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RALPH DYKEMAN - INDUCTEE #75

hall of fame fast fact:

When daughter Sue gave birth to her son Terry, grandpa Ralph Dykeman signed him up as the youngest Maverick at the age of one hour and 50 minutes.

Ralph Dykeman

Ralph Dykeman served Amarillo’s Maverick Club for 48 years and was called a second father to two generations of Amarillo boys.

For many years, Dykeman helped keep boys out of trouble as he directed both the Maverick Club and Kids, Inc. He was also involved in Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch.

In 1935, Dykeman became the executive director of the Maverick Club; he coached the boys in football, basketball, baseball, track, gymnastics, swimming, trampoline, tumbling, boxing, handball, wrestling, and golf. He directed them in life. Dykeman often said, “I coach boys, not sports.”

In 1974, the Maverick Club’s board of directors named Dykeman executive director emeritus and assigned him new duties as public relations director and fundraiser for the club. On his 66th birthday, he received a congratulatory letter from President Richard Nixon.

However, he was most proud of being inducted into the U.S. Trampoline and Tumbling Association’s Hall of Fame in 1978.

He retired in 1982. He was 79 when he died, two years before his induction into the PSHOF.