By Mike London
Salisbury Post
CHARLOTTE — The Southern Conference track and field rivalry between Western Carolina and App State was a very real thing and provided much of the fuel for Alisha Bradshaw’s record-breaking career as a Catamount thrower.
“That was a while back, but even today, you don’t want to come around me wearing an App State T-shirt,” Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw, a 2012 Salisbury High graduate, got a call last week, not from an angry App State fan, but from the Western Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame committee. They wanted to let her know that she’s been elected. Induction ceremonies will be held on Nov. 14 on the weekend that East Tennessee State football visits WCU.
“That Hall of Fame call came out of the blue,” Bradshaw said. “But it’s funny. I was just joking with one of my friends the other day that it was about time Western put me in the Hall of Fame. I guess I was feeling something.”
When she gives her acceptance speech, she’ll talk about her mother first. Glorida Bradshaw, a Salisbury High and Winston-Salem State graduate, passed away in 2021 at 66. She was one of the founders of the Salisbury Speedsters Track Club. She put her daughter on the path to a successful career.
Bradshaw’s first track experiences were with the Rowan Express. The Speedsters were next. Eventually, she competed for the Higher Power Track Club out of Charlotte.
“My mom bought me one of those home gyms, so I was working out all the time,” Bradshaw said. “That gave me a head start on most of the competition, and I grew to love working out. I always did the extra work, always put in the extra time. After practice, that’s when I would really go to work.”
After she talks about her mother, she’ll talk about Ralph Ellis, a local coaching legend.
“Ralph was a mentor for me whether he was coaching my team or not,” Bradshaw said. “I could always call Ralph if something wasn’t quite right. He would meet me anywhere, anytime, and he could take a look at a few throws and tell me what I was doing wrong. He could tell me how to fix it. He knows everything there is to know about the throws.”
After that, Bradshaw will talk about a lot of coaches at Salisbury High and at Western. A lot of dedicated people had a hand in her success.
Bradshaw’s career at Salisbury High is legendary. She was a three-time individual state champ, twice in the discus and once in the shot put. She threw the discus 142 feet as a high school senior and threw 40 feet, 6 inches in the shot.
“The thing that drove me was trying to help Salisbury win a state championship,” Bradshaw said. “It was nice to win individual events, but team success was my strongest motivation. If the team wins, then everyone gets to celebrate. We never won one, but we were always in the running. We finished as high as second in the state.”
Bradshaw maintained that team-oriented approach after she was recruited by Western Carolina.
When she was a freshman in the 2012 Southern Conference Outdoor Championships, the Catamounts finished second behind App State.
Bradshaw was honored as the league’s Freshman of the Year, but losing to rival App State still stung.
Bradshaw was one of the leaders as the Catamounts finished ahead of App State in the Southern Conference Championships during her next three seasons. Western won conference team titles in 2013 and 2015 and was second to Samford in 2014.
Bradshaw was named the Most Outstanding Field Performer both years that Western won the team championship. As a sophomore, she won the shot put and discus and was second in the hammer throw in a dominant conference meet.
If it was a throwing event, she mastered it. Besides, her three outdoor events, she competed in the shot put and weight throw indoors.
She piled up Athlete of the Week and Athlete of the Month awards.
Now she can look back at pride on a career that includes school records in the discus (163 feet, 5 inches), shot put (49 feet, 4.25 inches) and the 20-pound weight throw.
Bradshaw earned a degree in social work and uses it now to make an impact on the lives of troubled youngsters who need guidance.
