Theodore Lamont Bush Jr., a 1977 Salisbury High graduate, died earlier this month at 67.
Known as Ted, Bush was a son of J.C. Price legend Ted “Shaky” Bush, an elusive back who was a key part of the Red Devils’ dynasty in the early 1950s. Coach S.W. Lancaster’s football teams lost only one time in the three seasons from 1950 to 1952, posting a record of 22-1-2. The Red Devils were state runner-up to Raleigh in 1950 and captured the program’s second state championship for Black schools in 1952.
Shaky’s son was a brilliant scholar and an excellent athlete. While he played some basketball for Salisbury, Ted Jr.’s biggest contributions to the athletic program came in football and track and field.
Bush was tall, almost 6-foot-4, and very lean at about 170 pounds. He was fast, a prototype split end. He was a three-year varsity standout for the Hornets. As a sophomore in the fall of 1974, he was a starter for the team that won the Western North Carolina High School Activities Association championship, although that was a ground-heavy Pete Stout-coached team, so the split end was basically a blocker. Bush made eight catches for 112 yards.
Bush’s role didn’t change as a junior in the fall of 1975, Stout’s final season at the helm. That was an 8-1-1 Salisbury team that didn’t make the playoffs. A scoreless tie with Concord and a 17-14 loss to Lexington proved fatal for the Hornets, even though they won their last four games. For the season, Bush had seven catches for 117 yards.
In the fall of 1976, Ray Wilson was the head coach of the Hornets and the team threw a little more. Bush did almost all of the pass-catching for the Hornets that season with 19 catches for 385 yards and a touchdown. Salisbury had only 28 completions the entire season, relying mostly on the running of Ricky Holt to carve out a 6-3-1 record.
In a 13-8 loss to Thomasville, Bush had one of the biggest receiving games a Hornet had ever produced at that point in time. He had six catches for 108 yards.
Bush was honored as an All-Rowan County end as a senior.
In track and field, Bush’s event was the pole vault, and he pushed himself to excel in what was a terrific era for Rowan pole vaulters.
In the 1977 South Piedmont Conference championships, Bush helped the Hornets take their fourth straight conference title by winning the pole vault. He broke the conference record in that meet by clearing 13 feet. The previous SPC record had been set at 12-6.
Bush was also the SPC pole vault champion in 1976, clearing the bar at 12 feet.
Off the field, Bush was a major star at Salisbury High. He went to Governor’s School. He was president of the junior class and a member of the National Honor Society. He was a Morehead Scholarship nominee.
He went to college at N.C. State, graduated with a chemical engineering degree and had a 34-year career in helping protect the environment. He retired in 2018.
Bush was an athlete most of his life, running triathlons and marathons, coaching basketball, skiing, hiking and mountain biking. He climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the tallest mountain in Africa.
Services to honor Bush are set for River City Church (Landis) on Aug. 29 at 1 p.m. (noon wake, 1 p.m. funeral) and at Dorothea Dix All Faith Chapel (Raleigh) on Sept. 11 at 5:30 pm. If you would like to support the family, please donate to the Feed Fifty People Charity.
