On February 10, 2017, Alexandria City Public Schools will induct five outstanding athletes, including a star player of the 1971 State Championship football team memorialized in Remember the Titans and a student from the all-black Parker Gray High School who went on to coach for the Olympics, into the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame will also honor a highly successful track coach and former Athletic Director of T.C. Williams High School.
Inductees were selected in a rigorous process by the Hall of Fame Advisory Committee and approved by the School Board on December 1. ACPS saw 20 athletes inducted into its inaugural Hall of Fame in 2014 and a further nine in 2015. Last year, coaches Herman Boone and Bill Yoast from the 1971 State Championship team were also honored.
Congratulations to this year’s inductees.
Jimmy Lewis
First African American to receive a full basketball scholarship to West Virginia University and the Southern Conference, to which he was recommended by Earl Lloyd. Lewis was named a Washington Post All Metropolitan athlete after averaging 18 points and 20 rebounds a game for Alexandria’s all-black Parker Gray High School. He made the All City and All State teams after leading Parker Gray to the runners-up position in the 1963 Virginia State basketball championships.
After college he coached with the 1970 Tennessee State University team and was the first African American Men’s Basketball Coach at Duke University in 1971. He was first head coach of the Washington Mystics in the Women’s National Basketball Association and the coach with the highest number of wins for either me or women’s basketball at George Mason University. At the national level he was a member of the coaching staff for four US Basketball National teams that between them won three gold medals and one silver medal.
He returned to Alexandria to coach the T.C. Williams girls’ basketball team in 2007, and was a College Basketball Television Analyst with ESPN and Home Team Sports.
Frankie Glascoe
Frankie Glascoe was a captain of the 1971 State Championship football team, memorialized in the Disney movie Remember the Titans, as well as a member of the wrestling and track teams. He holds the T.C. Williams High School record in the triple jump that has stood for 44 years.
At that time, he was ranked third in the nation in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump. He was also named Washington Post All Metropolitan football player. He lead the Titans in rushing with 1,201 yards.
After graduating he starred in track at the University of Tennessee and helped them to their first National Collegiate Athletic Association title in 1974.
He currently serves on the Board of the 1971 Titans Foundation that provides financial assistance to students at T.C. Williams who may not otherwise be able to afford college.
Walter Oreal Griffin Sr.
Walter Oreal Griffin Sr. is the only person to be named Washington Post All Metropolitan Basketball Player from the historically all-black Parker Gray High School.
His Parker Gray High School basketball team won 38 consecutive games and three consecutive state titles between 1955 and 1957. In 1957 they finished third in the nation. He was one of the first black athletes to play at the University of Connecticut and one of the first black players from a segregated school to receive a scholarship to a major four-year university for basketball.
After graduating, he spent two years in the army and then worked for Western Electric for 25 years.
Tony Hunt
Tony Hunt was an outstanding football player at T. C. Williams High School. He was named the Alexandria Sportsman Club Player-of-the-Year in 2002-03, rushed for more than 2,000 total yards, played linebacker, defensive end, and also punted. He was also a stalwart on the track and field team, finishing eighth in Virginia in the discus as a junior. After graduating from high school he was recruited by Penn State University to play football.
He finished his Penn State career with the second highest number of career rushing yards of any Penn State running back.
In 2006, he was named a candidate for the Doak Walker Award. Hunt then went on to become only the fifth Penn State player ever to rush for 1,000-yards two years in a row and to rush for more than 3,000 career yards.
He was also named the Most Valuable Player of the 2007 Senior Bowl, after leading all running backs in total yards and the 2007 Outback Bowl Most Valuable Player in 2007. He was drafted in the third round by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Dawn Ingram
Dawn Ingram was a 1995 graduate of T.C. Williams, who was a star student maintaining a GPA of over 3.5, as well as star of the girls basketball team.
After high school she attended Temple University, where she won many accolades, including being named to Second Team All Big 5 Conference and named defensive player of the year and Most Valuable Player. Ingram then went on to pursue her Doctorate Degree in Physical Therapy at Marymount University where she won the student of the year clinical excellence award all while pregnant with her first son.
Ingram then returned to Alexandria to become a physical therapist, where she has been a mentor to those aspiring to pursue athletics on the next level.
Aly Khan Johnson
In addition to the five athletes, the Hall of Fame will be honoring Aly Khan Johnson, who won many state championships as a track and cross country coach at T.C. Williams, as well as serving as the Athletic Director. During his 33 year career as a coach and Athletic Director at T.C. Williams, the Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field teams won six consecutive and nine overall Virginia State Championships.
Johnson earned Coach of the Year honors from several organizations including the Washington Post which honored him a record seven times. He is also a member of the Virginia High School League, Elizabeth City State University and North Point High Halls of Fame.
Watch a video of last year’s ceremony.