James G. ‘Jim’ Busick Jr.
Longtime Gilman School tennis coach whose players won 10 championships was humble, modest and full of compassion
James G. “Jim” Busick Jr., former longtime Gilman School tennis coach who led the North Baltimore private school to nearly 30 conference finals and was the former tennis pro at the old Green Spring Racquet Club, died of Parkinson’s disease May 10 at Wellmore of Daniel Island, a nursing home in Charleston, South Carolina. The former Catonsville resident was 80.
“Jim was really a wonderful person who was patient with the kids and a terrific coach,” said John E. Schmick, Gilman headmaster from 2007 to 2013.
“He had a quiet way of getting things done and was always gentle with the kids. He just had a wonderful way of working with the boys and his colleagues,” Mr. Schmick said. “He was really loved at Gilman.”
David S. Cordish, CEO of the Cordish Companies, has three sons, Reed, Jonathan and Blake, who attended Gilman and played for Mr. Busick said, “For 11 years, a son of mine was playing for Jim, and I got to know him really well. He molded character and taught his boys how to be good sports. They learned a lot from him and how to play under pressure.
“Jim was a great man and an outstanding player in his own right,” he said.
James Gilbert Busick Jr., son of James G. Busick Sr., Dorchester County superintendent of schools, and Emma Tingle Busick, a homemaker, was born
in Elmira, New York. In 1945 the family moved to Cambridge on the Eastern Shore.
Tennis was in Mr. Busick’s blood as he learned to play from his father, who competed on the University of Maryland’s men’s tennis team for three years.
A talented athlete who played baseball and basketball but excelled in tennis, Mr. Busick competed in his first Maryland State Junior Championships in Clifton Park at 14. He lost to future tennis legend Arthur Ashe in the finals.
Mr. Busick went on to play in the U.S. Tennis Association Junior Nationals at Kalamazoo, Michigan.
After graduating from what is now CambridgeSouth Dorchester High School, he attended the University of Maryland, College Park, on a tennis scholarship.
He played varsity tennis for four years and led Maryland to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 1964.
Prior to coming to Gilman in 1981, Mr. Busick taught
tennis in Annapolis and at the Green Spring Racquet Club in Lutherville.
“I was the head pro at Green Spring and I hired Jim in 1976 as assistant pro because I knew his reputation,” said John M. Rolph. “And then we became doubles partners for 15 years and were No. 1 in the area for 10 years.
“As a player, he was laidback and the perfect partner. I was the one who was always fired up over each point. He was a lefty and had a great serve which I could poach off of,” he said. “Jim was competitive, but you’d never know it, because he was so easygoing.”
During his 30 years at Gilman — 29 as varsity tennis coach — he came to embody “tennis at Gilman with his quiet, understated leadership,” according to a Gilman News article at the time of his 2011 retirement.
“Coach Busick’s guidance transformed the tennis team into a juggernaut, a perpetual title contender and a force with which to be reckoned,” according to the Gilman article. “Busick, the longest tenured varsity head coach in Gilman athletics history, led Gilman to an unprecedented 10 MSA/MIA championships and had a career record of 284-60-3.” In 2007 The Baltimore Sun named Busick its All-Metro Tennis Coach of the Year.
“His record is something and still stands,” Mr. Schmick said. “You never knew how competitive he was because he was humble, modest, compassionate and a really fine man.”
Mr. Busick and his players held a mutual respect for one another, and his coaching style was to encourage individuals quietly with a few words.
Off the court, Mr. Busick also oversaw the physical education program for the Lower and Middle Schools.
When it came time for his retirement, he told The Gilman News: “I wish I could have stayed young. I would have done it for another 30 years.”
In 2023, he was inducted into the Cambridge-South Dorchester High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
When he wasn’t on the court, Mr. Busick enjoyed scuba diving in the Pacific and Caribbean with his wife of 36 years, the former Mary Lee Parr, a consultant, who said they particularly liked observing sharks.
Mr. Busick, who moved to Charleston in 2016, was also a harness racing fan.
Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. June 2 at Old Trinity Episcopal Church, 1716 Taylors Island Road, Church Creek, Maryland.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Busick is survived by a daughter, Stephanie Jamison Busick of Harwood; a stepdaughter, Kate McAllister Walker of Florence, South Carolina; a brother, William T. Busick of Cambridge; and a grandson.