With the official start of high school football in Texas, it seems to be an appropriate time to take a look back on the history of Kennedale ISD and its football program. Disclaimer and an upfront apology. The following information is an outline of team records and coaches for Kennedale ISD through the years. It does not fully tell Kennedale’s football history, but it does show the the rise of one of this area’s best football programs. In its brevity, it does not properly give due to those coaching staff who worked hard and long in their efforts to build programs and positively influence those young players that they spent many a long hour.
Small communities were and even now are centered around the high school, specifically their athletics teams, usually basketball and/or football.
Full Varsity Football started in the mid-1950s in Kennedale …
Kennedale was late to the game, so to speak. It had an elementary school as early as 1890 but after the 8th grade, students had a choice to either go to work or continue high school in a neighboring town. Most went north on 287 to Fort Worth or south to Mansfield. As a build-up to a full-fledged high school, the school district added 9th and 10th grades early in the 1950s. In the 1956-57 school year Kennedale offered all grades 1-12 and with that a full varsity football schedule.
The head coach was Griff Hughes. That inaugural season Kennedale played several JV teams (Keller, Paschal, Handley) along with varsity teams from the Masonic Home, Dallas Greenhill, Burleson, and FW Laneri Catholic (a boys school closed later in the 1960’s). The team finished 4-6. Hughes stayed for three years.
Winning did not come easy to the new program …
It was a rough beginning for Kennedale football. Over the first 25 years, Kennedale would record only 5 winning seasons. Two were with Bob Leach at 5-4-1 and 6-4 in 1963-64. Two more came in 1970-71 under Bob Durham (both years were 5-5). In 1974 the Wildcats recorded a 5-4-1 record under Lewis Harris.
As with most small programs with no history of winning, Kennedale had trouble attracting and keeping head coaches. Kennedale had 11 different head coaches during this period. Bobby Leach stayed the longest at 6 years but most were here for two years or less. Other coaches besides Hughes and Leach were Walter Worthington 1959; J.D Smith 1960; Larry Fletcher 1966-67; Jerry Kirby 1968-69; Larry Hefley 1972; Lewis Harris 1973-75; Dorman Riddles 1976-77; and, Robert Swain 1978-80.
Fletcher and Leach were names known to many Kennedale kids in the 60’s and early ’70s especially along with another coach new to Kennedale, Jim Delaney. Delaney was the girls’ basketball coach at the high school. He, along with “Fletch” and Leach, were the operators of the Forrest Hill swimming pool. A generation of Kennedale kids learn to swim while spending long summer hours at the local area pool. And yes, this is the same Delaney that is the namesake of Delaney Elementary School in KISD.
Robert Swain was a popular coach during his time at KHS but suffered the same fate as others in achieving a winning record. He later came back to serve as the high school principal for several years in the 1980s.
Winning finally comes to Kennedale …
But change was about to come to Kennedale’s football fortunes in the form of Danny Yokeley. Yokeley came over from the Everman staff for his first head coaching job. Under his leadership for the next 10 years, the Wildcats were introduced to winning more often than not while playing in the first playoff games for the district. There were still losing seasons early on but the Cats also had records of 6-4 (twice), 7-4, 8-3 (twice), and 10-2. Yokeley would go on to become head coach at Everman before retiring as Athletic Director at EISD.
Not only did Yokeley give Kennedale its first taste of winning consistently but he introduced the “kid” to Kennedale. As his offensive play-caller, Yokeley relied on a young Richard Barrett. For the faculty at the high school, it was a confusing time. For them, it was hard to tell if the new assistant coach (pictured in a 1984 annual photo) was a student assistant or part of the teaching staff. Barrett left with Yokeley in 1990 but would make a grand return a decade later.
Kennedale had two more coaches in the 90’s that kept the winning tradition alive but mixed with several sub-.500 seasons. Dan Smalley served 4 years in 1991-94, making the playoffs once. Tim Stout (1995-99) gave Kennedale its best season record it had ever had up to that time at 11-1.
Kennedale has never had a losing season since the turn of the new century …
In Stout’s last season in 2000, the Cats were 7-3. Richard Barrett started the following season as head coach and athletic director and the winning continued unabated for the next 23 years.
Kennedale, while Barrett has been at the helm, has never had a losing season while winning 7 or more games each season. Kennedale has recorded 3 undefeated regular seasons and has had 10 seasons with 10 or more wins. The Wildcats have claimed or shared 15 district titles over the last 23 years. Finally, the Cats have missed the playoffs only while reaching the state championship final game in 2017.
Next up a preview of the 2024 season …
And, thanks to the Kennedale Historical Society, check out more KISD history at Kennedale ISD Yearbook Archive
