Photo of Michael Hinojosa courtesy of Dallas ISD.
The outgoing Dallas ISD superintendent and a South Oak Cliff High School alumnus who’s won state football championships for Duncanville High School are among this year’s inductees to the district’s athletics hall of fame.
Michael Hinojosa, Reginald Samples and former Lincoln High School coach Elsie Moreno are the inductees from Oak Cliff this year.
Here’s what the district says about Hinojosa:
Hinojosa played baseball and basketball at Sunset High School before graduating in 1975. He began his career as a teacher and a coach at W.H. Adamson High School, where he coached a variety of sports, including basketball. During his two terms as superintendent, Hinojosa guided Dallas ISD from 2005-2011 and again from 2015-2022. Under his leadership, the district experienced significant academic improvement and has been recognized for its innovative policies and programs. He led the historic passage of the largest bond in Texas history, which continues to bring significant improvements to district facilities.
Reginald Samples, the athletic director at Duncanville High School since 2015, graduated from SOC in 1973 and is “the winningest Black football coach in Texas UIL history.”
Samples got his start in Dallas ISD as a teacher and assistant coach at James Madison High School in 1983. He landed his first head coaching position at Lincoln High School in 1990 and took the Tigers to the state championship game in 2004. Samples left to become the head coach at Skyline High School prior to the 2005 season. He also guided the Raiders to district championships in nine of his 10 seasons and led them to the state semifinals in 2011 and 2014. In 2015, Samples was appointed head coach at Duncanville High School, where he is currently employed. During the past seven seasons, Samples guided the Panthers to the playoffs six times, reaching the state championship game three times. Samples enters the 2022 season with 311 career victories.
Norman Jett, who once sued DISD alleging due process, First Amendment and equal protection violations, is the winningest coach in SOC history and an “iconic figure in the history of South Oak Cliff High School.”
He began his teaching and coaching career at the school in 1962 and became the Golden Bears head football coach and athletic coordinator in 1970. During his 12-year tenure as head coach, Jett led the Golden Bears to three district titles. He finished his career as the school’s all-time winningest coach with a record of 103 wins, 29 losses and five ties.
Elsie Moreno, whose legendary Oak Cliff family includes the actress Belita Moreno, graduated from Kimball in 1969. She was the first girls volleyball and basketball coach at Lincoln.
She also coached girls track & field, guiding the Tigers to a district championship in 1975. Her volleyball teams won three district titles and her soccer teams won district championships for 13 consecutive years from 1983-1995, with three of those teams reaching the regional finals. Moreno was the first female athletic coordinator at Bryan Adams and later served as assistant athletic director for the district from 1997-2004.
Photo of Spud Webb in 1994 via Wikipedia
The full list of inductees also includes Spud Webb, the 5-foot-7 former NBA player from Wilmer Hutchins who won Americans’ hearts in 1986 when he won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, the shortest king ever to do it. Watch below.
