KALAMAZOO — Theophlis Duckett, known to generations of students and alumni as the more familiar “Ted” Duckett, dedicated 57 years of his life as a teacher and coach at Loy Norrix High School.

After his unexpected death Jan. 8, people will have a chance to show their respect and share memories at a community celebration of life, Saturday, Feb. 14, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Loy Norrix gymnasium.

At age 79, Duckett continued to teach three classes of physical education as well as coach the Knights girls and boys track & field teams.

“There aren’t many educators who have worked as long as he has, especially all those years in the same building,” said Andrew Laboe, Loy Norrix’s athletic director. "He connected with kids very well. He had a generational following: kids, parents, their grandparents, their great-grandparents.”

Some memories of Duckett bring a laugh from Laboe, who said he and Duckett had a running joke about his years as a Knight.

“I’m 55 years old and I told him I was negative-2 (years old) when he started working here,” Laboe laughed. “I believe he was a parapro or a locker room aide when he started here.

“In the teachers union seniority list, he is listed as 1969-70 for his first year teaching.”

Laboe said in losing Duckett, the school and community have lost a great resource for his knowledge of the history of the school and the people connected to it.

“He knows everybody,” Laboe said. “He was a consistent person in the lives of the kids he taught every day. Kalamazoo is not small like a lot of small towns around us, but it’s not very big, either.

"Ted knows everybody. You could get help from Ted on everything about children, who are they related to, who they are connected to, who can we contact to help them in any situation. That’s very helpful.”

During his tenure at Loy Norrix, Duckett coached football, basketball and track.

“He’s definitely a good sprinter coach for track,” Laboe said. “He was a fixture at Loy Norrix forever. He’s all Knight.”

Duckett’s coaching tenure included developing several all-state football players. Among those were sons Tico and Todd, who continued their football careers at Michigan State and then the NFL. 

Tico Duckett played for Washington while Todd was a first-round selection by Atlanta in 2002, and he also played for Washington, Detroit and Seattle.

Laboe laughs when he looks back on his first meeting with the coach.

“My first year (at Loy Norrix) was 2004,” Laboe said. “Ted came into my office the first day. I said, ‘Hi Mr. Duckett, how are you? I’m Andrew Laboe.’”

He told Laboe he already knew.

“He said, ‘I just want you to know you have one year to get all the information out of this head that you need to run this athletic department because I’m retiring in one year.’”

No matter how much Laboe got out of Duckett’s head that first year, it didn’t matter.

“I’ve been here for 22 years and he was still here. It’s crazy,” Laboe recalled.

“He’s one of a kind. I don’t think it will ever be replicated in my career. There’s not people like that anymore that are that dedicated to one school like Ted Duckett was to Loy Norrix.”

(Photos courtesy of the Duckett family and Loy Norrix High School/Knight Life.)