Loy Norrix Mourning Death of Longtime Coach, Teacher Duckett: 'He's All Knight'
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
January 19, 2026
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 11 a.m.-noon (with doors opening at 10:30 a.m.) at the Loy Norrix auditorium.
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.)
Preview: Past Multi-Race Champs Highlight Impressive Field Returning to Kingsford
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 30, 2025
Plenty of candidates appear prepared to step into the spotlight at this weekend’s Upper Peninsula Boys Track & Field Finals.
Several returning champions return across the three divisions to be hosted Saturday at Kingsford High School, including distance standouts Luke Hill of Houghton, Dan Goss of Munising and Kalvin Kytta of Chassell after all three won multiple Finals titles a year ago. Pickford’s Gunner Bennin also is back after winning multiple races in 2024, and Menominee’s Darrent Butler joins Kytta as past champs looking to win for the third-straight year.
Preliminaries will begin the day at 9 a.m. local (Central) time. Tickets cost $11 and are available digitally only via GoFan.
MHSAA.tv will live-stream the meets beginning at 9 a.m. (CDT)/10 a.m. (EDT), viewable with subscription. Check out the Boys Track & Field page for meet information and lists of all qualifiers. Those described as "seeded" below have received those seeds based on Regional performances or early qualification during the regular season.
Following is a glance at team contenders and individuals to watch in all three divisions:
Division 1
Team forecast: Marquette has won the last four Division 1 championships and all but one since 2015. Kingsford has finished runner-up the last three seasons, but Houghton and Negaunee might have the most opportunities to make a push this weekend although the Sentinels’ immense talent and depth again will make them difficult to catch.
Lucas Ballard, Marquette sophomore: He’s expected to take a much larger scoring role after finishing fourth in the 400 and running on a winning relay as a freshman. He’s seeded first in the 800 (1:59.87) and 1,600 (4:36.82) and slated to run on the top-seeded 1,600 relay (3:30.41).
Darrent Butler, Menominee junior: The two-time reigning high jump champion won by four inches last season and is seeded first at that same height (6-2) while also seeded sixth in long jump and set to run on the third-seeded 1,600 relay.
Mathew Frantti, Calumet senior: He’s looking at a potential big finish to his high school career as the top seed in both the shot put (46-3½) and discus (143-9) after finishing third in the shot last season.
Luke Hill, Houghton senior: He won the 800, 1,600, finished third in the 3,200 and ran on the champion 3,200 relay last season. He returns seeded second in the 1,600 (4:38.08) and fifth in the 800 and 3,200, and running on the top-seeded 3,200 relay (8:46.55).
Gabe Litzner, Sault Ste. Marie junior: One of the most highly-regarded distance runners statewide, Litzner won the 3,200 and finished second in the 1,600 last season. He’s seeded second in the 3,200 (9:34.88) and third in the 1,600 (4:40.44) this weekend.
Jacob MacPhee, Marquette junior: He’s back after winning the 400, finishing second in the 200 and running on two championship relays in 2024. He’s seeded first in the 200 (22.53), 400 (51.17) and will run on the top-seeded 800 (1:33.23) and 1,600 relays.
Kyler Sager, Marquette senior: He’s the reigning long jump champ and ran on a winning relay as well last spring. He’s seeded first in long jump (19-11¾), third in the 100 dash (11.32) and will run on the second-seeded 400 relay (45.14).
Division 2
Team forecast: Pickford has won the last two Division 2 titles, with Munising last season’s runner-up and those two also finishing first and second, respectively, at their Regional earlier this month. West Iron County won the other Division 2 Regional and could make a nice jump from ninth at last year’s Final.
John Anderson, Pickford junior: Last season’s high jump champion is seeded first (6-0) with a jump four inches higher than his winner a year ago. Anderson also finished fourth in the 110 hurdles, seventh in the 300 and ran on a runner-up relay in 2024, and he returns top-seeded in the 110 (16.86) and third-seeded in the 300 (46.63).
Gunner Bennin, Pickford junior: He’s looking to add to his 200 and 400 titles and fourth place in long jump from last season, seeded second in the 100 (12.01) and first in the 200 (24.37) and 400 (54.71) and running on the top-seeded 800 relay (1:37.91).
Dan Goss, Munising senior: The reigning champion in the 1,600 and 3,200 is seeded second in the 3,200 (10:57.73), fourth in the 1,600 and 800, and also third in the 400 (55.61).
Jayden Niemi-Alcorn, Rudyard senior: He won the pole vault last season by 1½ feet and has the top seed in that event by six inches this weekend.
Division 3
Team forecast: Newberry rose from runner-up in 2023 to champion last year, but won its Regional this month by only two points ahead of Brimley. Engadine also was a Regional champ by two points, while Lake Linden-Hubbell and Crystal Falls Forest Park won theirs by larger margins. Engadine and Lake Linden-Hubbell are seeking first Finals team titles, and Forest Park is seeking its first since 2010.
Vic Giuliani, Crystal Falls Forest Park sophomore: He debuted last season with a high jump championship and also finished fifth in both the long jump and 100 dash. He’s seeded fourth in the high jump this time and also will run the 200 and 400.
Kalvin Kytta, Chassell senior: He’s won the 3,200 the last two seasons and added 800 and 1,600 championships last year. He enters Saturday seeded second in the 800 (2:09.37) and 1,600 (4:47.27) and third in the 3,200 (11:16.88).
Matthew Rahilly, Newberry senior: After finishing second in the long jump, third in the high jump and running on two top-three relays a year ago, Rahilly is seeded first in the 200 (24.06) and long jump (20-1) and tied for second in the high jump (5-10). He won the long jump and ran on a winning relay as a sophomore.
Michael Rexford, Escanaba Holy Name junior: The reigning long jump champion is seeded second in that event (19-8), tied for the fourth seed in the high jump and expected to run on the second-seeded 3,200 relay (9:11.29).
Ethan Snyder, Cedarville sophomore: He finished second in the 1,600 as a freshman and returns top-seeded in that race (4:44.45), the 800 (2:08.14) and second-seeded in the 3,200 (11:01.70).
PHOTO Marquette's Ford Richardson hands off the baton to Evan Balko in the 1,600 relay on May 9 at the Negaunee Lions Invitational. The Sentinels broke the meet record in the race they had set the previous season. (Photo by Cara Kamps.)