The Gridiron Gang

The Haley family of Bethesda is its own football dynasty. More than 20 members over three generations have played the game and many have starred. It all started with ‘Old’ Pete Haley, a larger-than-life figure who expected a lot from his kids—and got it

By Carole Dell

The ground was muddy and the tension high that rainy October day in 2005 at Catholic University as the football team stormed the field to take on Hampden-Sydney (Va.) College. Forming its own team, 100 strong and four generations deep, the Haley family of Bethesda stood just beyond the end zone. Some of the dads tried unsuccessfully to keep their kids out of the mud; uncles and aunts rubbed their hands nervously against the chill, but all watched the drama unfold before them.

The Haley throng—which by marriage included the Riccas, Gilmores, Teares, Lavertys, Williamses and Stiebers—had come to see two of their own play against each other.

Keith Ricca, who as a freshman was Catholic’s starting quarterback and the second-leading Division III passer, was playing against his older brother, John David (J.D.), Hampden-Sydney’s senior quarterback and the leading Division III passer. Adding to the excitement, their cousin, Patrick Laverty, was an offensive lineman for Catholic.

In the seats behind the end zone, Keith and J.D.’s grand-father, Jim Ricca, 79, a former Redskins lineman who passed away in February, sat with his brother-in-law Pat Haley, the boys’ uncle. Pat would call the game out loud so that Jim, whose eyesight was failing, would not miss a play. John and Therese Ricca, Keith and J.D.’s parents, wore T-shirts emblazoned with “CUA vs HSC, Keith versus JD” and “Uncle Jack is watching,” a tribute to Aunt Ann Haley Teare’s husband, who watched all their games and who had passed away in 2003. Each family member received a T-shirt at the huge family tailgate party, which started hours before the game.

John Ricca was used to the tension, he had coached at least eight of the family’s boys, including his three sons—Keith, 20, J.D., 24, and Kevin, 31, a former quarterback at Catholic who set seven records and was a second team All American in 1997.    

Most fans root for one team, but this family needed a different game plan. “We just wanted both teams to be high scoring and play well,” recalls Tommy Haley of Somerset, the boys’ cousin. “So we only cheered for the offense.” J.D. and Hampden-Sydney won, 21-14. “It was a day to celebrate,” says the boys’ aunt, Marie Gilmore Williams. “Two great kids, two great performances, with the older one winning.” As Keith and J. D. walked off the field, they headed toward their parents, then turned for a brotherly bear hug.

The family members that cheered for them that day had a special appreciation of the game. Many had been football players themselves, both in Bethesda-area high schools and in college. In fact, the Haleys may be the greatest sports family—ever—from Montgomery County. More than 20 members over three generations have played football at least on the high school level—and many have shined. Family members were named to the All-Met team at least seven times by The Washington Post. At least three three won awards from the prestigious Washington Touchdown Club given to the best high school players, and two won Touchdown Club awards in eighth grade. Many starred in other sports as well, including basketball, decathlon, track and field. The girls, not to be outdone, started in basketball, soccer, lacrosse and swimming.

Now, after more than 60 years, the Haley family football factory may have produced its best in Keith Ricca. “He is our rising star,” Tommy says of his cousin. At St. John’s at Prospect Hall in Frederick, Keith played football for his father and coach, John, setting 13 Maryland high school passing records and throwing for 113 touchdowns. In the 2005 season,

Keith set a Catholic single-game record, throwing for 488 yards, breaking his older brother Kevin’s school record. But, he still has not surpassed the career records that Kevin set. Only a sophomore, Keith has yards to go before he graduates.

“They are one of the great families in football,” says longtime family friend Morgan Wootten, a Naismeth Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer and former DeMatha basketball coach. “And, it all goes back to old Pete Haley.” Pete, as he was called by friends, was Peter R. Haley Sr., Keith’s and J.D.’s great-grandfather. He was a bear of a man who, according to Tommy, would have roared loudest during the Catholic/Hampden-Sydney game. “Pete turned out a lot of athletes to be proud of,” says Charlie Brotman, a former president of the Touchdown Club. “It was because of him they became the best.”

