Growing up No. 7’s daughter: Nia Bishop finds success with her dad’s number

The reaction is always the same.

Your dad is who? Michael Bishop? That Michael Bishop?

Yes, Nia Bishop has to tell them, that Michael Bishop.

When you share the last name and genetics of one of the most revered players in Kansas State football history, the outside expectations can become suffocating.

Before Nia Bishop could become one of the best volleyball players in Kansas this season as a 5-foot-9 senior at Derby, she had to find a way to cope with the pressure.

Instead of hiding from it, she changed her jersey to No. 7 — the same number her father wore at K-State — and embraced the situation head-on.

“Everyone always told me because of who my parents are I had to be good,” Nia Bishop said. “I just decided since everyone is already comparing me to my dad, I guess I’ll just be No. 7.”

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Nia Bishop admittedly does not know much about football.

But that doesn’t stop people from telling her how many yards her father threw for, how many big games he won, and how he even played in the NFL.

“There’s always been high expectations for me since he was so good,” Nia said. “That’s what I hear all the time, how good he is.”

Michael Bishop has lived in Houston, running his own year-round football training program, since Nia was little. But he has stayed active in her life, keeping in touch with texting and road trips to watch her play.

It became evident at an early age Nia was going to be an athlete, as she excelled in volleyball, basketball, and track. Michael Bishop knew the comparisons would be made.

“I tell her, ‘Be your own star,’ ” he said. “You got to make a name for yourself. A lot of things I did when I was at K-State were great, but be better than what I was. That’s what I tell her every time. The sky is the limit with her and her ability.”

Be better than the runner-up for the 1998 Heisman Trophy?

“It’s always been a lot to live up to,” Nia said.

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Sometimes Marilou Mewborn, Nia’s mother, feels like the odd one out when Nia and Michael are together.

Even though they’re not together much, Nia thinks of her father like a best friend.

“They’re both just goofballs, to be honest,” Mewborn said. “It’s fun to be around. She has a big personality, which is similar to her dad. They’re always in the mix and always wanting to make people laugh and be funny.”

But when it comes to volleyball, Nia’s two biggest fans and two biggest critics are her parents.

Every time Michael Bishop is present, Nia feels the pressure to perform — or she’ll hear about it after the match.

“I just want to make him proud, but he can be harsh sometimes,” Nia said. “He likes to pick out the bad things, so it’s hard to impress him.”

Mewborn, who also attended Derby, was an accomplished volleyball player in her own right and is always on Nia about watching video.

“She kind of gets it from all angles,” Mewborn said, laughing. “She’s probably over it, but I make her watch film a lot and I DVR a lot of games for her to watch. I think a lot of what you see her do on the court now is from watching a lot of film, though.”

It’s tough love, but in the end the family knows it is still love.

“We argue about some things, but we want what’s best for her,” Michael Bishop said. “A lot of times it’s about sports, it’s about life, it’s about situations going on in a 17-year-old’s life. At the end of the day, I try to make sure she knows I’m going to always love you regardless of what happens.”

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This fall Nia Bishop was selected as one of 11 seniors from Kansas chosen on the American Volleyball Coaches Association Under Armour list after being tabbed on the AVCA Phenom List last year.

An outside hitter, she led Derby in kills last season with 320 and is on track to surpass that mark with 165 during Derby’s 12-10 start. Bishop is one of the hardest hitters in Kansas and has improved her all-around game enough to stay on the court for all six rotations.

“I love to watch her play because she’s just a firecracker out there,” Derby coach Shelby Kraus said. “She’s very determined. She does not like to lose and it’s just that will to win that makes her special.”

When Michael Bishop watches his daughter play volleyball, that is what strikes him the most about the similarities between the two.

“I see her all over the place on the court diving for balls, doing what she can to help her team get that point,” he said. “When I was on the football field, if I had to jump over you, run through you, throw it 60, 80 yards down the field, that was my job for the day. I think she gets a lot of that from me, that ‘I will, I won’t’ mentality.”

Nia Bishop has made a non-binding commitment to continue her career in college at Pittsburg State, putting the days of overwhelming pressure in her past.

Now she’s proud to wear No. 7.

“She’s carrying on that legacy and that makes me proud to be a dad and have a daughter that wants to wear that number,” Michael Bishop said. “I did some good things with that number, now it’s her turn to do better things with that number.”

This story was originally published October 3, 2016 at 12:20 PM with the headline "Growing up No. 7’s daughter: Nia Bishop finds success with her dad’s number."