TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Brandon High Cross-Country Meet To Honor Namesake

ADVERTISEMENT

By BARBARA ROUTEN, Tribune correspondent

Published: September 12, 2007

Updated: 09/10/2007 04:45 pm

BRANDON - Twenty-five years ago, Brandon High School renamed its annual fall cross-country meet the Don Bishop Invitational. The Brandon cross-country team invites the community to the free event, which will commemorate the silver anniversary by posthumously honoring Bishop, a former Brandon High Most Popular Teacher of the Year.

This year, 500 to 600 athletes from 23 area high schools will compete Saturday at Brandon's Pat Fussell Field in E.F. McLane Stadium, 1101 Victoria St.

The girls' varsity teams will start running at 8 a.m., the boys' varsity teams will start at 8:35 a.m., and boys' and girls' junior varsity start at 9:10 a.m. Races last about 30 minutes, with the swiftest athletes finishing in about 17 minutes.

Bishop's daughter, Judy Bishop, a Brandon resident and member of the Brandon High School class of '62, will participate in the awards ceremony at the meet.

'It's an honor to have a family member of his present for this 25th anniversary meet,' said Robert Maestas, coach of the Brandon Eagles cross-country team. 'It's nice to educate everyone about him and why we named the race after him.'

'My father was a good family man, a good father, a good husband to his wife,' Judy Bishop said. 'He was a very gentle person, but he'd fight for his students.'

He taught social studies at Brandon, earning the nickname 'Chief.'

'He loved Brandon and the kids there,' Bishop said. 'He never played sports - he was too small - but he loved sports. He would announce meets here at the stadium and go on the bus with the kids to away meets.'

He is remembered by coaches and students for his gravelly voice over the public address system and his ability to pronounce players' names correctly.

'He almost died twice as a child, due to scarlet fever and rheumatic fever. It left him small in stature, but a big man in heart and in helping people,' his daughter said.

'We moved to Brandon in the summer of '53. I was 8. Teachers didn't make much money back then, so my father worked three jobs. He taught day school and night school and wrote for The Brandon News.

'He often would help students. He'd never say a child couldn't learn. He'd say, 'Just do your best' and work with them. ... He bought them yearbooks if they couldn't afford it. ... He bought a boy a pair of pants. ... I found a letter a student had written him, thanking him for buying her a class ring and believing in her. She graduated. ... He leaned toward the child who needed help the most.'

He rarely had discipline problems among his students. His daughter remembered that only once in 42 years of teaching did he send a student to the office.

She said Principal Orlan Briant told the young man, 'I don't know what you're going to tell me. Mr. Bishop has never sent anyone here before, so whatever you did, it must have been really bad.' The student said, 'Yes, sir,' and walked back to class without pleading his case.

Bishop was creative in his discipline. When some athletes started arriving habitually late to his class, he locked the door. 'I'm not letting you into my class if you're late,' he said. They came on time after that.

After Bishop retired, he continued teaching as a substitute. During that time, Briant asked students to choose a Most Popular Teacher of the Year.

'My father walked into the auditorium,' Judy Bishop said, 'totally unaware that he was going to be honored. When they announced that he, a substitute, had been elected, he went up to the microphone and said, 'Kids, I love you all.''

'Don was ... extremely loved by the students,' Briant said. 'He especially loved track and cross-country.'

In 1982, the year after Bishop died at age 76, 'the name of the meet was changed because of his interest in and love for athletics, the kids and the school.'

As it has for more than 40 years, predating the meet's name change, the Brandon Lions Club will provide drinks, orange slices and bananas for the runners and give ribbons to all participants, 'even to the junior varsity runners, which is unheard of,' Maestas said.

Also assisting will be Brandon High JROTC cadets and members of the Leos, the high school version of the Lions Club.

'Publix, Albertsons and Wal-Mart contributed the refreshments, and Brown's Trophies the ribbons,' said Michael Kirk, vice president of the Brandon Lions Club and project chairman.

The Lions also help keep track of the order in which runners finish and give out commemorative T-shirts to the varsity winners. The club's signature firetruck will be the centerpiece on the field, 'with all its bells and whistles working,' Kirk said. 'They may get more than they want!'

Stagedoor Presents 'Chapter Two'

BRANDON - Stagedoor Performing Arts will present a dinner theater catered by Brass Bell Catering and featuring the Neil Simon comedy 'Chapter Two' on Friday, Saturday and Sept. 21 and 22 at Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association, 619 Vonderburg Dr.

Social time will begin at 6:30 p.m., with dinner at 7 and the show at 8.

Tickets must be purchased through Center Place. For tickets or information, call (813) 685-8888.

The cost is 'only $25 for dinner and a great show with Christine Barton, Dottie Ashley, Dan Flens and Tim Dionne, directed by Maurice Cecchini,' said Wayne Otto, Stagedoor president and founder.

'We're also doing the show in the church on the 28th and 29th, as well,' he said.

Tickets for performances at Limona Village Chapel Fellowship Hall, 408 Limona Road, Brandon, don't include dinner and cost $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and students.

For information, call (813) 213-8783 or visit www.center placebrandon.com or www.stagedoorbrandon.org.

Officers' Club Offers Preview of 'The War'

TAMPA - The Tampa Military Officers Association of America and the Military Officers Wives Club invite members to a complimentary luncheon and program beginning at 11 a.m. Thursday in the main dining room at the MacDill Air Force Base Officers' Club.

During the luncheon, sponsored by University Village in Tampa, WEDU, Channel 3, will present a preview of 'The War,' a seven-episode series about World War II. It was produced and directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.

The show will premiere at 8 p.m. Sept. 23 on WEDU. For information, visit www.wedu .org/thewar.

The Military Officers Association is open to retired, former and active-duty officers from any branch of the U.S. military, including Reserves or National Guard.

For information about the association or reservations for the luncheon, officers should contact the association at (813) 218-3413 or visit www.moaatampa.com; officers' wives should contact the Military Officers Wives Club at (863) 648-1428.

Ministry Outreach Helps Schoolchildren

BRANDON - The next community outreach by Cynthia Pinckney Ministries will take place from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday at 219 Cook St.

Volunteers are welcome and needed.

The previous community outreach by the ministry 'was a huge blessing to many families and it was highly successful,' Pinckney said.

Volunteers numbered 25, a half-dozen of whom were men.

'We had already serviced approximately 20 schoolchildren before Saturday's Aug. 18 outreach, and 85 children were serviced on-site with backpacks or school supplies.'

Dinner was distributed to 79 adult participants, as were clothing, shoes, socks and toiletries.

'It was an awesome day to be able to help our fellow brothers and sisters in their time of need,' Pinckney said, 'especially seeing a smile on the faces of children when they were given a backpack.'

On Sept. 1, about 25 student volunteers and five adults 'did a magnificent job sorting, folding, boxing and labeling every container' at the ministry storage facility, Pinckney said. 'This was something very much needed ... because of the amount of donations given to the ministry almost daily.'

Students who volunteer may earn community service hours toward scholarships, since the ministry is an approved community nonprofit organization.

Pinckney also said it is time 'to get started gearing up for our fourth annual Thanksgiving Day dinner, which will be upon us ... in a few short weeks.'

Volunteers are always appreciated. For information, contact Pinckney at (813) 571-1556.

Send news and photos of community interest to Barbara Routen at The Tampa Tribune, 505 W. Robertson St., Brandon FL 33511, e-mail neighbors @tampabay.rr.com or call (813) 657-4531.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT