Doug “Flash” Basham started coaching cross country and track at Redwood High in the 1960s. His influence and impact on both of those programs would span across six decades.
His run at Redwood was highlighted by a pair of cross country teams ranked inside the top three nationally in the mid-1970s. He continued coaching up through 2017, serving as an assistant to Laura Schmitt for the better part of the latter three decades.
Mr. Basham relocated to Oregon in 2017 to be closer to family as his battle against Alzheimer’s disease became more pronounced. Mr. Basham, 85, died on Nov. 1 after a lengthy struggle with the disease.
“It’s hard to express how important he was and I’m speaking for decades of athletes,” former Redwood standout and current Drake High coach Rod Berry said.
Berry was one of Mr. Basham’s top runners in the 1970s and featured on a section-title cross country team with Hal Schulz and Dave Mihailoff.
“He had this huge impact on all of us,” Berry said. “He was the first adult that I met that gave us all permission to be adults and teach us all independence. … In a lot of ways he was our guide in the great adventure of a new sport. He never set any limits. He let us think to the skies and we went on to be great, nationally-ranked teams under him.”
Mr. Basham was one of a legendary trio of Marin track and cross country coaches from that era along with Drake coach Bill Taylor and Tam coach Bruce Grant.
“When I arrived at Redwood in 1974, he was still running with the team,” Berry said. “He was just a great character. You knew you were a part of something special when you met the guy.”
Mr. Basham also played a key role in advocating for women’s sports before Title IX was passed in 1972.
“What’s extraordinary about Flash is that, as a girl on a cross country team … never did I think I couldn’t run with boys or be with the boys,” Schmitt said. “None of the girls did. He never said ‘This is too hard for you.’
“He allowed us to take risks. … He constantly threw us in at the deep end and knew it would all work out.”
Schmitt starred at Redwood before graduating in 1982. She went on to run at Cal then returned to Redwood in 1986 and coached the Giants for the next 34 seasons.
“He really used running as a vehicle to teach life skills,” Schmitt said “He was extraordinarily compassionate. He was a great human being who happened to be a great track and field and cross country coach.
“I learned so much about how to be as a human being to others from him, which is so invaluable. He is someone I saw every day after college for my entire life and I loved him.”
Redwood’s teams piled up MCAL championships and won their fair share of section titles under Mr. Basham, who was inducted into the Marin Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame in 1999 and into the Redwood Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014. The track at Redwood was renamed in honor of Mr. Basham in 2005.
Mr. Basham was born in North Dakota in 1932. His family moved to Oregon and he graduated from Portland’s Jefferson High in 1953 before starring at the University of Oregon.
A decorated athlete in his own right, Mr. Basham held the high hurdles record at Oregon for a number of years.
Mr. Basham returned to Jefferson High and took his first job as a teacher before eventually moving to Marin and teaching math and science at Redwood for three decades.
“He was a kind, generous person and he was always interested in what people were doing,” longtime Redwood teacher and friend Marilee Rogers said. “He went out of his way to support students. He’d drive kids any place they needed to go. He’d run with them and walk with them. The kids just loved him.”
Mr. Basham retired from teaching in 1995 but remained involved with the cross country and track programs for another 22 years before his health issues intervened.
“When I brought him to Oregon about three years ago, I literally had to drag him off the track,” Mr. Basham’s daughter, Cindy Skirvin, said. “He was still there, all scruffy.”
Mr. Basham is survived by his daughter, Cindy, and younger sister, Linda Matzke.
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Late Redwood cross country coach Doug Basham made lasting impact - Marin Independent Journal
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