A second-generation Irishman, Pete and his wife, Grace Keegin, moved from Webster Street in Washington to a little house on Chase Avenue in Bethesda in 1933. They had seven children—four boys and three girls. All of the kids shared their father’s passion for sports, and all had no choice but adhere to Pete’s ethic of “nothing comes easy.” A Catholic, Pete went to Mass regularly and preached to his children about hard work, results and attitude. “As kids, all we heard from Dad was: ‘do your best; play fair,’ as we ran out the door,” says son Pat.

All four of Pete Haley Sr.’s boys were outstanding football players. Peter R. Haley Jr., who died at the age of 61 in 1994, was a first team All City player at Wilson High School in Washington and then played at Villanova. Billy, 74, who lives in El Paso, Texas, played high school football at Gonzaga, won the Touchdown Club Prep School player of the year in 1949, and played at Holy Cross College. Pat, 72, a resident of Chevy Chase until January and now of Grasonville on the Eastern Shore, was a first team All Prep player at Georgetown Prep and then played at Villanova. And John, who died at the age of 56 in 1995, was first team All City in track and baseball at St. John’s College High School and played football at Michigan.

In the next generation, six of the Haley boys’ sons played football, including Tommy, who starred at Bullis and played outside linebacker at the University of South Carolina; and Peter, who was the 1976 Touchdown Club award winner for his play at St. John’s, and then went on to play at the University of Tennessee and the University of Maryland.

Pete and Grace’s three daughters—Grace Haley Gilmore, Ann Haley Teare and Mary Haley Ricca—had children that also contributed to the Haley sports legacy. Ann’s son, John Teare, played high school football at St. John’s and her other son, Keegin, 30, played basketball at Marymount University.

But it was Mary’s family that has taken the family’s football reputation to a new level. Mary married Jim Ricca, who played in the NFL for seven years, including four years with the Redskins. They had four children: John, Chris, Lorrie and Jody. John, 56, who now lives in Poolesville, was the Touchdown Club Prep School player of the year in 1970 (his senior year at Georgetown Prep), an All ACC First Team player at Duke, and then played in the Canadian Football League, World Football League and the NFL. Chris, 51, was a first team All Prep football player at Bullis in the early 1970s and played basketball at Salisbury State. Seven of Mary and Jim’s grandchildren played or are currently playing football, including John’s sons—Kevin, J.D. and Keith.

As DeMatha football coach Bill McGregor once said of the Haleys, “They never stop coming.”

Family that plays together, stays together

Peter R. Haley Sr. had three major loves in his life: Georgetown University football, the Washington Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), which he helped launch in 1946, and—most of all—his family. To his grandchildren, Pete was “Pop Pop”—an endearing tag for a man who deeply loved his brood, but who was uncompromising and stern.  “He was bigger than life,” says Marie Gilmore Williams, one of 33 grandchildren. “We grew up hearing, after our games, ‘Pop Pop’ would have been so proud of you.” 

Marie says Pete “was always trying to win.” He had standards, she says, and he didn’t waver. If he spied any kid in the gym with a cap on, it would come off or the kid was out. But, she also remembers him being gentle with the little ones, and as a child, her greatest thrill was his Sunday visit. He arrived with bluster, bearing Hershey bars and big hugs for his eager grandchildren. Visiting all seven families clustered in the Bethesda area was his Sunday ritual.

Pete, Grace and their seven kids lived in a two-bedroom, one-bath house that Pat remembers being a wonderful place to grow up in. “But, I don’t know how we fit,” he says, recalling the dreaded Friday date nights. The competition over who got to the bathroom first and stayed longest was fierce. “Somehow we all managed,” Pat says.

Grace, a devout Catholic who regularly attended Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Bethesda, set the house rules. In the summer, she required the boys to volunteer as altar boys at the 6:45 Mass each morning. “That certainly kept us out of trouble,” says Pat. “We didn’t dare say no.” They also didn’t say no when their father asked them to get on their knees each evening to say the rosary. It was during World War II and there was much to pray for.

As the kids entered sports, the Haley home became a magnet for other young athletes. “Everybody worked hard all week and played on Sunday,” says Pat. The routine was to come home from Mass and play games like stickball and especially basketball on the 40x40-foot court that dominated their back yard. What awaited anyone who showed up was the sumptuous dinner at the end of the day. “Every Sunday, Mom would cook and it could grow to 15 to 20 people, but she made it look easy as pie,” says Pat.

