Butte College Dean of Kinesiology and Athletics Rob Bishop on 25 years of building programs — and why coaches shape lives well beyond the playing field
Tuesday, August 4, 2026
Rob Bishop is the Dean of Kinesiology and Athletics at Butte College, bringing more than 25 years of experience in athletic leadership, coaching, and student development at both the high school and collegiate levels. A proud Chico State graduate, Rob considers his role at Butte College a homecoming, as Chico is where he met his wife, started his family, and began his coaching career.
Prior to joining Butte College, Rob served as Athletic Director at Palma School in Salinas, where he led the school's successful transition to co-education, launched 12 girls' sports programs, and helped guide Palma to its first CIF State Football Championship. He previously served as head men's basketball coach at Cal State Monterey Bay and held assistant coaching positions at Chico State and Northern Arizona University.
Rob is passionate about developing people through athletics, believing that coaches have the opportunity to shape young lives far beyond the playing field.
UPCOMING FIXTURES
Tue, Aug 11 - Tyler Smith, Matson & Isom Technology Consulting, Update on Artificial Intelligence
Tue, Aug 18 - Dr. Joan Schumann, Northern California Literacy
Lisa Reynolds gave the Springboks' first report of the year, and the side is already moving. They've held their first team meeting and their first social at Paradise Brew Works, they're in on Kicks and Cuts with the Salvation Army, and they're growing their blue-bag participation. Another social is on the calendar for next month out at Beyond Golf.
"We're hitting it, and we're looking at the calendar, getting our events on there," she said. "Moving fast."
President Beau's verdict: greatly appreciated.
President Beau added a quick history side-note: South Africa's beginning was 1891 — as usual, on the occasion of a British Isles tour. The Springboks hold four World Cup wins, the most by any nation. But the one Beau came back for was 1995: A Nation United — Nelson Mandela using rugby to build a sense of common identity in South Africa and to help dismantle apartheid. He pointed the room at Invictus: “It's a great movie, very good quality... a good way to mix the rugby in with the South African history.”
VISITING SIDES
Rex Moseley, we think…he signed in but crossed his own name out!
IN THE GRANDSTAND
Lacey Lightfoot, guest (and daughter) of Robb & Karin Lightfoot
Todd Waters, guest of Dane Bracewell
FROM THE SIDELINE
President Beau ran the head table with his assistant coach missing — Heidi Musick stepped in as substitute assistant coach for the day, and by Beau's account "she missed looking out on all of you beautiful people."
The Club welcomed Scrimmage Manager & Treasurer Tadd Brothers back from a month and a half away from a tropical wonderland.
Ray Block was also called up for a leftover Robbie Award from last Rotary year — recognition for putting together the SAX Fall Rotary Social. Ray used the moment to put the next one on the calendar: October 15 at Roney Winery on Anita Road.
The District 5160 Friendship Committee has opened its exchange to anyone interested — eight Rotarians from the district will travel to District 3040 in Central India, and the club hosts the inbound leg next April. Check with Robb Lightfoot for more information!
Tyler Smith received his black badge - congratulations!
Becky Brown took a microphone from the back of the room to highlight the ribbon cutting for the new Inspire School of Arts and Sciences campus.
It wouldn't have happened without the support of so many people in this room, she said, along with Chico Unified and Modern Building.
Melanie “Maddog” Bassett is taking time off August 27 through September 10.
President Beau urged members to get anything you need to her before or after, so nobody has to bug her mid-vacation.
Beau also reported she was unhappy with how her photo turned out, on grounds that she appears to be mugging somebody mid-stride.
Strength Coach and Team Captain Phil Aviles closed out the month and announced next month's (August) matchups:
Two additional process notes from Phil:
Social Media: When you send in photos or team activities, include three things — team name, team captains, and a description of what you're sending — so the social media crew, primarily Danie Schwartz, isn't chasing information. Thank you!
Surveys: Go out at the start of each month, with the previous month's match winners announced at the second meeting.
