Legends & History

1998

The State Champions

The Scots entered the state tournament 28-8, defeated Fort Worth Arlington Heights 7-0 in the semifinal and then beat Corpus Christi Calallen 5-2 for the Class 4A championship.

The Long Road

Bo Schultz

Bo Schultz represents a different kind of Highland Park baseball legend: persistence. After four years of baseball and three years of football at HP, Schultz played at Northwestern and earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition. He was not drafted, was released after signing with Oakland, and kept pitching through independent baseball.

That persistence eventually carried him to the Major Leagues. Schultz debuted with Arizona in 2014 and later pitched for Toronto, appearing in 51 big-league games over three seasons. His story belongs in the archive because it shows that a Highland Park athletic legacy can be built as much by resilience as by early acclaim.

Highland Park • Northwestern • Major League Baseball

Legend Story

Chris Young

Chris Young's Highland Park story began as an unusually gifted two-sport athlete. As a senior he earned All-State recognition in baseball and basketball, went 8-3 with a 1.70 ERA on the mound, and helped the Scots win the 1998 Class 4A state championship.

Young continued both sports at Princeton before choosing professional baseball. His 13-year Major League career included a 2007 All-Star selection and a 2015 World Series championship with Kansas City. His next chapter became just as remarkable: as President of Baseball Operations for the Texas Rangers, he helped lead the franchise to its first World Series title in 2023. Highland Park retired his #25 in 2024.

#25 • 1998 State Champion • MLB All-Star • World Series Champion • Championship Executive

Legend Story

Clayton Kershaw

Clayton Kershaw's extraordinary pitching career was already taking shape at Scotland Yard. As a Highland Park senior in 2006, he went 12-0 with a 0.77 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 64 innings. One playoff performance became part of Texas baseball lore: a five-inning perfect game in which Kershaw struck out all 15 batters he faced.

The Los Angeles Dodgers selected him seventh overall in the 2006 MLB Draft. He went on to become an 11-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award winner, the 2014 National League MVP and a member of the 3,000-strikeout club. Highland Park retired his #23 in 2024, permanently linking one of baseball's defining modern careers to the field where it began.

#23 • National Player of the Year • 3x Cy Young • NL MVP • 3,000 Strikeouts • 3x World Series Champion

Defining Run

1989 State Semifinalists

Highland Park reached the Class 4A state tournament with a 31-3 record and lost a 57-55 semifinal to Port Arthur Lincoln, which went on to win the state championship.

Program Builder

David Piehler

David Piehler's Highland Park teams became known for the habits that sustain a program: disciplined execution, toughness, unselfish play and attention to detail. Over more than 16 years of leadership, his teams repeatedly contended for district championships and postseason runs.

Piehler's significance is not tied to one game. It is the continuity of a basketball identity passed from class to class — defend, share the ball, prepare correctly and make the team greater than the individual.

Longtime Head Coach • District Championships • Program Standard

2019

Perfect Through District

Highland Park completed a 14-0 run through District 11-5A and secured an outright district championship, a milestone season for the Lady Scots.

Breakthrough Player

Ella Patterson

Ella Patterson became the on-court face of Highland Park's 2019 breakthrough. Her play helped the Lady Scots complete a perfect 14-0 district season, and she was recognized as the District 11-5A Most Valuable Player.

The importance of that season was larger than one award: Highland Park secured its first outright girls basketball district championship in roughly two decades and reset expectations for the program.

2019 District MVP • Undefeated District Champion

Program Builder

Nicole Fleming

Nicole Fleming guided Highland Park through one of the most consistent stretches of its modern girls basketball history. Her teams combined defensive discipline with steady execution and produced multiple undefeated district runs.

Fleming was named District Coach of the Year after the 2019 championship season. Her legacy is the standard that followed: the Lady Scots were no longer simply chasing a breakthrough; they had become a program expected to contend.

Head Coach • Modern District-Championship Era

Program Builder

Jerry Sutterfield

Jerry Sutterfield helped turn Highland Park distance running into a program measured against the state, not simply the district. During the championship years, the Lady Scots learned to treat preparation, pacing and team depth as competitive advantages.

