By Ray Hamill — McKinleyville’s Tatum Fisher has been playing basketball for about as long as she can remember, and that’s not going to change anytime soon.

On Tuesday, the Panthers senior announced her college choice in front of a gathering of family, friends, coaches and teammates at McKinleyville High School, signing a letter of intent to play for George Fox University after graduation this year.

She joins a Division-III Bruins team that appears to be on the rise and a program that was among the most competitive in the Northwest Conference this past winter.

But that was just one of the reasons Fisher opted to take her talents to the Newberg, Ore., university.

“I just loved everything about it,” said Fisher, who visited the campus earlier this spring and was immediately sold. “Just learning about it online, it had the academics I wanted, the athletics, and when I visited I just totally loved it, the campus, the coach is just amazing, the whole program.”

In her second year in charge of the program, George Fox head coach Lauren Howard turned around the team’s fortunes in 2024/25.

Despite having a young roster, the Bruins finished 20-7, posting 14 more wins than the previous winter and making it to the conference championship game.

Fisher should help to continue that surge and has been one of the top players in the H-DNL for the past couple of years, earning all-league honors in both her junior and senior seasons, as well as being a finalist for the Humboldt Sports Player of the Year this year.

But her undeniable talent is not the only thing that should make her a success at the next level.

“George Fox is getting a wonderful student athlete, and I want to emphasize the student part of it,” McKinleyville High principal and athletics director Dustin Dutra told the gathering this week, citing her 4.67 GPA. 

“She really excels in the classroom as well as in athletics.”

And she has been doing so for a long time.

Fisher is a four-year varsity player in both volleyball and basketball, although she missed much of her senior season in the former while recovering from injury.

She suffered a fractured ankle late in her junior season on the basketball courts, but continued to play on it during the AAU season without realizing the severity of the injury, which didn’t help matters.

But she was back on the court this past winter and once again played a major role for the Panthers.

Playing alongside teammate and close friend Gabby Watson, who also recently announced her college choice, the two senior leaders helped guide the team to the North Coast Section playoffs and a memorable victory over Heritage in their final home game playing together.

Playing with Watson and her other teammates is just one of the things Fisher says she will remember the most from her days at Mack High.

“I’ll remember the people, my coaches — (head coach Jacob) Cheek and (assistants) Brady (Burtchett) and Sam (Hooven) — and my teammates, especially Gabby because we’ve been together since freshman year and we’ve just kind of grown up together,” Fisher said. “Definitely the people. Everyone here is amazing and I love all the relationships for sure.”

Playing basketball in college has been a long-term goal for the all-league player, and while she acknowledges that she loves volleyball as well, she admits that basketball has always been her favorite sport.

Submitted photo

“It’s aways been basketball,” she said. “I first started playing right before kindergarten and I always knew it would be basketball. I love playing volleyball, it was always fun, but it was always basketball I was putting in the work outside of season. I always knew that was what I wanted to do.”

Cheek, who has coached her since her middle school days, believes she has all the necessary tools to succeed on the college courts, including her versatility as a player.

“The fact that Tatum can play anywhere on the court will help her be a positive contributor right away when she begins her career at George Fox,” the coach said. “Seeing her progress the last four years has been amazing. It’s been a pleasure to coach her.”

On Tuesday Fisher thanked her “parents for always supporting me endlessly and being at hundreds and hundreds of games and tournaments, and to all my coaches for pushing me to where I am now, and to my teammates for always being there for me, and just to everyone here, I couldn’t be more grateful.”

Fisher says she wants to major in interior design and minor in Spanish, and that she hopes to get her masters in architecture.