Dewayne Dirks

2018 Distinguished Staff

Dewayne Dirks taught mathematics at Topeka High School from 1964 – 1997. He was a graduate of Durham High School and earned a Bachelor of Education degree from Kansas State Teacher’s College in Emporia with a double major in Mathematics and Physical Education and Recreation (1960). In 1966 he earned a master’s degree in Mathematics from Kansas State Teacher’s College in Emporia through the National Science Foundation Summer Institute. During his 33 years at Topeka High School he taught the full range of mathematics classes. He was the first teacher to teach a computer class and the first to teach a calculus class. He continued as Topeka High School’s calculus teacher until he retired. Dewayne was also the time keeper for all of the men’s JV and Varsity basketball games. In 33 years he missed only 2 games. Following his final game he was given an autographed basketball and a THS Letter Jacket. The Topeka High School Honor Society honored Dewayne for outstanding devotion to individual educational needs of students. The Kansas State Board of Education honored him for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching.

Stephen G. Young (1989)

2018 Hall of Fame Inductee

Music and school politics is the stuff that makes medical researchers; or, in the case of Stephen Young. At Topeka High Dr. Young was on Student Council as Speaker of Representative Council, but he was also Concert Master in the student orchestra. From THS Young went to Princeton University where he majored in history and the philosophy of science. His next stop was Washington University in St. Louis for his medical degree. Though trained as a cardiologist, he became more interested in medical research, in particular regarding pediatric diseases. His primary focus is “Lipid Metabolism and Progeria, which is a rare genetic condition that causes accelerated aging in children.” Presently a Professor of Medicine at UCLA, he has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and in 2010 won the Ernst Jung Medical Award from Germany. Dr. Young has written or co-authored scores of articles in books and journals and in 2010 was honored by the Topeka Capitol-Journal as a Kansan of the Year for his medical research achievements.

Brinton W. “Pete” Woodward Jr. (1958)

2018 Hall of Fame Inductee

If it weren’t for Pete Woodward’s grandfather on the Board of Education, Chester Woodward, he and all Trojans would have graduated from an “ordinary” high school and the Hall of Fame ceremony would have had a far more mundane setting. Woodward was the quintessential B.M.O.C.: President of Student Congress, Pres. Boys Pep, Math Club, Cross Country, Co-Captain Basketball squad, State AA Class tennis singles champion, Honor T, All-School Party King candidate, and so forth. After THS, Woodward attended KU where he majored in English History (of course) and Renaissance Humanities but was also a tennis letterman and a letterman on the varsity basketball team which reached the NCAA quarter finals. Next was the General Theological Seminary for a Masters of Divinity (1965). Ordained an Episcopal priest, he was curate of St. David’s in Topeka (1965 – 1967). Serving at several eastern prep schools during the 1970s, Woodward became Headmaster at Holderness School in Plymouth, NH, in 1977 stepping down in 2001.

Jean Eberhart Dubofsky (1960)

2018 Hall of Fame Inductee

Jean Eberhart’s THS resume under “school activities” may well have been the longest for any member of the Class of 1960: Debate letterman, Honor Pep, A.F.S., World staff, Quill and Scroll, Usher Club, French Club V-P, Math Club, Science Club, Kansas Council on Foreign and Domestic Affairs, Masque and Wig, etc. A National Merit Semi-Finalist and winner of a Betty Crocker Homemaker of America Award, she used her scholarships to attend Stanford University (1964) and from there Harvard Law School (1967). For two years Eberhart was a legislative assistant to Walter Mondale (1967 – 1969), but then moved to Colorado to practice law. From 1975 to 1977 she served as Deputy Attorney General of the State of Colorado and then appointed (1979) a Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court – the youngest and first woman to that post. Upon retiring from the Court in 1987, Mrs. Dubofsky entered academia at the University of Colorado and by the 1990s back in private practice where she is known for her involvement in civil rights, women’s issues and gay rights.