KENNETH CLEVELAND - INDUCTEE #100
hall of fame fast fact:
Kenneth Cleveland spent most of his summers as a lifeguard at the Dimmitt city swimming pool.
Kenneth Cleveland
Coach Kenneth Cleveland’s basketball teams won 877 games, went to the state tournament 10 times, and won three state titles in his 32 years at Dimmitt High School. Dimmitt won 3A state titles in 1975, 1982, and 1983. The 1983 team will go down as one of the finest 3A teams in the state’s history. The Bobcats finished 38-0 and routed Van Vleck, 81-54, in Austin for the state title.Cleveland totaled 27 district titles – 18 in a row at one point – 10 state tournament appearances, and three state championships.
Cleveland was dignified and reserved; he didn’t over coach. He attended the University of Texas, where he earned All-Southwest Conference honors as a guard for the Longhorns.
Just a month before his death, he had been inducted into the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.
He died at 58, when struck by lightning, while vacationing in May 1993.
