Three East Union hoops legends were honored Friday before the start of the school’s varsity football game.
They were each introduced to the crowd at Dino Cunial Field, where Simoni presented them with red EU’s Hall of Fame jackets.
Kron was presented by holder brother Randy, the first of three Krons to don the No. 24 for the boys basketball team. Gary’s son, Jordan (2013), is the last player to wear 24. It was retired in Gary’s honor in 2014.
Gary Kron is the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,806 points, which remains as the all-time high in southern half of the Sac-Joaquin Section. A two-time Valley Oak League champion, he was named league MVP his senior year.
Kron is East Union’s first freshman to play on the varsity team. He played for celebrated coach Bill Stricker all four years, and together they compiled a 74-30 record and made what is still the lone NorCal appearance in program history.
Kron went on to play for University of Portland, Delta College and Stanislaus State. He returned to East Union as assistant coach under Simoni, and the tandem led the Lancers to three VOL titles in 10 years.
Bishop is an accomplished head coach at the NCAA Division II level with Cal Poly Pomona, where she is entering her 13th year. She previously spent three years at Cal Baptist and four at Azusa Pacific.
The Broncos are 208-111 under Bishop, who has guided them to six NCAA Tournament appearances and one California Collegiate Athletic Association championship (2013-13).
As a player, Bishop starred for four years at East Union while playing for her father Mark Liles, who presented her at the Hall of Fame ceremony. They led the Lancers to a 103-22 record and four straight VOL titles. Bishop was a three-time All-VOL MVP, and her 2,210 career points still stands as the all-time high in program history. Bishop’s No. 3 jersey hangs with the Krons’ 24 at Dalben Center.
Bishop signed with University of Florida out of high school. Plagued by injury her freshman year, she transferred to Delta College before moving onto Tarleton State, earning all-conference honors at both stops.
After serving as an assistant coach at Delta and graduate assistant at Tarleton State, Bishop had immediate success in her first stint as head coach. She notched 20-plus wins in all four seasons at Azusa Pacific, and the Cougars qualified for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Tournament each year.
At Cal Baptist, she became the program’s first coach to tally two straight winning seasons and finished 46-44 in three years there. She started at Cal Poly Pomona in 2010-11, becoming the Broncos’ fifth-ever head coach.
Gowan has joined Bishop at the collegiate coaching ranks. She is about to start her fourth year at McDaniel College, an NCAA Division III school out of Westminster, Maryland.
Gowan was a multi-sport standout at East Union, earning varsity letters in basketball, softball, golf, swimming and track. It was on the hardwood and in the classroom where she earned much of her accolades, however.
She spearheaded the Lancers to the VOL title in 2006-07, as the team finished 23-6. Gowan was also named All-VOL MVP that year. She holds the single-game scoring record with 41 points.
Gowan earned an academic scholarship to attend Stanislaus State, where she was a four-year basketball player. Her name is splattered across the program record books, and she all-time leader in single-season and career free-throw percentages.
As a senior, she was named Stanislaus State’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year after making the CCAA All-Academic Team three times.
Gowan began her coaching career as an assistant with Stanislaus State. From there, she an assistant position at Occidental College is Los Angeles and then landed her first head coaching job at Southern Vermont. She coached at Southern Vermont for two years and doubled as associate director of athletics and interim director of athletics.