The remarkable part of the cross-country record is its durability: titles came in different decades with different runners. Sutterfield's contribution was helping establish the culture that made that continuity possible.

Championship-Era Coach • State-Level Program Builder

Continuity

Susan Bailey

Susan Bailey represents the bridge between Highland Park's historic distance-running success and its current era. Across girls cross country and track & field, she has carried forward a culture in which runners are expected to develop patiently, compete for one another and peak when championship season arrives.

That continuity matters in a program whose state-title history stretches across four decades. Bailey's teams continue to add district championships, state qualifiers and new school-history moments to a foundation built long before today's athletes were born.

Girls Athletic Coordinator • Cross Country • Track & Field

Legend Story

Doak Walker

Doak Walker helped transform Highland Park football from a strong local program into a statewide name. In the 1940s, he shared the Highland Park backfield with Bobby Layne as the Scots reached consecutive state finals and earned the 1945 co-championship.

At SMU, Walker became a three-time All-American and won the 1948 Heisman Trophy. He later starred for the Detroit Lions, won NFL championships and entered both the College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame. At Highland Park, Walker wore No. 84, which HP retired posthumously in 1998. He later became famous in No. 37 at SMU and with the Detroit Lions, a number that belongs to the next chapters of his career.

Highland Park #84 Retired • 1948 Heisman Trophy • Pro Football Hall of Fame

Legend Story

Bobby Layne

Bobby Layne's Highland Park years helped establish the fearless, attacking style that would define his football life. After starring alongside Walker, he continued at the University of Texas and then spent 15 seasons in professional football.

Layne led Detroit to three NFL championships and retired as the NFL's career leader in completions, passing yards and touchdown passes. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967. The fact that Walker and Layne came from the same Highland Park backfield remains one of the most extraordinary chapters in Texas high-school football history.

Highland Park • Texas • 3x NFL Champion • Pro Football Hall of Fame

1957 Champion

Jack Collins

Jack Collins is forever connected to the championship team that ended the wait for Highland Park's first outright state football title. The 1957 Scots first ended Abilene's 49-game winning streak in the semifinal, then defeated Port Arthur 21-9 for the championship.

Collins' place in the archive is that of a leader of a defining team — the group that proved the 1940s success was not an isolated moment and firmly established Highland Park as a multigenerational Texas football power.

1957 State Champion • Highland Park • Texas

2005 Champion

Matthew Stafford

Matthew Stafford arrived at Highland Park with exceptional talent, but his lasting local legacy is a team achievement. In 2005 he quarterbacked the "Band of Brothers" to a perfect 15-0 season and a 59-0 state-title victory over Marshall, ending a 48-year championship drought.

Stafford went on to Georgia, became the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft and later won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams. Highland Park retired his #7, permanently tying his professional success back to the championship season that changed the modern trajectory of Scots football.

#7 • 2005 State Champion • No. 1 NFL Draft Pick • Super Bowl Champion

Legend Story

Scottie Scheffler

Long before he became one of the dominant players in world golf, Scottie Scheffler was building a championship resume at Highland Park. He played both basketball and golf at HP and won three consecutive Texas individual golf state championships in 2012, 2013 and 2014. His 2013 performance also helped the Scots win the team state championship.

Scheffler continued at the University of Texas before reaching the PGA TOUR and ultimately the top of the world ranking. Major championships and an Olympic gold medal followed, but the competitive foundation is visible in the Highland Park record: three straight individual state titles in an era of elite Texas high-school golf.

3x Individual State Champion • Texas • PGA TOUR • Olympic Gold Medalist

Legend Story

Kelli Kuehne

Kelli Kuehne produced one of the most extraordinary high-school golf careers in Highland Park history. She completed her four-year HP career with a perfect 20-0 record and won four consecutive UIL individual state championships from 1992 through 1995.

Her success then expanded onto the national and international amateur stage: the 1994 U.S. Girls' Junior, back-to-back U.S. Women's Amateur titles in 1995 and 1996, and the 1996 Women's British Amateur. Together with brothers Trip and Hank, Kelli became part of one of the rarest family legacies in American amateur golf.

