfect 20-0 and as the #1 ranked team in the country. For their efforts, he was named Student Sports Magazine's National Coach of the Year. 

He is very demanding of his players, teaching each and every one of them not only the game but an appreciation of the sport that goes well beyond. Character traits and work ethic which will serve them the rest of their lives ... teaching them integrity, values, leadership skills, the will to win, sportsmanship and much more. 

He has done an outstanding job promoting his players, as evidenced by the dozens of Division 1 college scholarships his girls have received over the years. 

He is one of the country's top mentors in his sport, and one of the all-time winningest coaches in girls’ soccer.