sports | ALXnow

PHOTOS: 25 years after the movie, Alexandria remembers the Titans

Published September 19, 2025 at 9:52PM | Updated September 20, 2025 at 5:59AM

Members of the state championship-winning 1971 T.C. Williams City High School football team sign autographs at the 25th anniversary celebration of the film Remember The Titans, from which the movie is based, Sept. 19, 2025 (staff photo by James Cullum)

The story of how coach Herman Boone transformed a newly integrated team of Black and white high school athletes into champions is legendary in Alexandria.

On Friday, 40 of the remaining real-life heroes that the film Remember The Titans is based on, commemorated the movie’s 25th anniversary. The 2000 film recounts the story of the 13-0, 1971 state champion T.C. Williams High School football team (now Alexandria City High School). The players in the newly integrated school overcame racial adversity to become state champs.

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Alexandria’s Lyles ties Bolt’s record with 4th straight 200m world title

By James Cullum

Published September 19, 2025 at 2:38PM

Alexandria native Noah Lyles won his fourth consecutive 200m gold at the World Championships in Tokyo, Sept. 19, 2025 (via Twitter)

Alexandria native Noah Lyles sprinted to his fourth consecutive victory in the 200 meters at the World Championships in Tokyo on Friday.

The 28-year-old Lyles finished in 19.52 seconds, just ahead of teammate Kenny Bednarek. The 200m win ties the four 200m victories earned by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. Lyles’ win comes a day after he ran the fastest semifinal 200m in history, with a time of 19.51 seconds.

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Former Alexandria City High swimmer Emil LaSida, 21, dies; held college records

By James Cullum

Published September 18, 2025 at 4:15PM

Former ACHS swim and dive team captain Emil LaSida (via Facebook)

Emil LaSida, 21, a record-holding swimmer at Case Western Reserve University and a former captain of the Alexandria City High School swim and dive team, died Sept. 15.

Case Western Reserve University announced Sept. 17 that LaSida had died, but the cause of his death has not been released. A fourth-year student majoring in engineering, LaSida set the school record last year in the men’s 50 freestyle with a time of 19.98 seconds at the NCAA Division III Championships and earned All-American Second Team honors, according to the university.

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Washington Wizards give backpacks to 700 Alexandria students

By James Cullum

Published August 15, 2025 at 3:00PM

The Washington Wizards helped tip off the 2025-26 school year with a giveaway event at William Ramsay Recreation Center on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025 (staff photo by James Cullum)

The Washington Wizards helped tip off the 2025-26 school year with a backpack and supplies giveaway today (Aug. 15) at William Ramsay Recreation Center.

Wizards forward Anthony Gill made a surprise appearance and joined rookies Tre Johnson, Will Riley, and Jamir Watkins at the event. The players, along with mascot G-Wiz and the Wizards Dancers, gave 700 backpacks to the students at William Ramsay Elementary School (5700 Sanger Avenue), which is located next to the recreation center and officially opens for the first day on Monday, Aug. 18.

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Boxing legend Tony ‘Da Beast’ Suggs to be inducted Into ACPS Hall of Fame after student nomination

By James Cullum

Published July 10, 2025 at 3:30PM | Updated July 11, 2025 at 12:16AM

Tony 'Da Beast' Suggs (on right) teaches at Charles Houston Recreation Center, July 9, 2025 (staff photo by James Cullum)

For the last several years, Tony Suggs has helped others in Alexandria unleash “Da Beast” within. In a good way.

The 59-year-old doesn’t make it easy. In a recent boxercise class at the Charles Houston Recreation Center, more than a dozen students, ranging from their mid-20s to late 70s, got an intense hour-long workout. It started with pushups, leg lifts, scissor kicks, jumping jacks, and then moved to jump rope, followed by a half hour of throwing gloved hands against pads and heavy bags.

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The Rink That Rocked: Talk to revisit Alexandria venue that hosted Janis Joplin, Alice Cooper

By James Cullum

Published June 27, 2025 at 12:15PM | Updated June 27, 2025 at 7:59PM

The Alexandria Roller Rink in Old Town North was open from 1948 to 1986 (via Office of Historic Alexandria)

The Alexandria Roller Rink in Old Town North was open from 1948 to 1986 (via Office of Historic Alexandria)Next month, the Alexandria Historical Society will host a behind-the-scenes panel to reflect on the legacy of a long-lost landmark: the Alexandria Roller Rink.

With its maple floors and Wurlitzer organ, the Alexandria Roller Rink (807 N. St. Asaph Street) could hold 3,000 skaters at a time. It wasn’t all about skating, though. In the 1970s, the rink was advertised as a “psychedelic ballroom” and the “Alexandria Rock Arena” and hosted concerts with stars like Janis Joplin, Jethro Tull, and Alice Cooper, according to the Office of Historic Alexandria.

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Here’s the 2025 ACPS Athletic Hall of Fame inductees

By James Cullum

Published June 25, 2025 at 2:15PM

Tony "Da Beast" Suggs (via Facebook)

Former pro boxer Tony “Da Beast” Suggs, former T.C. Williams High School principal John Porter, and the 1947 George Washington High School Baseball Team are heading to the hall of fame.

The Alexandria City Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame, that is. This year’s 16 inductees were approved for inclusion by the School Board on June 12, and the induction ceremony will take place on October 11.

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Exhibition baseball team ‘Savannah Bananas’ taking over Dunkin’ in Alexandria

By James Cullum

Published June 25, 2025 at 12:00PM

The Savannah Bananas (via Facebook)

The Savannah Bananas, an exhibition baseball team from Georgia, is taking over the Dunkin’ at 3325 Richmond Highway for two hours on Saturday (June 28).

Dunkin’ is the “official coffee and breakfast partner” of the Savannah Bananas, and from 9 to 11 a.m., players will go behind the counter to take orders, treat guests, and give away free merchandise.

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ALXnow’s top stories this week in Alexandria

By James Cullum

Published May 9, 2025 at 3:30PM

The athletic fields at Episcopal High School (via City of Alexandria)

Welcome to Friday! Here’s a look back at our most-read stories of the week.

Our top story this week is on Episcopal High School being named a training site for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. To accommodate an international soccer team with a home-away-from-home atmosphere, the private school is asking the city for permission to install field lighting with 47 light poles between 40-to-100-feet-tall.

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10 Questions with Alexandria’s Joey Schaljo, the voice of the Washington Mystics

By James Cullum

Published April 30, 2025 at 3:37PM

Alexandria's Joey Schaljo, the voice of the Washington Mystics (staff photo by James Cullum)

There’s something about Joey Schaljo’s voice.

Since 2023, the Del Ray resident has been the in-game PA announcer at all of the Washington Mystics games. She’s also a longtime announcer at the New York City Marathon, and can regularly be heard in commercials for Ozempic, Aspercreme with Lidocaine, and Realtor.com.

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ACPS admits ‘internal breakdown’ kept defending debate champs from state title defense

By James Cullum

Published April 29, 2025 at 1:30PM | Updated April 30, 2025 at 10:48AM

Alexandria City High School's Harlow Babic and Andrew Bell, the 2024 VHSL Class 6 Policy Debate State Champions, failed to register for this year's state tournament and didn't enter (courtesy image)

Last year’s win was unbelievable. Without coaching, organization, or outside help, Alexandria’s Harlow Babic and Andrew Bell won the Virginia High School League’s debate state championship.

This year, after spending hundreds of hours building arguments, the defending state champs from Alexandria City High School were gearing up for two wins in a row. Their hopes were dashed three days before the April 26 tournament at James Madison University when told that they missed the registration deadline and couldn’t participate.