Wootten remembers going to the Haleys’ as a 19-year-old kid to play basketball. “They were tremendous athletes and it was a loving, open home,” he says. In addition to Wootten, Georgetown University athletes and several of the priests would be a part of the Sunday gatherings. Georgetown football player Jack Haggerty and Georgetown tennis player Freddy Mesmer (his son, Joe, is now tennis pro at Columbia Country Club) were regulars. After Grace’s dinner, a friend would play the piano while family and friends gathered around singing, the boys jostling each other.

Not surprisingly, the Haleys are a competitive bunch even with themselves. “We compete at everything and it really comes out in our card games,” says John. The family made up its own game, a knock-off on bridge they called “Oh Hell.” Before they were married, John and Therese started playing with Jack and Ann each week. They were continuing a family tradition passed on through the generations. Now, John plays with his children. “It has led to some fights and a lot of trash talk over the years,” John says. “But, I am still the champ and the master.”

Tommy Haley recalls some of his best moments as a kid competing in the family’s annual “Turkey Bowl” Thanksgiving football game. Boys and men would face off on the field at Georgetown Prep, a few fathers on each side. “We rooted for each other our whole lives,” says Tommy. “But, this game got real serious, because you didn’t want to walk the walk of shame. You wanted a place at the dinner table, but not second place.”

Put the Haley men together today, and they still can’t conceal their big, blustery Irish macho. It bursts out at crazy moments, at a family picnic or a ballgame, with a punch to the arm or a head hold, but it usually ends with a belly laugh. “We are all very close,” says Tommy. “It’s a competitive family but also a compassionate family. No matter what, we would do anything for each other.”

Roots of the family tree

Pete owned and operated a restaurant, the Hoya Inn, which was near the university, for 17 years until he closed it in 1943. Daughter Ann Haley Teare remembers that family doctor and dentist bills were unheard of because of her dad’s relationships with customers. “After he died, we found a metal box with over 200 chits from 1928 to 1943 that he never collected on,” she says. “If a student didn’t have money to eat, it was on the house.”

Pete’s popular restaurant provided income for the family, but it was also his theater. He entertained the grandest names in Washington sports and business at the time, in addition to befriending many of the Georgetown students. The late Edward Bennett Williams, a law student at the time, sometimes slept in one of the rooms upstairs. 

But it was Pete’s launching of the Washington chapter of the CYO in 1946, along with Father Ed Luckett, that became one of his most important legacies. As executive director, Pete helped open the CYO’s doors to inner city kids and anyone else who cared to come. He helped kids experience sports and culture on a competitive and organized level. There were one-act play contests, the CYO-Washington, D.C. Spelling Bee, a talent show, teen clubs, Golden Gloves boxing and, of course, football, basketball and baseball. “What Pete did at the CYO touched so many lives, including mine,” says Wootten. “He was a great influence on me.”

Pete’s love for Georgetown University never wavered, and it showed in his recruiting record. When he wanted a player for Georgetown’s football team, he would regale him with tales of the Hoyas’ athletic prowess. “Dad is responsible for bringing [to Georgetown] such great players as Jack Haggerty, Jim Castiglia and Jim Ricca, the last player for Georgetown to play in the NFL,” says Ann. After recruiting for Georgetown, Pete worked for the Detroit Tigers as a scout until his death in 1965 and during that time helped bring Bubba Morton, the first African-American player, to the team.

In 1962, after Pete and Grace found their dream house on Derbyshire Court in the Stratton Woods area of Bethesda, off  Fernwood Road, they moved from their Chase Avenue home of 29 years. Their new home faced WMAL field across the street and it soon became a gridiron for family football games. Eventually, some of the Ricca and Gilmore families gravitated to the same neighborhood and settled on the surrounding streets.

Mary Haley Ricca still lives in the same house where she raised John—Kevin, J.D. and Keith’s dad. Grace Gilmore, Marie’s mother, also lives nearby on Derbyshire Lane. Close by, facing the field, Pete and Grace’s house is now home to Mary’s daughter, Jody Ricca Stieber and her family.

When the old Chase Avenue house was about to be demolished to make room for a parking lot, Pete’s children reacted. Before the wreckers came, all seven showed up with a bottle of Irish whiskey and toasted the memories. “It was the demolition of an era,” says Pat, who remembers it being said that the place was like the miracle of the loaves and the fishes: His parents always had room and always had food. “The door to Mom and Dad’s heart and mind and home was always open,” he says.

Carole Dell is a freelance writer and photographer living in Potomac.