The Board of Directors of the Chaffey High School Alumni Association is proud to announce that Tom Duncan, Class of 1965, has been selected as the 2025 Tiger of the Year. He was nominated by his classmates Alec Maule ’65, Kevin Toole ’65 and Diana Chipps Geosano ’65 and supported by an additional eight CHS alumni**.
Tom’s roots in Ontario are deep. At the age of two he moved from South Dakota to Ontario with his mother and sister Paula Duncan ’67 to join his grandparents and his aunt who had been offered a position at CHS teaching home economics. He continued living with his mother, sister and grandparents on H Street until 1969.
While at CHS, Tom excelled at baseball and basketball. He was on the varsity basketball team his senior year and was awarded the Jim Blake Hustle Award. He served three years on the Tiger Rag staff and was sports editor his senior year. He was a member of Gens Togata Latin club and Key Club. He met Vickee Bivens (Upland HS ’66) in 1965. They both attended Chaffey College and LaVerne College and were married in 1969. Tom and Vickee have two married daughters and three grandchildren, all of whom live locally.
At LaVerne College Tom had a double major (biology and physical education). He earned his California Teaching Credential in Special Education in 1974, a second teaching credential in 1975 (Severely Handicapped Special Education) from University of California, Riverside and a final teaching credential (Learning Handicapped) from UCR in 1984.
Tom taught at several local schools: Alta Loma Junior High where he also served as a coach and teacher’s assistant; Dominga High School (for special needs students); Etiwanda High School (special education and basketball and baseball coach); and CHS (special education). He retired in 2009 after a 35-year teaching career, all within the Chaffey Joint Union High School District. That year he was named CHS Teacher of the Year.
Tom’s community service includes serving as Youth Recreation Director for the City of Montclair, volunteering at the Special Olympics, serving on the OPARC board and as a volunteer, volunteering at the Anthony Munoz Football Camp at CHS. In 2016, Tom and his wife Vickee were named Chaffey District Community Volunteers of the Year.
Tom continues his community service by assisting with CHS special education programs and providing each special education student with a personal yearbook specifically made for each individual student. He serves as vice president of CHSAA and with Vickee is co-chair of the History Project (the CHSAA museum) and conducts campus tours for alumni class reunions. Tom and Vickee are generous donors to CHSAA providing funds for scholarships and many annual gift memberships.
When Tom was named Teacher of the Year in 2009, CHS Principal Thomas O. Mitchell offered these remarks:
This teacher is someone who has helped his students to succeed and to feel comfortable in school. He has made trips to their homes to provide food and clothing where it was needed. Once he even called upon his friends and co-workers to help furnish an apartment for a Tiger family in need. He bought tires for a father of one of his students so he could drive to work. He paid rent for several months for a family that was going to lose their home. All these things he did without wanting any attention brought to him.
Tom will be honored at the Tiger of the Year luncheon to be held in April 2025 on campus.
Former Tigers of the Year
Tom joins these other distinguished alumni in the Tiger Hall of Fame: Howard Tipton ’54; *Robert Shaw ’33; *Betty Davenport Ford ’42; Joseph Wambaugh ’54; *Howard P. Allen ’44; *H. Jack Meany ’41, *John S. Graettinger, M.D. ’39; *Ernest Payne ’25; *Harold “Tony” Zenz ’28; Robert Lyn Nelson ’73; *Kobe Shoji, Ph.D. ’38; Samuel P. Crowe ’53; *Hobart “Hobie” Alter ’51, *John Svenson ’42; Anthony Munoz ’76; *Alan Paul Haskvitz ’60; *Margaret Sanders Stewart ’39; *Henry Bumstead ’33; *John Dean, Ph.D. ’44; *Glenn Goldsmith ’46; Jim Brulte ’74; *Philo Biane ’28; *Robert Graber ’31; Gary Ovitt ’65; James McVicker, Jr. ’70; *Clyde Francisco ’45, Rear Admiral James Davidson ’56, Bruce Grube, Ph.D.’60, *Richard Jones, Ph.D. ’51, *Ed Berryman ’38, *Leonard Mather, Ed.D ’35, *Don Morris, Ed.D. ’48, Patricia Sawyer Benner, Ph.D. ’60, *Andy Rapattoni ’57, Col. David Forden ’66, Gary Byrne, Ph.D. ’60, Sue Olinger Ovitt ’65; Robert Williams, Ph.D. ’58; Thomas Moore, M.D. ’65; Carolyn Barnard Pryor, Ph.D.’58; Nancy DeDiemar Jones ’63; *Phyllis White Bogard, M.D. ’57; Michael D. Moneta, M.D. ’74, Niki Brown Rapattoni ’58, C. Douglas Ades ’60, Leland Tipton J.D. ’59 and William “Bill” Finkelstein ’66.
*deceased
**Lori Gafarin Lawson ’67, Greg Baderdeen ’67, Ryan Maule ‘68, John St. Clair ’67, Kate Raddi Mutters ‘67, Niki Brown Rapattoni ’58, Ron Cardin ’67, Treva Fowler McCarthy ’67.