December 8, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
DeKalb County High School is celebrating “Alumni Week” A new observance to be commemorated each year during the basketball season in tribute to the school’s historic 60 plus year basketball legacy.
Each year a member of both the Tiger and Lady Tiger basketball programs will be honored with the title of “Baron” and “Baroness” and recognition will be given to two basketball standouts from the past. This year’s honorees are DCHS Lady Tiger Senior Kadee Ferrell and DCHS Tiger basketball Senior manager Aiden Whitman. Stars of the past being honored this week are Tiger Rick Usrey from the 1970s and Lady Tiger Helen Lee, member of the 1959 state tournament team.
The name for the honors “Baron” and “Baroness” is taken from Revolutionary War hero Major General Baron Johann De Kalb for whom DeKalb County was named when the county was created by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1837.
“Alumni Week” is being observed this week at DCHS much in the same way as homecoming week is celebrated during the football season.
“This week at the high school we’re having what we call Alumni Week. It’s our first year celebrating this, and it’s something that Coaches Danny Fish and John Sanders, and I came up with, wanting to bring light to the saying ‘Once a Tiger, always a Tiger.’ It’s a celebratory week for basketball,” said Basketball Cheer Coach and Health Science Teacher Kelly Agee.
“This year we have several players whose parents played in this same gym,” Agee continued. “The roots run deep under that gym floor, so we’re bringing back events from the past. Tuesday will be our kickoff pep rally, and on Wednesday we are having a student versus teacher basketball game, which I played in when I was in school. On Thursday we’ll be having a lip sync battle like the concerts Mrs. Bess put on during Tigerettes’ Initiation Week. All will be leading up to Friday’s game, where we will crown our first ever Baron and Baroness. It will be Tiger Pride at its best.”
Agee said that the school really wanted to put more focus on our alumni and adding to the Wall of Fame. “We’ll be recognizing two current players, and two alumni.”
“We’re having dress up events all through the week, 50s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, and of course Friday will be our Tiger Pride Day,” Agee explained.
This year, Aiden Whitman has been named as the first ever Basketball Baron of DeKalb County, while basketball standout Kadee Ferrell has been named as the first ever Basketball Baroness of DeKalb County.
“It’s an honor, because I was voted on by all four grades,” Whitman said. Whitman, a senior, has been a basketball manager for the past four years, taking care of the equipment before the games and working the bench during the games. He is a member of the Beta Club as well as the FCA.
“It’s very exciting to be the first Baroness,” said Ferrell. “It’s a big honor because it’s voted on by the school, and that means a lot.” Ferrell is also a member of the Beta Club, as well as Climate Crew.