2018
Athletic Hall of Honor Inductees 2018
Chad Allen
A 1993 graduate of Duncanville High School, Chad was a four-year letter winner for the Panthers in baseball. During those four years, Chad was an All-District selection and member of the 1990 State Championship team. After high school, Chad continued his baseball career at Texas A&M University from 1994-1996. He played on the 1996 USA Olympic baseball team which won a bronze medal, and in that same year was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the fourth round. In 1999, Chad made his major league debut. He would play for the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, Florida Marlins, and Texas Rangers. Chad is currently the hitting coach for Minnesota Twins minor league system.
Becky Davis Cady
Becky Davis Cady attended Duncanville ISD schools from first through twelfth grades, graduating from Duncanville High School in 1979. She received her BS in Math from the University of Texas at Arlington in December 1982. Becky started working for LTV in April 1983, where she met Kim Cady, whom she married in October 1984. 35 years later she is still working for the same company, though its name is now Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. She and Kim celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary in October.
Becky and her family have supported Duncanville athletics for over 50 years. Joe, Becky’s Dad, was a champion for the City of Champions while serving multiple terms on the School Board. Her mom Betty was a room mother during the kid’s elementary school years and a lifetime PTA member. She also worked in the Athletic Office for many years. Cindy and Kyle, Becky’s sister and brother, participated in Duncanville athletics. Cindy was also a member of the Marching Band Flag Corps.
By going to college, working and living locally, Becky has been able to continue supporting her alma mater. Her primary form of support has been keeping the scorebook for many years for the basketball teams. Coach Meadows first asked her to keep the book or the Varsity Pantherettes home games, starting with the 1970-1980 season. Today, she keeps the books for Coach Peavy and the varsity Panthers games. Being allowed to keep the book has been a privilege and pleasure for Becky. She has met so many wonderful people over the years. In addition, it has given Becky and her mom the opportunity to take some memorable road trips. She hopes she is able to continue this support for many more years.
Chad Fitzgerald
The definition of transplant is to lift or reset in another situation. Upon arriving in Duncanville, Chad Fitzgerald, “Fitz” as they call him, never realized that soon he would not only live and breathe Duncanville, but would also bleed red, white and blue. Chad came to Duncanville in 2000 from Midland ISD, where he taught mathematics and was team lead at the middle school level. He started at Reed Middle School and moved to DHS in 2004. Upon arriving at Duncanville High School, he soon became a fan of the many ways Duncanville High School is celebrated - through athletics, band, theatre, student organizations and, of course, academics. Little did he know that in 2000, he would arrive in Duncanville with the notorious Coach Cathy Self-Morgan. Flash forward to 2004, when a new fan came across Coach Self-Morgan and asked her if she would mind if he decorated the girl’s locker room before games; 15 years later, lockers and buses often have that motivational feel that Fitz leaves behind. Throughout the years, girls’ basketball, boys’ basketball, and soccer-both boys and girls, football, cheer and softball are some of the activities loved, supported and celebrated by this superfan! Winning is not what is so attractive to Chad, although being hugely competitive and pressed for success…winning is nice: but more importantly to Fitz, is in the many years of socio-economic change and diverse culture shifts in demographics has not swayed the communities support and most importantly no one has lowered standards. “In 1984, I was a senior in high school at Hereford High School. We were a small 5A school (largest classification) and competing in Austin at the state marching contest and our buses pulled into the parking lot facing a monstrous band in white and navy…Duncanville High School. It left an impression, which I have never forgotten!” 34 years later the level of expectation is still as high as ever and community support is second to none.
Chad has taught in 2 school districts and loved one whole-heartedly. A 1991 graduate of West Texas A&M University. Chad taught for over 24 years and has been a DHS counselor the past 3 years, currently serving hi 4th year where he is in charge of all 4500+ transcripts, the NCAA and NAIA Liaison dealing with athletic compliance at the collegiate level. Last year, 2017-2018 school year. Mr. Fitz was recognized as a DHS Teacher of the Year and went on to ben named the Duncanville ISD Secondary Teacher of the Year. In his “spare-time” … Chad and his partner own and operate an award winning, locally known wedding cake company, The Cake Guys and throughout the years many students, coaches’ teachers, fans, parents and athletes have enjoyed celebratory cupcakes and cakes…no doubt…red, white and blue!
