Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Hard work, perseverance paid off for Hastings Bishop
ROGERS — Sheryl Hastings Bishop didn’t get much playing time on the basketball team during her eighthgrade year at Elmwood Middle School.
She credits lots of pick-up basketball against the boys at the Springdale Youth Center for helping her grow and become a three-time all-state player at Rogers who went on to play collegiately at Wichita State.
Hastings Bishop will be part of the 2019 class of inductees into the Rogers Mountaineer Athletic Hall of Fame. The ceremony will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Rogers High auditorium.
She will be joined by Michael Tibbs (football and track), Scott Woods (baseball) and Billie Sue Hankins, who is being honored for her distinguished service. Members of the 1957 state championship Rogers boys basketball team will also be inducted.
“Disappointment can really motivate you to do some things,” said Hastings Bishop, who now lives in a suburb of Denver. “I played 5-on-5 with them under the instruction of Mike Wright. And getting the opportunity to play 5-on-5 with those boys, it definitely benefited me for the remainder of my time.”
Her move to high school also coincided with the transition from 6-on-6 to 5-on-5 basketball for girls in Arkansas in the fall of 1979. Aided by
her work at the youth center, Hastings-Bishop had no problems with the switch. But she acknowledged it was different.
“It was very busy under the basketball,” said Hastings Bishop, who scored more than 1,000 points in her high school career. “I felt like there wasn’t as much room to navigate. The biggest thing I remember is defensive players had a harder time transitioning. I think you can teach anyone who wants to learn to play defense. Not that you can’t learn offense, too, but some had a hard time and didn’t continue to play.”
In the 6-on-6 game, three players played defense only and didn’t cross mid-court, while three others played on the offensive end.
Pat Keck, who coached Hastings Bishop at Elmwood and Rogers, said her work ethic was definitely something
that made her stand out.
“Sheryl was athletic. She was smart and could figure things out fast if she needed to,” said Keck, who is now an attorney living in Springfield, Mo. “She was an athlete, but she worked hard to develop that ability. She was also a very good team captain and was good at bringing the team together.”
The hot-shooting guard helped lead the Lady Mounties to a combined record of 56-3 over her last two seasons, losing twice in the state semifinals.
Hastings Bishop said the Lady Mounties often took advantage of their good speed and conditioning to be successful. And that went back to Keck’s offseason conditioning program. That was her rule that all basketball players must also run cross country. The catch was Keck also doubled as the cross country coach.
The plan worked well as Rogers won back-to-back state girls cross country titles her junior and senior years. But Hastings Bishop also admitted it’s not something that was enjoyable.
“I would not have been running had it been optional,” Hastings Bishop said. “But the way that transitioned, we ran teams to death. We would play a full-court press the whole game, and the fast break was our first option. The endurance we had was because of cross country.”
Hastings Bishop is proud to be honored but pointed out the Lady Mounties’ success wasn’t tied to just one or two players.
“Looking back on it, it was so completely a team effort,” she said. “So if one or two are being highlighted, it doesn’t seem like the whole story’s being told. We had players on our bench who would have started other places.”
She’s excited to get the chance to relive some of those experiences again on Friday.