Dallas ISD to induct nine into Athletic Hall of Fame

BY THE HUB ON JANUARY 29, 2024NEWS

The 2023-2024 Dallas ISD Athletic Hall of Fame class boasts nine legendary individuals who have made a fundamental impact on sports in the district and beyond. The induction ceremony is slated for April 12 at the W Hotel in Dallas.

This year’s class of inductees includes:

• Rickey Dixon – Wilmer-Hutchins High School standout defensive back and College Football Hall of Fame inductee.
• Jimmy Gales – South Oak Cliff High School and University of North Texas high-achieving basketball coach.
• Don E. King Jr. – Justin F. Kimball High School and Southern Methodist University All-American quarterback and former NFL player.
• Lisa Langston – H. Grady Spruce High School multisport athlete and first African American woman to serve as the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association president.
• C.J. Miles – Skyline High School All-American basketball star and youngest player drafted by the Utah Jazz.
• Bettye Mims-Danoff – Sunset High School’s first female golfer and co-founder of the Ladies Professional Golf Association.
• Gene and Joe Pouncy – Record-setting sprinters for Lincoln High School and Humanities/Communications Magnet and the Southwest Conference.
• Sammy Walker – W.W. Samuell High School and Southern Methodist University nationally ranked shot putter and Olympic weightlifter.

To be selected for the Hall of Fame, individuals must exemplify the highest standards of sportsmanship, ethical conduct, and moral character. Inductees were selected for their striking accomplishments and undisputed impact while advancing school athletics. Their successes are not limited to Dallas ISD borders. They have reached recognition on local, state, national, and international levels.

Meet the Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2024:

Rickey Dixon (1966-2020) is a 1984 graduate of Wilmer-Hutchins High School, where he excelled on the football field as a defensive back, earning All-District, All-Area, and All-State honors as a senior. Dixon also ran track for the Wilmer-Hutchins Eagles before signing to play football at the University of Oklahoma, where he guided the Sooners to the 1985 national championship. In 1987, Dixon was a consensus First-Team All-American and won the Jim Thorpe Award as the best defensive back in the nation while leading the Big Eight Conference with a single-season school record of nine interceptions. Dixon was a two-time, First-Team All-Big Eight selection and assisted the Sooners to four consecutive conference championships and four Orange Bowl berths. He closed his career with 17 interceptions. Dixon, the fifth overall pick in the 1988 NFL Draft, propelled the Cincinnati Bengals to the 1989 Super Bowl in his rookie season. He played five seasons for the Bengals before finishing his career with the Los Angeles Raiders in 1993. Following his playing career, Dixon became a motivational speaker for at-risk youth.

Jimmy Gales (1941-2020) twice coached the South Oak Cliff High School (SOC) boys’ basketball team, leading them from 1972-1975 and again from 1983-1986. Gales led SOC to the state tournament regional finals three times and reached the state final with the 1973-1974 team. During his six seasons with the Golden Bears, his teams boasted an impressive 88% win rate (193-26). After his first stint at SOC, Gales served as an assistant coach at the University of North Texas (UNT) under Bill Blakeley. Gales then returned to coach at UNT from 1986-1993, where he steered the Mean Green to the 1988 Southland Conference regular season and tournament titles, securing a spot in the NCAA Tournament. He also led North Texas to a second consecutive Southland Conference regular season championship in 1989. In his seven seasons at UNT, Gales’ teams won 56% of their conference games and reached the conference tournament finals four times. After eight seasons, Gales transitioned back to the district, serving as James Madison High School’s assistant principal for 11 years.

Don E. King Jr., a 1982 graduate of Justin F. Kimball High School, excelled as the quarterback for the Knights’ football team and secured a scholarship to Southern Methodist University (SMU). He was a two-year starter and four-year letterman at SMU, earned All-Southwest Conference recognition, and was an honorable mention All-American. Undrafted in the 1986 NFL Draft, King signed with the Kansas City Chiefs that year and with the Green Bay Packers in 1987. King, a former physical and special education teacher and coach in Dallas ISD, served as the head football coach and head girls’ basketball coach at T.W. Browne Middle School in Dallas from 2004-2008. Additionally, he contributed as an assistant coach for the boys’ basketball, baseball, and boys’ track teams during this period.

