The Wildcat basketball team celebrates at the Parade of Champions.
Fernanda Lopez won a state championship in wrestling.
Lake Highlands High School hosted a parade Saturday to celebrate wrestler Fernanda Lopez and the varsity basketball team — both state champions in their field. Families lined Church Road to get a glimpse of their heroes while DJ Khaled’s “All I Do is Win” pumped up the crowd.
You may view my photos here.
Lonnie Jordan, the school’s athletic coordinator, expressed pride in the student athletes and gratitude for neighborhood supporters.
“When you are able to compete at this level, as we’ve been able to do, it really brings a community together,” he said.
Along the parade route, the team let out a cheer when they spotted Jerry Allen, former councilman and star of the 1968 state champion team, and Adam McGough, current councilman. On Wednesday, McGough and his fellow council members honored the team at city hall with a proclamation declaring it “Lake Highlands Day” in Dallas. Allen spoke to the team during a playoff workout, reminiscing about his championship season and reflecting on the task before the 2023 team. At the parade, he was more forward-looking.
“Young kids at the parade today are going to see that State Champion banner in the gym, and maybe one or two or three or four of them will say, ‘Let’s put our own banner up there.’ It’s great to give kids hope and something to dream about, then make their dreams come true.”
Allen said the community came out to fill the basketball gym during the season, then continued to follow the team to playoff matches and to the finals at San Antonio’s Alamodome. Some were parents of current students. Others had kids in elementary school or who’d graduated long ago.
“That’s just Lake Highlands. These kids here (pointing at children along the parade route), their parents probably went to Lake Highlands. This is the pride that they take. They’ll always be state champs. To me, it’s just Lake Highlands.”
“When the bus left [for the state tournament] and the little kids were lined up along the fence [at Northlake Elementary], that was the coolest thing,” Allen said. “I wasn’t going to, but I followed that bus all the way down LBJ. I was reliving those moments in 1968. It was the highlight of my life.”
Adam McGough and Jerry Allen
