Lee A. Bishop is a Pineville, Kentucky native and the eldest son of seven children born to Fred and Inez Bishop. He competed on the football, basketball and track teams as a student at Pineville High School where he was graduated in 1966.
A true trailblazer, Bishop became the first African-American from Pineville High School to win a full four-year collegiate scholarship. He was the second African-American athlete at Cumberland College, now University of the Cumberlands, in Williamsburg, Kentucky, where he started at center on the varsity basketball team for three years. His college career amassed 766 points and had 697 rebounds while averaging a double, double. Bishop earned a Bachelor of Science in History with a minor in Sociology in 1970 and along with fellow classmate, the late Ron Glass, became the first African-American graduated from Cumberlands.
He was drafted into the United States Army at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, where he continued his basketball career on the All-Third Army Basketball Team. Bishop returned home upon fulfilling the two-year military commitment and became the first African-American to teach in the Pineville City School System. The following year Lee was hired as a Social Studies teacher at Fort Knox High School in 1973. He earned a Master of Arts degree in Secondary Counseling from Western Kentucky University in 1976. During his thirty-seven year teaching career at Fort Knox High, he was selected as an Outstanding Educator by three students who attended the Governors Scholars Program, served on three federal textbook selection task forces for DoDEA schools and served on the 9th Grade Honors World History curriculum committee.
Lee served as an assistant coach in football, basketball, track and slow-pitch softball. He was head coach of the swim team, despite the fact that he could not swim. He was the first African-American head basketball coach in the Fifth Region for the Fort Knox Eagles. His basketball team went to Regional's in 1984 and had the opportunity to coach J.B. Brown, who later went on to play with the Harlem Globetrotters. He served as Athletic Director and Transportation Coordinator for Athletic Activities for six years at Fort Knox High School. Lee was also the 8th Grade Boys Basketball Head Coach at Scott Middle School in Fort Knox for 11 years while leading the Bulldogs to the Middle School League Championship twice.
Lee has been married to his wife, Dorothy since 1970 and they have two children: Stacy and Robert, one grandson, Jordan, four step-grandchildren and three dogs. Bishop is a member of Stithton Baptist Church where he has served as deacon for 30 years. His motto has been, "Happy are those who dream dreams and are willing to pay the price to have them come true".
