One of the many highlights of homecoming each year is the induction of Taylor High School graduates into the Taylor High School Duck Hall of Fame. This year the Ex-Students Association added four alumni to the distinguished list: world famous athlete Fred Kerley (class of 2013), anthropologist Peggy Leshikar Denton (class of 1970), educator Tim Crow (class of 1980), and Jessica Harkins Shahin (class of 1970) for her commitment to serving others.
Fred Kerley has been known as a hard worker who has a plan, knows what he wants, and knows how to get there. His former coach, Mike Tennill, recalled that while in school Kerley participated in football, basketball and track, a mark of his versatility. As a senior at state, Kerley was third in the 200, fourth in the triple jump and anchored the mile relay to a third-place finish in a time of 3:18.4. Tennill also told how as a senior, Kerley intercepted a pass in the bi-district game against La Vega, running it back for a touchdown that led to a Duck victory over one of the top 4A teams in the state. Upon graduation, Kerley joined the South Plains track team at Levelland where he excelled as one of their top relay runners.
As a freshman at the Texas Relays, Kerley ran on both the winning sprint medley and mile relay teams for the Texans.
After his two years at South Plains, Kerley was heavily recruited by LSU, Alabama and Texas A&M. He chose A&M as this had been a life long dream.
During his junior year at A&M, Kerley led the nation the entire year as the fastest 400 meters in a time of 45.1. That qualified him for the US Olympic trials, although his time there did not allow him to make the team.
As a senior Aggie, Kerley had a very successful indoor season, winning the NCAA 400 meter and 4x400 mile relay title along with his brother, Mylik. That relay win also cemented their title NCAA Indoor Team Champions.
In the outdoor season he broke a 25-year-old record in the 400-meter dash at the NCAA qualifiers meet in Austin and became the fastest quarter miler in the world for 2017 in a time of 43.7. He then went on to win the open 400 and 4x400 NCAA titles once again.
Kerley was named an all American at A&M in the 400 and the 4x400 NCAA titles. Both years, in both the indoor and outdoor seasons, he is still a multiple record holder at A&M in those events and is the all time fastest quarter miler in Aggie history. Upon finishing his college eligibility, he signed with Nike and became a professional athlete.
Since turning pro, he has been a part of a world championship 4x400 relay, has been a world champion 100and 200-meter runner and in 2021 was second in the 100-meter dash by 4/100 of a second at the Tokyo Olympics.
In 2021, Kerley became the first man to win the Diamond League events in the 100, 200 and 400. He is also one of three men in the history of track to run sub 10 in the 100, sub 20 in the 200 and sub 44 in the 400. He is #8 all time in the 400 meter in the world.
Kerley holds the record for the fastest 100-meter ever run in a heat event at a world competition. He is the fastest American ever on US soil to run the 100 meters at 9.76.
He is currently the fastest man in the world as a result of taking home the 100meter title at the world championships this year. His travels have taken him around the world.
Kerley has sated on numerous occasions that the most important person in his life is his Aunt Virginia, better known as “MeMe.” He gives her all the credit for where he is today.
Tennill commented that we should see Fred Kerley at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Peggy Leshikar Denton has impacted our earth and seas with her commitment to environmental change, and she has published great writings that help us to understand how our past impacts our
She holds a BFA and an MA from the University of Texas at Austin and received her PhD in anthropology from Texas A&M university. She is an expert in her field of nautical
She has worked in Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States, Spain and Turkey. Her research interests include seafaring ships and shipwrecks of the Caribbean.
Her list of accomplishments include author, serving on international delegations,
the position of chair of the Society for Historical UNESCO Committee She is the director of the Cayman Islands National Museum, and she was honored to give Queen Elizabeth a tour of the Wreck of the Ten Sail at the site in Cayman.
Another special moment was giving her English teacher, Miss Mantor, a copy of “Ships & Shipwrecks of the Americas,” in which she had a chapter. Miss Mantor was very pleased to see her student’s success.
With all of her successes and acclamations, she remains the same person her classmates knew in school. Friendly, kind, open and humble.
Tim Crow knew at an early age that he wanted to become a teacher. At around the age of 12, be bought a blue student desk at a garage sale and began practicing his teaching skills on his younger sister, Sheila, before she was old enough to start to school.
In high school he participated in the Teacher Experience Program, going to the middle school for one class period every day to train with his former teacher, Harold Vogler, and to help teach a sixth-grade science class. In college he volunteered in a first-grade classroom at Northside Elementary in Taylor, and he completed student teaching assignments for elementary education, special education and kindergarten so he would be prepared for whatever future career opportunity he decided to pursue.
At the age of 12 he came to know hundreds of local families through his first job of delivering the Taylor Daily Press to his customers five days a week and collecting payments from them on the weekends. He was named Outstanding Carrier of the Year in 1975 and again in 1977 before being promoted to work in the front office and pressroom.
