Alumni Association Celebrates Five
A cheerleader, a football player, and a dual-sport star walked the halls of Highland Park High School before earning recognition as 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award honorees.
More than 330 people attended the Alumni Awards Dinner on April 27 at the Dallas Country Club, where the Highland Park Education Foundation and the HPHS Alumni Association also honored a retired “Star Lady” with the Distinguished Service Award for faculty members and a community volunteer with the Highlander Award.
Foster Poole, class of 1950
The former head cheerleader with wife Nancy Jane Poole (class of 1952) returned in 1956 to the Park Cities, where he launched a store selling “things nobody needed.” Over six decades, his Sample House grew into a multimillion-dollar operation with six North Texas stores.
He helped found the Park Cities YMCA and led with the Boy Scouts of America and Texas Delta Investment Club and as a deacon, elder, and elder emeritus at Highland Park Presbyterian Church, where the namesake Bible study he launched still meets 30 years later. He died on March 19, 2019.
Steve Van Amburgh, class of 1971
The former Scots football player has served since 2004 as CEO of KDC, one of the nation’s top office developers, where he has championed the “KDC Way” – giving back “as much has been given to each of us.” Over the past 60 months, KDC has completed seven-plus not-for-profit projects totaling over 150,000 square feet and $50 million.
Chris Young, class of 1998
The 6-foot-10-inch athlete earned All-State honors in basketball and baseball and led the Scots to the Class 4A state baseball championship in 1998.
He began his 13-season MLB playing career with the Texas Rangers, returned in 2020 as executive vice president and general manager, and at only 43 years old, assumed leadership of the team’s entire baseball operations group in 2022. He donates MLB-signed products to school auctions, and with Hyer alum, parent, and MLB star Clayton Kershaw, has hosted a “Hyer Heroes” benefit baseball game.
Donna C. Pierce
The grand marshal of the 2022 Park Cities Fourth of July parade served as HPISD’s planetarium director for four-plus decades, retiring in 2021.
She didn’t even play golf when she started coaching girls golf but led the team for a decade, guiding the Scots to state championships in 1998, 1999, and 2000, earning the National Women’s High School Coach of the Year award in 2000.
Cordelia Boone
This community volunteer from Alabama met Tom Boone, HPHS class of 1968, at Emory University.
From the moment she walked her first child through the doors of Bradfield, she volunteered with the PTA. She was HPMS PTA president, chair of one of the first Mad for Plaid campaigns, La Fiesta Gala chair and board president, and board member of the Highland Park Education Foundation. Though her five children graduated, Boone still serves on the MIS campus leadership committee.