4x UIL Individual State Champion • U.S. Girls' Junior Champion • 2x U.S. Women's Amateur Champion

Family Legacy

Trip & Hank Kuehne

Trip Kuehne won Highland Park individual state championships in 1990 and 1991 while helping power the opening years of the Scots' five-title run from 1989 through 1993. Hank Kuehne followed in the championship lineups that kept Highland Park on top in the early 1990s.

The brothers later became USGA champions, joining sister Kelli in a family achievement that the USGA recognizes among its rare brother/sister champion combinations. Their story helps explain why the early-1990s Highland Park teams became more than state champions — they were producing golfers who would matter on the national stage.

Highland Park Champions • USGA Champion Family

Legend Story

Harrison Frazar

Harrison Frazar became a three-time All-State golfer at Highland Park and was part of the 1989 and 1990 state championship teams, competing alongside Trip Kuehne during the opening years of HP's five-title streak.

At the University of Texas, Frazar became a three-time All-American. His professional career ultimately included a PGA TOUR victory at the 2011 FedEx St. Jude Classic and, more than a decade later, a PGA TOUR Champions victory in 2023.

2x Team State Champion • 3x Texas All-American • PGA TOUR Winner

Legend Story

Cody Gribble

Cody Gribble won the individual state championship in both 2008 and 2009. In 2008 he also led Highland Park to the team title, making his career another example of the program's blend of individual excellence and team success.

Gribble became a two-time All-American at Texas and was part of the Longhorns' 2012 NCAA national championship team. In 2016 he won the Sanderson Farms Championship by four strokes for his first PGA TOUR victory.

2x Individual State Champion • Team State Champion • NCAA Champion • PGA TOUR Winner

Program Milestone

1995 Team State Championship

HPISD's official athletics record identifies the 1995 boys gymnastics team as a Highland Park state champion, anchoring a program history already rich in individual success.

Legend Story

Peter Hegi

Peter Hegi, Highland Park Class of 1992, stands at the center of the program's remarkable individual record. HPISD credits Hegi with a state-record 14 individual state championship titles — a level of sustained excellence across events that is rare in any high-school sport.

Hegi carried that standard to Stanford, where he captained the men's gymnastics team and won two NCAA team championships. Years later, the Hegi family name became part of the program's future when Highland Park's gymnastics training center was named in recognition of the family's support and legacy.

14 Individual State Titles • Stanford Captain • 2x NCAA Team Champion

Legend Story

Kyle Rote Jr.

Kyle Rote Jr.'s soccer story began at Highland Park before soccer had become an established mainstream high-school sport in Texas. Already an outstanding football, basketball and baseball athlete, Rote and a group of Highland Park friends became fascinated with soccer in the 1960s and formed their own team — the Black Bandits.

Rote eventually committed fully to soccer at Sewanee. The Dallas Tornado made him the first overall selection in the 1972 NASL Draft, and as a rookie he became the first American-born player to lead the league in scoring. He later represented the United States national team and was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2010.

Black Bandit • No. 1 NASL Draft Pick • U.S. National Team • National Soccer Hall of Fame

Modern Legend

Maja Lardner

Maja Lardner represents the modern end of Highland Park's soccer continuum. She was part of the 2019 state championship team, a group that extended the Lady Scots' title tradition to seven championships across multiple generations.

Lardner then continued at Georgetown and into professional soccer. Her path connects the local championship program to the modern college and professional game — the same idea embodied decades earlier by Rote, but in a very different era of American soccer.

2019 State Champion • Georgetown • Professional Soccer

Program Builder

Meredith Townsend

Meredith Townsend guided Highland Park through the seasons that changed what the softball program believed was possible. In 2015, after more than two decades without a postseason appearance, the Lady Scots reached the playoffs, won a bi-district series and established a program-best win total.

One year later, Highland Park won the first district softball championship in school history. Townsend's place in the archive is not simply a coaching record; it is the moment the program moved from building toward believing it could win.

