News Briefs

Michael Ensley is the chief architect of the Lincoln High School girls basketball dynasty of the late ’90s through the first decade of the new millennium. He led the Lady Tigers to a national championship, three state championships and eight state tournament appearances throughout his 14-year tenure as head coach from 1999-2012. Ensley arrived to Lincoln in 1998 and quickly set the standard future teams would have to live by. He led the Lady Tigers to an undefeated mark of 30-0 in 1999. Ensley’s march to his first state championship wasn’t easy, as Lincoln defeated a pair of state powers…

Gary Blair currently serves as the head women’s basketball coach at Texas A&M University, where he has won a national championship, and is the most successful head coach in university history and a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Before he cut his teeth on the hardwood, Blair was a standout all-city baseball player at Bryan Adams and lettered at Texas Tech. He also served his country with a stint in the U.S. Marine Corps before returning to Dallas as the inaugural head coach of the South Oak Cliff girl’s basketball team. In his seven seasons at South…

Darion Walton, a professor for the Dallas County Community College District and faculty member at Dallas ISD, was selected as a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction, a special program of the National Society of High School Scholars that honors educators worldwide. The honor is for Walton’s excellence in teaching and his encouragement of and dedication to the academic success of students in the Dallas Independent School District. “Darion Walton is an exemplary teacher who constantly demonstrates an outstanding commitment to excellence by preparing students for success in career, college and in life,” Skyline High School Principal Janice Lombardi said. “He…

Former C.A. Tatum Jr. Elementary School students Salvador Medina and Shanice Parker, who will graduate from Skyline High School next month, returned to their old school to receive a $1,000 scholarship for college. The students were awarded the C.A. Tatum Jr. Scholarship to the University of North Texas. “We are extremely proud to celebrate such an auspicious occasion where both students were awarded the C.A. Tatum Jr. Scholarship to the University of North Texas,” said Tatum Elementary Principal Enrique Rodriguez. “We look forward to celebrating this event again next year and continuing our strong partnership with Skyline High School.”