Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium - Washington Hall of Stars

Washington Hall of Stars

See also: Hall of Fame Ring of Honor (Washington, D.C.)

During the Redskins' tenure, the Washington Hall of Stars was displayed on a series of white-and-red signs hung in a ring around the stadium's mezzanine, honoring D.C. sports greats from various sports. With the reconfiguration of the stadium, it was replaced by a series of dark-green banners over the center-field and right-field fences in order to make room for out-of-town scoreboards and advertising signage. There are 15 separate panels honoring 82 figures. Nationals Park also hosts a smaller version of the display.

  • Panel 1 (furthest to the left when viewed from home plate, names read here from left to right are listed from top of display to bottom): Redskins football players Cliff Battles, Charley Taylor, Bobby Mitchell, Chris Hanburger, Jerry Smith, Len Hauss, Sammy Baugh and Pat Fischer.
  • Panel 2: Redskins Brig Owens, Larry Brown, Sonny Jurgensen, team founder-owner George Marshall, Vince Lombardi (who coached them for one season before his death), Dave Butz, Art Monk and Dick James.
  • Panel 3: Redskins Vince Promuto, Russ Grimm, Joe Jacoby, Mark Moseley, Doug Williams, John Riggins, coach George Allen and Ken Houston.
  • Panel 4: Redskins Joe Theismann, Billy Kilmer, Wayne Millner, Sam Huff, Gene Brito, Eddie LeBaron, Charlie Justice and Bill Dudley.
  • Panel 5: Edward Bennett Williams, Arthur "Dutch" Bergman and Jack Kent Cooke. Williams and Cooke were Redskins owners. Bergman coached in D.C. at The Catholic University of America, and then ran the corporation that lobbied for the building of RFK Stadium.
  • Panel 6: "New Senators" manager Gil Hodges, "Old Senators" player and manager Joe Cronin, New Senator Frank Howard, Old Senator owner Clark Griffith, and Old Senators Goose Goslin and George Case.
  • Panel 7: Josh Gibson, Bucky Harris, Walter Johnson, Chuck Hinton, Eddie Yost and George Selkirk. Gibson played for the Homestead Grays of the Negro Leagues. Harris, Johnson and Yost played for the Old Senators. Harris also managed the Old Senators. Hinton played for the New Senators. Selkirk, who played for the Yankees, was the general manager of the New Senators.
  • Panel 8: "Old Senators" Mickey Vernon, Roy Sievers, Cecil Travis, Early Wynn, Joe Judge, Harmon Killebrew, Ossie Bluege and Grays star Walter "Buck" Leonard. Vernon also managed the New Senators.
  • Panel 9: Basketball figures Bones McKinney, Arnold "Red" Auerbach, Abe Pollin, Bob Ferry, Phil Chenier, Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes. McKinney played for the NBA's Washington Capitols. Auerbach played in D.C. for George Washington University and coached the Capitols. Pollin owned the Baltimore Bullets and moved them to Washington, where they became the "Capital Bullets", "Washington Bullets" and now the "Washington Wizards." He also founded the NHL's Washington Capitals and built two area arenas: The Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland and the MCI Center (now the Verizon Center) in downtown Washington. Ferry played for the Bullets in Baltimore and was their general manager in Washington. Chenier, Unseld and Hayes played for the Bullets in both cities. Unseld later coached them.
  • Panel 10: Olympic swimming gold medalist Melissa Belote, broadcaster Jim Gibbons, and golf figures Lee Elder and Deane Beman.
  • Panel 11: Capitals hockey star Rod Langway, tennis players Pauline Betz Addie and Donald Dell, and jockey Sonny Workman.
  • Panel 12: Boxers Bobby Foster, Marty Gallagher, Holly Mims, Sugar Ray Leonard and Steve Mamakos.
  • Panel 13: Soccer player Theodore "Ted" Chambers, soccer player and coach Gordon Bradley, sportswriters Morris "Mo" Siegel and Shirley Povich, and Griffith Stadium and RFK Stadium public-address announcer Charles Brotman.
  • Panel 14: "Heroes of Sept. 11th."

To the right of Panel 15 are four banners honoring D.C. United's MLS Cup wins: 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2004. To the right of these banners is D.C. United's "Tradition of Excellence" banner, which honors John Harkes and Marco Etcheverry. To the left of those banners are four banners honoring D.C. United's MLS Supporters Shield wins: 1997, 1999, 2006 and 2007.

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