Head Coach • First Playoff Berth • First District Championship

Breakthrough Player

Katie Bell

Katie Bell was the staff ace during the program's first postseason breakthrough and remained central to the following district-championship season. Pitchers are often asked to carry the emotional weight of a young program, and Bell's role came precisely as Highland Park was learning how to win in the postseason.

Her story gives the 2015-16 breakthrough a player-level perspective: the milestones were not abstract program goals; they were achieved inning by inning by athletes who had never seen an HP softball team reach those heights before.

Pitcher • Postseason Pioneer • District-Championship Era

State Dynasty

Ten Straight, Then Two More

Highland Park girls won ten consecutive UIL team championships from 2001 through 2010. UIL historical records also list the Lady Scots as 4A champions in 2012 and 2013.

Boys Team Titles

2000, 2017 and 2018

The boys program's team championships span different generations and classifications, underscoring the depth and continuity of the swimming tradition.

Olympic Legend

David “Skippy” Browning

David “Skippy” Browning established Highland Park's Olympic tradition before the great swimming dynasties arrived. A three-time state diving champion at HP, he went on to the University of Texas, became a six-time All-American and won NCAA championships on both the one-meter and three-meter boards.

At the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Browning won the gold medal in three-meter springboard diving. His life ended tragically in 1956 when the Navy jet he was piloting crashed during a training flight, leaving behind a legacy that still connects Highland Park to Olympic history.

3x State Diving Champion • NCAA Champion • 1952 Olympic Gold

Olympic Legend

Mike Heath

Mike Heath won four individual state championships for Highland Park, sweeping the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle in both 1981 and 1982. His 1982 winning time in the 200 freestyle improved on the state record he had set the previous year.

At Florida, Heath became an NCAA champion and 19-time All-American. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics he won three gold medals in relays and a silver medal in the 200 freestyle, helping set world records along the way.

4x HP State Champion • NCAA Champion • 3x Olympic Gold Medalist

Olympic Legend

Bruce Hayes

Bruce Hayes carried Highland Park's swimming tradition onto the world stage in the same Olympic era. After his HP years, Hayes became an elite collegiate swimmer and earned a place on the United States Olympic team.

At the 1984 Olympic Games, Hayes won gold as a member of the United States 4x200-meter freestyle relay. His story forms part of an extraordinary fact: four Highland Park athletes across several generations combined to win seven Olympic gold medals.

Highland Park • United States Olympic Team • 1984 Olympic Gold

Olympic Legend

Shaun Jordan

Shaun Jordan extended Highland Park's Olympic line into another generation. After developing as a Scot, Jordan went on to elite collegiate and international competition and became part of two United States Olympic championship teams.

Jordan won Olympic gold in 1988 and again in 1992, giving Highland Park a swimmer whose career spanned two Games and reinforced the community's remarkable connection to the highest level of the sport.

Highland Park • 2x Olympic Gold Medalist

Sustained Excellence

Championships Across Eras

The program's title history includes early breakthroughs, a three-year run from 1989 through 1991, a four-title run in the mid-2000s and another extended championship stretch beginning in 2009.

2026 State Champions

Steven Hu & Collier Muenker

Highland Park added another state-level achievement in May 2026 when Steven Hu and Collier Muenker won the Class 5A boys doubles championship. The pair dropped only one set across four state-tournament matches and defeated Frisco Centennial's Aarohan Sharma and Akshay Kommineni 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

The title was Highland Park's first boys doubles state championship in 20 years, a reminder that even within one of the state's deepest tennis traditions, new chapters can still be written.

2026 UIL 5A Boys Doubles State Champions • First HP Boys Doubles Title in 20 Years

Program Builder

Betty Sue Welch

Betty Sue Welch was central to the early championship identity of Highland Park tennis. She coached boys and girls tennis at HP for more than 16 years and later spent another 13 years coaching at Highland Park Middle School, giving her influence unusual reach across generations of players.

Welch's career earned recognition from the Texas Tennis Coaches Association and the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame. More important locally, she helped establish the expectation that Highland Park tennis should compete for championships year after year.

