Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 2, 1993 TAG: 9309020458
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN MONTGOMERY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
And probably more hand-waving than Bill Clinton.
Basham has earned a decent living. He's met countless people. He's helped bring permanence to an occupation that is associated with transience.
But Harold Basham's job has been more than that. To hundreds of children, he's played the role of adviser, disciplinarian, cheerleader and confidant.
"I've got kids on my routes whose parents rode with me," he laughed.
Basham stands 6-foot-2 1/2, weighs 265 pounds and speaks firmly but quietly. He encounters little trouble on his routes. He rewards students for scholarship. He counsels them on problems at home and at school. And he loves doing it.
Basham drives students to Woodrow Wilson Middle School, William Fleming High School and Hurt Park Elementary. He also takes students to and from after-school events, coming in contact with as many as 140 students during the year.
Every Friday night during football season he transports the Fleming football team to its game. During preseason practice, he picks up the players at the their homes, starting at 7 a.m., and is ready and waiting to take them back home in the afternoon after their second daily practice.
In the summer, he transports YMCA kids to swimming pools as part of a Y/Roanoke City arrangement.
"I've got hung up with this job now," Basham said. "I get attached to these kids. If I live long enough, I'll retire here."
Basham, 49, was born in Bedford County. He moved to Roanoke when he was 6 years old and graduated from Lucy Addison High School in 1963. He is one of 11 children, all of whom reside in the Roanoke Valley.
Two of Basham's sisters are employed by Roanoke City Schools. Tharila Drew is a custodian at William Fleming High School, and Priscilla Lynch is a teacher's aide at Northwest Elementary.
Driving a school bus comes naturally for Basham, as he always has been interested in children and transportation. He developed an affinity for vehicles as a teen-ager. "My first car was a black '54 Ford with shades in it," he said, smiling. "I had to work [at a ladies' clothing store and a Franklin Road restaurant] in high school to be able to afford it."
Basham has six children, ranging in age from 11 to 30, and seven grandchildren. In the 1960s, he drove five years for a tractor-trailer company out of Washington, D.C. His first job with the Roanoke school system was driving a supply truck to school cafeterias.
As a bus driver, Basham has witnessed a wide range of minicrises. "I've had kids sick to their stomachs . . . asthma attacks, nosebleeds, falls, you name it," he said. "But as long as you got 'em on the bus, you're responsible for 'em.
"I've never had too much of a problem with discipline. Oh, every now and then a student will try to show off, and if it gets to be too much, I just give 'em a vacation. You see, it's a privilege to ride a school bus, and I always remind my kids of that."
A sign to that effect above the stairwell inside the bus reinforces his point.
"Harold maintains excellent discipline," said his supervisor, Chauncey Logan. "His dependability is excellent, too."
Logan, 60, has been with the school system for 34 years. He taught English and social studies at Addison when Basham was a student. "I never had Harold as a student, but I knew him," Logan said.
Logan held his present title, director of transportation, when Basham came on board. While Logan is willing to praise Basham's work, he is careful not to single out one of his drivers above another.
"Harold's the type of driver who goes above and beyond [his job description] to make life happy and beneficial for students," Logan said.
Basham cares about his riders' academic progress, too.
`I give my elementary students 50 cents whenever they have all A's and B's on their report cards," Basham said. "And a dollar if one has all A's. . . . I don't give out too many dollars."
Basham also has been known to present trophies to his school patrols.
But Basham doesn't ignore the problem student. "You got to try to find out what kind of problems they've got," Basham said.
"I had a fellow come up to me at a car wash the other day. . . . He'd been out of school for several years, and had been in the service. He said, `You know, I'm glad you put me off the bus that time,' " Basham said.
"I don't want to give children a hard time," he said. "I simply want respect. As long as they respect me, we get along just fine."
"There are a lot of kids in Roanoke who need help," Basham said. "Somebody's got to do it."
During the week of Basham's birthday in June, a greeting appeared in the Roanoke Tribune:
"Parents gathered at community functions are often overheard expressing praises of Harold for the personal job-related interest he has often taken with individual students.
"A sense of security shadows parents and students when Harold is driving. To be respected by young adults is a cherished blessing that does not come easy."
A tattoo on his bicep reads "Bash," but by all accounts Basham is a gentle, considerate man.
Two earrings hang from his left ear. Basham thinks the earrings help students relate to him.
"Sometimes you gotta join them," Basham said. "You gotta see what's happening."
by CNB