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Reydon Walker has caught up with her brother.

She’s still got some work to do to catch Grandpa.

But she’s also got time.

The Crescent cheerleading squad made history last Saturday when it captured the OSSAA’s Class 2A Game Day state championship at Moore High School.

Sitting fifth after the preliminary round, the group of Lady Tigers stormed to the top of the leaderboard after the final round.

Their 257 points bested runner- up Turpin (251) and Cashion (240) among the other six finalists.

It’s the first cheerleading title for Crescent and just the fourth state title in the school’s history.

It’s the first in any team sport since 1990 when the Tigers won the Class A football crown with a 40-6 victory against Okeene.

It was on that night - long before she was born - that Reydon Walker’s family members cemented their names in Crescent athletics lore.

It’s a legacy carried on by her older brothers and continued by Reydon and her mother, Danyele Walker, Crescent’s longtime cheer coach, on the mats at Moore High School last week.

• • •

A 1960 graduate of Crescent High School, Steve Richards began his football coaching career in Kingfisher, of all places.

He was an assistant beginning in 1969, but after two seasons decided it was time to dip his toe into the world of head coaches.

Only one school - Davenport - gave him an interview.

Despite being strongly cautioned by his peers statewide, Richards took over a program in 1971 that had won a total of three games in three years, one of which was a forfeit.

Undeterred, Richards not only improved the program, he took it to unprecedented heights.

The Bulldogs won a district championship in his first season before winning three straight Class B state titles from 1972-74.

The Bulldogs’ victim in 1973 was Richards’ own alma mater, Crescent, by a score of 35-7.

Richards left Davenport for Hennessey and later made stops in Hinton, Cushing and Pioneer- Pleasant Vale.

In 1990, Richards made a return to his hometown to take over a program with a proven group of seniors.

In his first year, Richards guided the Tigers to a 15-0 record and its first football state championship in four tries (one was a runner-up finish with Richards on the team in 1958).

Among the Tigers on the squad that dominated Okeene in Stillwater were current Crescent head football coach J.L. Fisher and a young man named David Walker.

• • •

There nearly every step of the way was Richards’ daughter, Danyele.

“I’ve been cheering at games since the 1971 football season in Davenport,” she said. “My mom teased that even if I was asleep at a football game and the band started playing the fight song, I would start clapping.”

It was in her blood.

Danyele was a cheerleader on the sidelines for some of her dad’s teams in Cushing and Pioneer. Although she didn’t graduate from Crescent, she lived every moment of the historic 1990 season. And she eventually married David Walker.

• • •

Danyele began teaching and coaching at Crescent in 1996. David joined her there in 2010.

Success has been consistent in the household.

David is the Tigers’ defensive coordinator and was part of the staff that helped the team advance to the 2017 Class A state championship before falling to Afton.

Preston Walker, 26, their oldest son, was a standout athlete who played two years of football at Oklahoma Baptist University before finishing his career on conference title teams at Langston.

Their youngest son Nash Walker, now 22, won the Class 2A state championship in the 300 hurdles as a Tiger.

Crescent has taken part in competitive cheer 17 years under Danyele. The squad has reached state 15 times.

This was the fourth year for Game Day state to be recognized and Crescent has reached state each year.

Danyele was quick to pass the credit to others.

“I have an outstanding group of girls and two wonderful assistant coaches, Karley Ross and Mattie Brooks, who both cheered for me at Crescent,” she said.

Team members also include Dakota Paul, Rosa Carnes, Kenadie Wells, Ashley Adams, Kaylynn Barrie, Madeline Dimmitt, Micah Lovett, Breana Thomas, Hayden Lighty, Calen Cox, Jaylee Ross, Kyleigh Scott, Tatum Cummings, Phallioan Dyson, Olivia Scott, Kaylin Scott, Haileigh Hatfield, Rachel Bernardy and Angela Martinez. Crescent also has state titles in boys track (1974) and fastpitch softball (1982).

“It’s an honor to join Gary Higgins, Terry Carris and my dad on the list of coaches who have had the honor to coach state championship teams in Crescent,” she said.

• • •

Teams are judged on fight song, crowd leading and band dance in the preliminary round of Game Day.

When that round was finished, the Crescent squad was looking up at Turpin, Cashion, Arkoma and Pawhuska.

However, of the 15 teams that qualify for state, the top six scoring squads after the preliminary round advance to the finals, so Crescent was in. Once there, teams have a short time frame to make adjustments before performing again. This time, fight song and band dance are combined in one score and crowd leading in another.

After the six performances in the finals, scores were tabulated.

“The moment when they announced Crescent as first place, I knew that all of the hard work and time we put in had paid off big time,”

Reydon said. “It was one of the most exciting moments of my life and I will never forget it.”

She - and her mother - were state champs.

“State championships run in my family and I am so happy to keep the legacy going,” Reydon added. Like Danyele through all the football games, David has been there cheering on the cheerleaders most every step of the way.

“Competitive cheer doesn’t get the respect it deserves as a sport to begin with,” said the football coach. “Most of these girls also participate in other sports as well and often have to sacrifice a lot of free time of their own. Seeing firsthand the time and commitment these girls put into what they do makes one exceptionally proud of their accomplishments.”

Then there’s the reaction of a father and husband.

“Oh man it was really exciting,” he said. “Many thoughts and emotions run through you. Being a part of the 1990 state championship 30 years ago and having family achieving that goal as well today is awesome.

Getting to do it at the same school and hometown is very special.

“For me I’m really grateful for these opportunities.”

For Reydon, only a sophomore, the chance for more success is real.

She’s caught her brother. Now Grandpa’s four state titles is next.

“I always tease my brothers that I’m going to win more state championships than them,” she said. “I will be striving to win another state championship my last two-and-a-half years of high school as a Crescent Tiger.”

• • •

Much of the Walker-Richards clan was on hand to see the Lady Tigers hoist their state championship trophy. One person missing, in body, was Steve Richards.

The man who won four state championships and 177 games passed away in November 2018.

“At his funeral, we played every school’s fight song from Kingfisher to Crescent,” Danyele recalled. 

“We had everyone stand when their fight song was played. It was awesome.”

Crescent’s fight song rang loudest last week in Moore as the Richards and Walker families basked in the glory of another state title.

Danyele knows her dad enjoyed it.

“He has been gone for two years now,” she said of her father. “But I know without a doubt he was there cheering us on.”