Michael Lawrence is putting on a Vitalant blood drive, and for August every member who donates earns their team 3 points. Each team will have a way to identify donors as theirs.
Family members count; recruiting strangers off the sidewalk does not — a clarification President Beau arrived at after a member allegedly tested the boundary.
Surf & Turf, November 14, Saturday, 5:00 PM at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds — same date and structure as last year, same band, same food. Alex DuBose and Rental Guys return as title sponsor for a second year (and he received a round of applause from members).
Tables have been simplified to two tiers: $1,500 for the basics and $3,000 for VIP service, extras, and runners, with placement as the real benefit.
Evan Markey heads up sponsorships — he has the whole package in PDF form to forward to prospects, and the committee meets next Wednesday at 5:30 at The Commons if you want in.
Jeni Moore has agreed to take over from Heidi Musick and run the event. We appreciate you!
RUGBY KIT BAG
President Beau gave away the last Taipei pin he carried home from the international convention. The ticket number took three passes — and finally landed on 7819. That sent Warren Locke to the front.
Did he have his Rotary pin on? He did — so the club's $40 donation to a nonprofit of his choice went with it.
TRIBUTES
Tom Lando and Walt Schafer were both recognized, and what started as a where-have-you-been check turned into a fifty years of running story.
Tom went first, and came bearing a gift — a Canadian Rugby shirt from him and Anastasia. Walt arrived having already ridden 35 miles that morning, and was still in his biking shorts to prove it.
Which set Beau up for the photo he'd found: the two of them in very short shorts, dated 1993.
The story behind it is better than the shorts. Several of them met at the Chico State track two or three days a week for years, running intervals. Walt went to the University of Michigan on a full track scholarship; Tom ran at Ohio State, which Walt characterized as "a college, the other college, just [a little] south of Ann Arbor, that's... has somewhat of a reputation, but he did graduate, I think."
Asked what he's proudest of, Tom didn't hesitate: "There's no doubt, it's my marriage to Anastasia." Walt answered for his wife instead — Teresa and five other women rode a week-long tour in northwestern Washington, averaging 59 miles a day for seven days and climbing 6,000 feet partway up Mount Baker. “So I'm proud of my wife. She's gonna be 71 next week. The joy of my life.”
President Beau closed on the one thing he hadn't expected to find — evidence both men had played rugby — and on a technicality: "Tom, if I was ref, penalty, at least a yellow card, more than likely a red card for that one."
Lando was set at 5 bells, upped to 12 at his own request. Schafer, 8 bells.
MATCH OF THE DAY
Carolina Burreson farms olives and almonds in Glenn and Tehama counties, runs a 2,000-hive apiary, and has led Orland's Honey Bee Discovery Center since it opened in 2019 — until last month, entirely as a volunteer.
She skipped the standard life-cycle talk and inverted it: not what bees need from us, but what they teach us. One bee weighs less than a paperclip and visits about 1,500 flowers a day; her colony covers 37.5 million. Yet her whole life's work yields one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey — "seven drops in my hand."
The lesson: no contribution is too small, and together those same bees bank over a hundred pounds before winter. Lose them, she said, and "we would be left with water, fish, and rice." Her wrapped "B-Mobile" classroom van sat in the lot outside. Interested in supporting or volunteering - visit the website at: https://www.honeybeediscoverycenter.org/
In her honor the club donated to the Catholic Women's Food Locker.
Works, they're in on Kicks and Cuts with the Salvation Army, and they're growing their blue-bag participation. Another social is on the calendar for next month out at Beyond Golf.
President Beau ran the head table with his assistant coach missing — Heidi Musick stepped in as substitute assistant coach for the day, and by Beau's account "she missed looking out on all of you beautiful people." 
Surf & Turf, November 14, Saturday, 5:00 PM at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds — same date and structure as last year, same band, same food. Alex DuBose and Rental Guys return as title sponsor for a second year (and he received a round of applause from members).
RUGBY KIT BAG