Cobi Kennedy
Cobi grew up in Duncanville, attending Smith Elementary and Byrd Junior High, and was a 1991 graduate of Duncanville High School. She started playing basketball in the seventh grade. That team had a record of 15-1 and won the district championship.
Her eighth grade team also finished undefeated. In the ninth grade, Cobi played on the junior varsity team. They finished 27-0 and won district that year.
She was the brought up to the varsity team, which went on to win the state championship with a record of 37-2 in 1988. The Pantherettes went 39-0 and won the state title in 1989. Cobi was named District Sophomore of the Year. In 1990 they won state again, 37-0 and Cobi made the All-State team. Cobi’s senior year she suffered a ruptured appendix after the first playoff game, but the team made it to the semifinals without her and finished the season with a 31-1 record. Cobi was named to the All-State team and was awarded the Miss Basketball award for the 1990-1991 season.
Cobi also participated on the track and field team for three years, and went on to the Regional Track Meet in the high jump all three years.
Cobi received a full scholarship to play basketball for Jody Conradt at the University of Texas in Austin, where she earned a degree in Sports Management in 1995. She is currently living in Grand Prairie and is the finance manager for a medical company.
Sylvia Miller
Sylvia Miller learned and developed a passion for soccer when her family was transferred to Germany for six years. After returning to the US in her senior year in 1974, she attended and graduated from DeSoto High School in 1975. There was quite a bit of adjustment to living in the US after living in Germany for six years, but she found her “happy place” in athletics. She played volleyball and it was then that her passion for sports grew and she knew she wanted to be a coach and a teacher.
The next year, she matriculated at North Texas State University (UNT) as a physical education major with a minor in French, later adding another minor in English from UTA. She played volleyball for NTSU all four years and ran track for two. At the time, there was no girls soccer team at NTSU, so she played on the intramural soccer teams. She was in the first group to ever graduate from NTSU after they implemented the “Competency Program”, whereby Physical Education graduates had to be competent in both physical ability and cognitive understanding in eight sports.
After completing her Bachelor of Science degree in just four years, Sylvia started her coaching career at DeSoto Junior High in 1979. She taught Physical Ed and coached volleyball, basketball and track. When she wasn’t teaching or coaching, she would be playing soccer on local women’s teams to stay in touch with the sport she loved so much. It was also during this time that she met DHS soccer coach Vickie Turner. Vickie knew that she was going to do some mission work in Africa the following year, and that DHS would need a soccer coach. She approached Athletic Director Bill Savage and suggested that he hire Sylvia to take her place. As a result, Sylvia started teaching and coaching at Duncanville High School at the start of the 1981 school year.
As a teacher at Duncanville High School, Sylvia taught junior English, freshman English and Correlated Language Arts as well as French I and II. In addition to coaching both the junior varsity and varsity soccer teams, she also coached the sophomore basketball team in her first year at DHS.
The most successful girls soccer coach in the Duncanville Girls Soccer Program, Coach Miller took her team to the playoffs eleven of twelve years that she coached. Those twelve years included four bi-district titles, one Area finalist finish, Regional quarterfinal and final titles, a State semifinal appearance, a State finalist appearance and two State Championships in 1987 and 1988. During those twelve years, the girls soccer program amassed a 224-40-7 record. Coach Miller also received the District Coach of the Year award three times and was the Dallas Morning News All-Metro Coach of the Year in 1990.
With parenting duties becoming more and more demanding, Sylvia decided to take a hiatus from coaching in 1994 and focus on family and teaching. Three years later, she went to teach at Maypearl High School where she taught Junior English, AP English and Speech, and eventually went back to coaching as the Head Volleyball Coach. She accrued over 150 wins in just seven years, and again made playoff appearances in six out of those seven years.
Sylvia retired from teaching in 2009 but still remains active. She is a volleyball official for TASO, a Ride Captain for the Patriot Guard Riders of North Texas, taught aqua fitness at Main Street Gym, is a member of the Krewe of Eve (all all-women’s philanthropic group in Mandeville, LA) and assists in the TAGG animal rescue group with her daughter. Sylvia has been married to husband Dale for 33 years. They have two children and just recently added a daughter-in-law and a granddaughter.