Shown here in his Miami Dolphins uniform, Jake later played for the Washington Redskins, a team his Dolphins beat in the 1972 Super Bowl when Jake was selected as the MVP.
Arlington may be a small county, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t produced its share of great athletes. In this collection we did the best we could with research and card collecting, and while I’m sure we’re missing some local athletes, we think you’ll enjoy what you see.
The oldest card is that of George McQuinn, a Washington-Lee graduate in the late 1920s who was one of the most decorated Major League Baseball players to come out of Arlington. After hanging up his spikes, he went on to play an important role in the County.
Clay Kirby was a favorite of local baseball fans and went to W-L in the 1960s with local basketball legends Ed and John Hummer and future Buffalo Bills kicker John Leypoldt. Of course, there are also Super Bowl heroes Jake Scott and Reggie Harrison, who both played football along Quincy Street at W-L.
Viewers might recall four more recent football players who made it in the NFL and were either born or grew up in and around Arlington. There were two in my era, starting with Eric Sievers, a tight end at W-L whom my brother Bill threw passes to, and later Brian Blados, who was four years behind Eric at W-L. Then there’s Bishop O’Connell grad Eric Metcalfe, who, like his father Terry, had an excellent career in the NFL. The fourth player is kicker Connor Barth – I can’t find a trading card for him, so if anyone has an extra, let me know, and I’ll trade with you. Born in Arlington, Connor had an outstanding NFL career.
Swimmer Tom Dolan isn’t the only Olympic gold medal winner from Arlington; Frank Havens preceded him. Frank was a W-L grad whose father, Bill, was on his way to the 1924 Games in Paris as a rower when his wife informed him she was pregnant. As fate would have it, he chose to stay home for the delivery of his son Frank, who grew up and set the world record as a canoeist at the Helsinki Games in 1952. Frank came home and presented the medal to a proud dad.
In the 1950s, the area had another great pitcher, Fred Talbot, who pitched for several Major League teams. Fred pitched at Fairfax and McLean High Schools as well as Arlington All-Star teams in the 1950s, but someone shared a story with me that Fred and Whitey Edwards had one of the all-time Arlington County fist fights at Mario’s Pizza one night, so he seemed to earn his way on my list.
Using a Major League Baseball stat site, I learned three other pitchers were reportedly born in Arlington and made it to the Majors, granted for less than 70 combined innings. They are Bob Ferris, Bob Malloy, and Mark Smith. It should be noted that Mark is listed on two different baseball sites as born in Arlington and Alexandria. The tie goes to the runner here.
Four additional pro athletes have listed affiliation to Arlington, including the 2016 high school soccer Gatorade Player of the Year, Lucas Mendes, who is probably the most outstanding player to come out of Arlington (W-L) and was listed on the New York Cosmos; Walter Palmer, Arlington’s tallest professional athlete at 7’1″, who played basketball at W-L and spent two seasons in the NBA; Kendall Marshall, who starred at O’Connell H.S. and the University of North Carolina then played for four different teams in the NBA; and finally Curome Cox who is listed in Pro-Football Reference as being born in Arlington but Wikipedia reads he was born in New York.
The 2018 NFL Draft was special for Arlington since two former county high school stars were drafted. In the second round, M.J. Stewart, a Yorktown High School graduate in 2014, was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the New Orleans Saints drafted 2014 O’Connell grad Kamrin Moore in the sixth round.
Enjoy the cards and stories.
