Western to name court after HOF coach Breezy Bishop
Western girls basketball coach Tasha Townsend is grateful when former coach Breezy Bishop stops by the school to share her words of wisdom to the current Doves.
Bishop, who turned 87 on Sept. 7, brings with her an impressive resume.
In 24 years of coaching at Western, covering parts of three decades starting in the 1970s, Bishop went 411-39 with 15 Baltimore City titles and two state championships. She was The Baltimore Sun’s All-Metro Coach of the Year four times and the 1995 Converse/ WBCA National Coach of the Year. In 2000 she was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
“I always have her come back to talk to the players,” said Townsend, a 1993 Western grad who played one season for Bishop.
“They need to understand what this legend is about, and they need to understand the history because every girl I bring in I give them the tradition, history and legacy. If they don’t know what it’s about, how can they push forward? I need the girls to understand we had a Hall of Fame coach here. Everybody can’t say that — it’s historic — and we need to recognize that.”
On Saturday Western will do just that in a court-naming ceremony in honor of Bishop set for 3 p.m. at Eva Scott Gymnasium. For
two hours the school will celebrate Bishop, who also taught physical education and health and coached track and field. There will be food and drink, and Bishop’s former players and students will provide testimonials of what their beloved mentor meant to them.
More than all the wins and championships, Western Principal Michelle White said Bishop’s legacy is about the way she cared for, mentored and nurtured those she coached and taught them to become strong women and leaders.
“We want to make her feel as special as she deserves to feel and let her know that we appreciate so much all the decades that she has put into helping make our school community great,” said White, a 1993 Western grad. “I’ve talked to some women she’s coached and taught, from the ’70s all the way up to the ’90s, who plan to attend to say ‘thank you’ for all she’s done and let her know we’re extremely grateful for her contributions to our school community.”
Bishop is equally grateful for the support she had throughout her career from the Western faculty, mentioning among others the late Angelo Fortunato, former principal Sandra Wighton and Scott, who served as athletic director.
Earlier this week, when asked about the positive impact she made on all the Western girls she coached and taught, Bishop reiterated her own gratitude to the others that helped get her work started.
“They laid the foundation for me and were supporters of me,” she said. “It means that as I nurtured and groomed the students that I taught and coached, I also was nurtured and groomed . ... So as I grew and developed, my students also grew and developed.
“Not only did my students achieve success, but I also achieved success by walking through the halls of Western High School because there were such great minds there.”
During her coaching days Bishop was a trailblazer who helped pave successful paths for her student-athletes and provided a blueprint for future coaches to build successful programs.
In addition to the hard work, team-first approach and discipline she instilled on her players, she also introduced meditation to prepare mentally for games. To promote her players, she created booklets that included basketball statistics, physical measurements, grade-point averages and test scores, which she doled out to college coaches.
Western great Dana Johnson, a 1991 grad who didn’t play basketball before high school, blossomed into an All-American for the Doves and went on to earn a full scholarship to play at national power Tennessee. Now the athletic director and boys basketball coach at Dunbar, Johnson said the time, energy and love that Bishop directed toward her was essential.
“I think for me, it was basically that she believed in me,” Johnson said. “She was way ahead of her time. And when it came to preparing us for the next level — those of us blessed to be able to get to the next level — it was like a seamless transition and it wasn’t overwhelming.
“We were doing things at the high school level that colleges were doing, so it wasn’t
totally new to us when we got to the next level. It was brilliant.”
During basketball season the Bishop-led Dovespracticedfor2½hourseachdaywiththe exceptionofFriday.OnFridaystheteamwould runforanhourandthenspendtimetogetherin what Bishop called “rap sessions.”
It was then that she learned the character of her players. They would talk about family, school,goalsanddatingexperiences.Thatcherished
time is what Bishop misses the most.
She believed it was important to cut the time short on Fridays so her players could enjoy dates, spend time with family and friends, and explore other aspects of life away from basketball.
“It really wasn’t about basketball,” Bishop said. “What it was about was getting each one of them an opportunity to get a slice of the American pie.”