At the most recent meeting of the Bishop Unified School District Board of Trustees there was a proposal to name the high school baseball field after the Tatum family and Jim Tatum, who recently passed away after a courageous battle with cancer. Tatum was a standout athlete at BUHS in the 1970s and later coached at his alma mater coaching both baseball and football.  Jim Tatum also served on the Bishop Little League board and volunteered as a coach.  

I had a chance to talk to the man responsible for the effort to name the field, current Bronco head baseball coach Steve Omohundro.  He coached alongside Jim Tatum when their sons both played for the Broncos and they coached little league together as well. When I asked Omohundro what he took away from coaching with Jim he said, “I would have to say his passion and dedication, he was definitely a perfectionist, he put a lot of hard work into it.”

Omohundro pushed for the baseball field to be named after the Tatum family earlier last year but with the timing of Jim’s diagnosis the administration told him that it should wait. The process has been slower than he would’ve liked but it’s finally happening on March 29th.

By naming our field after the Tatum family Omohundro feels that it will “just make our field complete [and] it kind of completes the circle of his legacy.” Omohundro also said that “They were the family that deserved to have the field named after them.” No one (as we know of) has been opposed to naming the field after the Tatum family.

On March 29th, before the second home game of the season, there will be a dedication ceremony to honor the naming of the field. Arnie Palu will be speaking on the Tatum legacy for the ceremony and if anyone would like to stay anything as well it will be welcomed. They are also working on making a plaque for the field as well as painting “Welcome to Tatum Family Field” on the back of the BSC in the right field.  

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