Early Dynasty Builder • State Champion Coach • Hall of Famer

Modern Dynasty

Dan Holden

Dan Holden carried the Highland Park standard into one of the most dominant modern stretches in Texas team tennis. His teams repeatedly completed undefeated seasons, won state championships and developed individual UIL champions.

In 2021, Highland Park captured its sixth consecutive state title and its 22nd overall, while making its 34th consecutive trip to the state tournament. That continuity is the essence of Holden's chapter: a dynasty sustained even as classifications, opponents and rosters changed.

Modern Championship Era • 22nd Program Title • Six Straight State Championships

A New Chapter

Adelaide Wortman

In 2026, freshman Adelaide Wortman added a new page to Highland Park track history by winning the UIL Class 5A 800-meter state championship in a personal-record 2:11.25.

HPISD identified Wortman's victory as the first Lady Scot state championship in the 800 meters. That matters precisely because track history is so old at Highland Park: a new athlete can still accomplish something no Scot has done before.

2026 UIL 5A 800m State Champion • 2:11.25

Program Leader

Susan Bailey

Susan Bailey has provided long-term continuity across Highland Park girls track & field and cross country. Her role ties the day-to-day work of developing athletes to a historical record that stretches back generations.

In 2026, both the varsity and JV Lady Scots won District 12-5A track & field championships. Bailey's chapter is still being written, but the through-line is already clear: preserve the standard, develop depth and give the next athlete a chance to create a new first.

Girls Athletic Coordinator • District Champions • State Qualifiers

2025

State Champions

The Lady Scots reached the summit in 2025, securing Highland Park volleyball's first UIL state championship and converting years of state-level contention into a title.

Championship Coach

Michael Dearman

Michael Dearman's Highland Park story spans multiple generations of players. He guided the Lady Scots to the state stage earlier in his career, including the 2003 state-final appearance, and continued building a program that understood what elite Texas volleyball required.

In 2025 the long pursuit became history: Highland Park swept A&M Consolidated 3-0 to win the program's first Class 5A Division I state championship. The title did not arrive from nowhere; it was the culmination of years of state-level experience, persistence and accumulated belief.

Head Coach • State Finalist • 2025 State Champion

Program Builder

Chris Cullen

Chris Cullen has led Highland Park through the opening UIL era of water polo, an unusual opportunity to build an official school history almost from the beginning. Both boys and girls programs became district contenders quickly rather than spending years simply learning the new championship structure.

In the inaugural UIL championship season, the Highland Park boys defeated eventual state champion Southlake Carroll twice during the regular season before falling 13-12 in a playoff rematch. That competitiveness set an immediate expectation for what this young program could become.

Early UIL Program Builder • Boys & Girls Water Polo

Why This Chapter Matters

Preserve the Beginning

Most of the stories on this page had to be reconstructed from decades of records, clippings and memories. Water polo gives HPSC a different opportunity: preserve the history while it is happening.

State qualifiers, all-state athletes, district championships and future title teams can be documented season by season. In time, today's opening chapter will become the history future Scots look back on.

A Living Record • Built From the First UIL Seasons Forward

Multi-Sport Legend

Anthony Schlegel

Anthony Schlegel was both a championship wrestler and an elite football player at Highland Park. He won the 215-pound individual state title in 1999, contributing to Highland Park's victory in the inaugural UIL state wrestling tournament.

Schlegel's athletic career continued at Air Force and Ohio State before he reached the NFL. His path is a reminder of the value of multi-sport competition: one of Highland Park's most accomplished football players also stood on top of the wrestling podium.

1999 Individual State Champion • 1999 Team State Champion • Ohio State • NFL

Three-Time Champion

Aidan Conner

Aidan Conner became one of the most accomplished wrestlers in Highland Park history by winning three consecutive UIL individual state championships. He captured the 195-pound title in 2017 and 2018, then moved to heavyweight and won again at 285 pounds in 2019.

His third title came as Highland Park finished third as a team at the 2019 state meet. That performance connected a new generation directly to the championship culture established in the program's first UIL decade.

3x UIL Individual State Champion • 2019 Team Bronze • Princeton