After graduating from Taylor High School in 1980, he returned to the district in 1985 to begin his career as a science teacher, later serving as assistant principal, principal and he currently serves in the role of communications and community liaison for the district.
As a science teacher, Crow was known for hands-on labs and pet snakes that added personality to his classroom. He was named Campus Teacher of the Year in 1987 and again in 2008. During his senior year in college, he was awarded Elementary Student Teacher of the Year at Southwestern University.
His passions include researching local history and producing videos as well as articles to preserve the heritage of our schools, town and local heroes. His projects have highlighted the lives and careers of Coach Larry Safarik, Carolyn Jackson, Naomi Pasemann, TH Johnson, Dr. Steve Burkhart and many more.
His volunteer efforts have included serving for four years as regional advisor for a central Texas group of authors and illustrators. In that role he brought in New York agents and editors to discuss the craft of writing and to meet with local talent about possible publishing contracts. He has critiqued manuscripts for authors and is mentioned in the acknowledgements of several published books, including one that became a New York Times Bestseller. He has moderated panels for the Texas Book Festival and introduced speakers at international writers’ conferences in Los Angeles, all of which provided him opportunities for supporting distinguished Newbery,
authors as well as new writers starting the
Crow served as cochair and announcer for the first decade of Taylor’s Relay for Life and still helps with Luminaries on the Square. He also served as narrator for the Sam Bass Shoot-out at Round Rock’s Frontier Days for 20 years. In the 1990s, he was active in the Turn Around Taylor effort, marching down Main Street in a parade with Governor George W. Bush to celebrate the program’s success. In the 1980s, he was active in the Taylor Community Theater, including an appearance in front of the Howard Theater dressed as Superman to draw attention to the movie’s release during a crowded Main Street Days event.
Crow has been cast as an extra in several movies, working on sets with actors such as Martin Sheen, Kathy Bates, Emilio Estevez, Paul Walker, James Van Der Beek, Natalie Portman, Valerie Bertinelli and Vanessa Redgrave.
One of the biggest highlights of his career has been opening Naomi Pasemann Elementary as the school’s first principal and coordinating the burial of a 25-year time capsule to be opened in 2024. He is also looking forward to a reunion with his former science students in 2062 to watch the return of Halley’s Comet, a favorite lesson for him and his students, which will also coincide with his 100th birthday.
Jessica Harkins Shahin Jessica Harkins Shahin deeply cares for her friends, co-workers and all who encounter her on their life’s path. She has selflessly, and without calling attention to herself, mentored countless young people in public service and social work. Shahin has worked closely with the University of Texas (UT) at Austin to give back to her alma mater by arranging meetings between students and leaders in Washington D.C, where she now lives, and organizes receptions and other networking opportunities for UT’s faculty and
Her professional trajectory has been described as inspirational. By her mid-thirties she had already been promoted in her working life, but wanted to pursue her passion for giving back. She married, and with the support of her husband, Jim, returned to college in the social work program. With an infant to care for, and working as a teaching assistant, she made all A’s and graduated with the prestigious President’s Award for all her achievements, both academically and as a valued participant to the university community.
When Shahin’s family moved to Dallas, she commuted back to Austin to complete her work in UT’s social work master’s program while caring for her son and working as a case worker at a rehabilitation center in Dallas. After completing her master’s degree, she worked as an adjunct professor at UT, then went to work at the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) for the state of Texas during George W. Bush’s governorship.
She distinguished herself there and was selected to serve on the team that created the EBT card. This card led all states in technology that would help food stamp recipients receive benefits without the indignity of pulling out food stamps to pay for groceries while at the same time creating more accountability in the system.
When George W. Bush left Texas to become President of the United States, he named Eric Bost as head of the Texas HHS, and Mr. Bost selected one executive, Shahin, to join him in D.C. to serve the entire country. A few years later, Bost left the position and Shahin was promoted to the top position in the FNS (Food and Nutrition Service). In this capacity, she is the operational director of the whole service, overseeing a budget of roughly $80 billion, ensuring that impoverished people get something to eat and dealing with the many challenges that come up daily, from policies to legal issues to making sure that people are cared for during disasters such as Hurricane Harvey in Houston which displaced 30,000 people. In 2020 she led her team to address the needs of the nation during the pandemic.
She is a lead-byexample executive, guiding the enormous workload through emergencies at each state’s individual needs. She has been a stable force through four presidents and was recently recognized in the New York Times for SNAP being the most efficient agency in the federal government during the pandemic. Through all of her successes, Shahin has never forgotten her roots. She regularly visits her lifelong Taylor friends who all met in preschool and at Northside Elementary. She returns to Taylor often to enjoy friends, Louie Mueller Barbecue and to yearn for a smashed Diamond Inn hamburger.
