Brother Rice's Venos Honored by NFHS
January 12, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
One of the most successful boys swimming & diving coaches in MHSAA history was honored Thursday by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Coaches Association.
Birmingham Brother Rice’s Michael Venos was recognized as the National Coach of the Year in his sport after leading the Warriors to a fourth-straight Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship last winter.
The following brief bio includes Venos’ coaching philosophy, which he was asked to submit after being identified as a candidate for the award.
Mike Venos is in his 34th year coaching and 21st at Brother Rice, including his 20th as the head of the Warriors program. He has coached 12 individuals MHSAA Finals champions and 15 relay Finals champions, with a record 19 straight Detroit Catholic League team championships. He has been named Class A/Division 1 Swim Coach of the Year by the Michigan Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association four times. Venos also led the Farmington Hills Mercy girls swimming & diving team to the LPD1 championship in the fall.
“Very simply stated, it's never about winning. It's about being the best. I am fortunate enough to be able to coach young men and women who just happen to swim. My mission in life is for them to be able to take the lessons they learn from our sport and apply it to their lives. I understand that our parents have their children involved in swimming for more reasons than just to swim fast. I believe that no one person is more important than the team and I want my student-athletes to understand that they are part of something larger than themselves. I don't measure our success by wins and losses, but by how our young men and women go out into the world and represent their team by applying what they have gained from our sport in the daily aspects of their lives.”
The NFHS has been recognizing coaches through an awards program since 1982. Winners of NFHS awards must be active coaches during the year for which they receive their award.
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.)