Lisa Langston played basketball as well as volleyball and ran track and cross country before graduating from H. Grady Spruce High School in 1982. In basketball, she earned All-Region honors and was selected for the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches All-Star game. Langston achieved state medals in track, excelling as an All-American 100-meter hurdler and earning recognition for her long jump. Despite some initial hesitation, she led the Spruce Timberwolves to a district and city championship in cross country. She attended Texas A&M University where she earned four letters on the women’s basketball team (1983-1986) and two on the track & field team (1986-1987). Langston was the first Aggie to earn First-Team All-Southwest Conference (SWC) honors for basketball in 1985, averaging 16.3 points and 6.2 rebounds during her career. On the track, she finished third in the 100-meter hurdles at the 1986 SWC outdoor meet and third in the 1987 SWC meet. She also finished second in the 60-yard hurdles in the 1987 SWC indoor meet. After playing professional basketball in Germany and Spain, Langston began her career in education as teacher and coach with Fort Worth ISD in 1990. She later became an athletic administrator for Fort Worth ISD in 1995 and is currently the director of athletics. She was the first African American woman to serve as president of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.

C.J. Miles is a 2005 graduate of Skyline High School, where he was a member of the boys’ basketball team. In 2005, he was named First Team All-American, Gatorade Player of the Year, Texas’ Mr. Basketball, and The Dallas Morning News Area Player of the Year. Miles was also named a McDonald’s All-American after leading Skyline to the 5A regional quarterfinals. He capped off his high school career by scoring 13 points in the McDonald’s High School All-American Game and 16 points in the Michael Jordan Classic. Miles committed to play basketball at the University of Texas before he was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz, making him the youngest player drafted in franchise history. Miles played for the Jazz from 2005-2012 and retired in 2022 after playing on several NBA teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, Memphis Grizzlies, Washington Wizards, and Boston Celtics. In his 17-year career, Miles participated in 44 playoff games for three teams, played 849 games, and maintained an average of 9.6 points per game.

Bettye Mims-Danoff (1923-2011), a 1940 graduate of Sunset High School, began playing golf at the age of 12 and made history as the first girl to play on the Sunset golf team in 1938. Standing at just 5-feet-2 inches, Mims-Danoff, also known as “Mighty Mite,” won four consecutive Dallas Women’s Golf Association Championships from 1945-1948. She interrupted Babe Zaharias’ 17-tournament win streak in the women’s division of the Texas PGA in 1945 and 1946, also clinching the 1947 Texas Women’s Amateur Championships. In 1948, Mims-Danoff defended her Texas Women’s Amateur title and concurrently claimed victory in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. Renowned as one of the 13 founding members, she played a pivotal role in establishing the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in 1950. As a professional, she won the Hardscrabble Open in Fort Smith, Ark., and traveled with her three daughters while on tour and became the LPGA tour’s first grandmother. In June, she will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame alongside her fellow LGPA founding members.

Gene and Joe Pouncy were inseparable long before they attended Lincoln High School and Humanities/Communications Magnet, where they ran track and played football. Achieving national records in sprint and mile relays, they earned the title of “track & field royalty” by The Dallas Morning News. At the 1969 state championships, the duo, joined by John Delley and Rufus Shaw, set a national record in the 440-yard relay with an impressive time of 40.7 seconds. The same year, Gene won state in the 100-yard dash with a time of 9.4 seconds, and Joe won the 220-yard dash at 21.2 seconds. After graduating from Lincoln in 1970, the Pouncy twins attended Southern Methodist University (SMU), where they won Southwest Conference (SWC) Championships and achieved All-American status. The brothers helped set the SWC sprint relay record. Joe individually claimed the SWC 220-yard dash title for four consecutive years, becoming the fifth athlete to accomplish this feat in SWC history. Gene won the 100-yard dash outdoor and 60-yard dash indoor title three times each, nearly qualifying for the 1972 Olympics. Gene is on the all-time list of best 100-yard dash sprinters in America. Inducted into the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, the twins also received the “Black Alumni Award” from SMU in 2012 for their substantial contributions to the university’s community. The twins were inseparable for 69 years. Gene Pouncy passed away in 2020.

Sammy Walker, a versatile athlete at W.W. Samuell High School, earned All-State honorable mention football recognition as a fullback. Walker gained widespread recognition as a shot putter, becoming the first Texas high school athlete to surpass 70 feet. He broke the national high school shot put record 11 times before graduating in 1968, achieving an impressive distance of 72 feet, 3 inches his senior year. Attending Southern Methodist University, Walker pursued shot put throughout his academic journey, earning a business degree in 1973. His notable achievements include a second-place finish at the 1971 NCAA Championships and fourth-place finishes in 1972 and 1973. In 1973, he secured third place in the American Athletic Union (AAU) competition, consistently ranking in the top six every year from 1972-1975 and 1977-1978. Throughout his career, he was nationally ranked in the shot put nine times and made the top four in 1975. In 1976, Sammy Walker secured a spot on the U.S. Olympic weightlifting team, achieving his career bests with a 350-pound snatch and a 480-pound clean and jerk at the AAU meet. Walker also participated in the 1972 and 1980 U.S. Olympic Trials, placing 11th in 1972 and seventh in 1980.

For more information, please visit the Dallas ISD Athletic Hall of Fame website.