Five local sports legends were inducted into the Arlington Sports Hall of Fame during an Oct. 9, 2024, ceremony at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Arlington. They now join ranks with 68 fellow honored athletes, coaches, sports officials, journalists and administrators, including luminaries such as World Series champion George McQuinn, NFL wide receiver Eric Metcalf, Olympic swimmer Tom Dolan, ultra-marathoner Michael Wardian and track star Noel Deskins. Here’s a look at the 2024 inductees:
Kate Ziegler
A distinguished two-time Olympian and four-time World Champion, Ziegler in the course of her career won 15 medals for swimming (eight golds, five silvers and two bronzes) in international competitions and set numerous American and world records. Notably, she broke the longest-standing world record in the 1500-meter freestyle, previously held by Janet Evans, by 10 seconds. Ziegler first rose to stardom in the pool at Bishop O’Connell, where she earned All-Met honors four years in a row, set the National High School record in the 200- and 500-yard freestyles, and broke the American record in the 500-yard freestyle. She holds a Masters degree from the University of Tennessee’s Haslam College of Business and earned her undergraduate degree from Chapman University. Now living in Kingston, Tennessee, she is a performance coach specializing in sports psychology and holistic athlete development.
Jim Bregman
An Olympic bronze medalist and member of the USA Judo Hall of Fame, Bregman took up judo at age 12 through the Washington Judo Club (then located at the Pentagon), and by 15 had earned his black belt, along with a first-place trophy in his very first international competition. At Wakefield High School, he scored two consecutive third-place finishes in the Virginia State wrestling championships, and, after graduating in 1960, moved to Japan for judo training at Meiji University. Four years later, he earned bronze for Team USA in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, followed by another bronze medal in the 1965 World Championship in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He won gold at the 1965 Maccabiah Games and at the 1965 Pan American Championship before a knee injury forced him to retire from competition. In 1968, he became a founding director of the United States Judo Association. Today he lives in Leesburg.
Michelle Duhart Robinson
A standout varsity athlete in both basketball and soccer during her years at Wakefield High School, Robinson helped revive the Warriors’ then-flagging hoops program, leading the team from last place in the conference to a 1996 national district championship. Twice named Arlington County and District Player of the Year, the three-time MVP scored more than 1,220 points, 750 rebounds and 400 assists over the course of her high school career. She went on to Purdue University, where she helped the Boilermakers win two regular season Big Ten titles (1997 and 1999), three Big Ten Tournament titles (1998, 1999, 2000) and the 1999 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. By the time she graduated from college, she held bragging rights as Purdue’s 8th in career rebounding, 10th in rebounds per game, first in field goal percentage for her career and fifth in career steals. She was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten in 1999 and 2000. Having returned to her hometown, Robinson is now celebrating her 20th year as a special education teacher at Wakefield, where she co-teaches physics and chemistry.
Dan Pototsky
After earning the Arlington Better Sports Club’s Outstanding Player award for youth baseball in 1972, Potosky was a star player at Washington-Lee (now Washington-Liberty) High School, where he helped lead the Generals to a regional championship and was selected All-Met and All State. He also played in the summer Clark Griffith Collegiate Baseball League, where in 1979 the switch-hitter went 5 for 5 with four home runs (two right-handed and two left-handed). Collegiately Pototsky played for the University of Kentucky, earning All-SEC honors in 1980 and an All-SEC tournament selection in 1981. Six years later he took the helm as coach of W-L’s baseball team and in 1992 was named Washington Home Plate Club Coach of the Year. Upon his retirement from a teaching career with Arlington Public Schools, he coached the Arlington Senior Babe Ruth All Star teams, winning five state championships between 2014 and 2023. Two of those teams made it to the Babe Ruth World Series. Today, Pototsky 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.
Kas Allen
A basketball standout at Wakefield High School and George Washington University, the 6-foot power forward led the Warriors to a Potomac District championship in 1983. She then brought her star power to GW, where she became the university’s all-time single season scoring leader (a record she still holds), averaging 22.5 points per game during the 1983-84 season. She is the 11th all-time scorer in Colonials history, with 1,520 points. A back injury during her sophomore year is likely what inspired her to pursue a career as a physical therapist. She now practices in Los Angeles.
Established in 1958 by the Better Sports Club of Arlington, the Arlington Sports Hall of Fame became a separate nonprofit organization in 1992. In addition to honoring the achievements of trailblazing hometown athletes, the organization also supports youth athletics and aims to foster the principles of good sportsmanship, tolerance, leadership and meaningful citizenship.
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