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DOVER, DE – A Gates County native with a proven record of athletic success is now a member of the Delaware State University Hall of Fame.

Mary “Honey” Lamb-Bowman was recently inducted into the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame in tribute to her efforts to strengthen the school’s standing as a leader in women’s sports in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Lamb-Bowman made history as the first coach of the Delaware State women’s volleyball team in 1985. In just the program’s second season in 1986, she led the Hornets to a 16-11 overall record and a 4-0 MEAC Tournament run to the conference championship. Lamb-Bowman earned MEAC Tournament Most Outstanding Coach honors, while Delaware State’s Odessa Barnes was the Most Outstanding Tournament Player.

The program’s third season in 1987 was highlighted by a school-record 23 wins (23-6) and .793 winning percentage. She still ranks second on the Hornets’ all-time list with 96 volleyball coaching wins.

In basketball, Lamb-Bowman led the Lady Hornets for 10 seasons from 1985 to 1995, posting 117 wins, tops in program history at the time. In her first season at the helm, she was named MEAC Women’s Basketball Coach-of-the-Year after inheriting a team that compiled a 7-18 overall mark (3-9 MEAC) the previous year and guiding the squad to a school record-tying 18 wins (18-11), including a 10-4 mark in the MEAC.

Lamb-Bowman also led the Lady Hornets to their first league tournament championship game appearance during the 1988-89 season.

The following season, she again tied the school record for wins in a season (18-12) and guided the Lady Hornets to the MEAC Tournament championship game for the second year in a row.

Lamb-Bowman coached six AII-MEAC First Team honorees, including DSU Athletics Hall-of-Fame members Shervon Hunter, Barbara Burgess and Carlene Albury, who rank 12th, 14th and 37th respectively among the all-time leading scorers in MEAC women’s basketball history.

The contributions of Lamb-Bowman’s volleyball and basketball teams contributed significantly to Delaware State capturing the first-ever Mary McLeod Bethune Award recognizing the top overall Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference women’s sports programs in 1987.

Lamb-Bowman also coached collegiately at Fayetteville State (basketball & volleyball) from 1982 to ’84; and Norfolk State (basketball & volleyball) from 1980 to ’82. She also started the Norfolk State women’s volleyball program in 1980 and led the Spartans’ women’s basketball team to the NCAA Div. II East Regional title during the 1981-82 season.

A native of Gates and a 1971 graduate of Gates County High School, Lamb-Bowman graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree from Norfolk State University in Health, Physical Education & Recreation with an endorsement in Driver’s Education in 1975. In 1977, she completed a Master of Art Degree from Glassboro State College (Rowan College) in Health & Physical Education.

She ended her coaching/teaching career in 2019, retiring as a Health, Physical Education & Driver’s Education instructor from TC Williams High School in Alexandria, VA. (The school featured in the famous movie “Remember the Titans.) There she also served as the Girls’ Basketball Coach from 1995-1998 and started the Volleyball program (2000-2002).

She married James Bowman on August 6, 1988. She is the daughter of Rosa Lamb and Walter Lamb (deceased) and has two sisters, Claretta Jackson (Ballard) and Gloria Lamb Woodfork (Gerald), and two brothers, Walter Lamb Jr. (Vera) and Charles Lamb (Erma) deceased.