Whenever Coach Darren Corbett’s teams were playing at Grimsley HS, his dad would be there to watch the Whirlies play:Big Don Corbett gone at age 75

He was a big man, but never too big to skip one of his son’s games when Darren Corbett was coaching the boys basketball team, at Grimsley High School…

Big Don Corbett would slip into the Bob Sawyer Gym at Grimsley HS, and he would head to the top of the bleachers along with his wife, and they would watch their son Darren Corbett coach the Grimsley Whirlies basketball team…

Coach Don Corbett was a big man and he would usually be wearing a small cap and a thick large jacket on those cold January and February nights and though it was cold outside, Don Corbett did not want to miss one of his son’s games…

Don Corbett loved attending those basketball games and supporting his son, Darren Corbett, in young Darren Corbett’s coaching efforts…

Big Don would climb those Grimsley bleachers and head toward the top of the gym mainly because he did not want to attract attention…He liked to come in quietly and leave quietly, he was not there to make a scene, he was just at the game to support and be there for his son Darren….

If you spoke to Coach Don Corbett and mentioned the great job he did coaching the A&T Aggies men’s basketball team he would defer his basketball times and turn and pretty much walk away…Don Corbett had his time and now it was time for the light to shine on his son, Darren Corbett…

I remember interviewing Don Corbett during his time at N.C. A&T and he was a mountain of a man, but the real word that best describes Don Corbett, is Winner…

Coach Corbett was a Winner and he made A&T a Winner, and he was possibly the best basketball coach to ever blow the whistle over on the Aggie campus…

Notes from Jeff Mills(News and Record) on Coach Corbett’s numbers at N.C. A&T:
In 14 seasons as A&T’s head coach, Corbett compiled a 254-145 record. His teams won at least 20 games six seasons and won the MEAC Tournament seven years in a row.

Take a moment and think about that. No MEAC team has ever received an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. To get there, you must win the conference tournament.

And Corbett’s teams did it every year from 1982 through 1988. The seven consecutive conference tournament championships tie A&T with Kentucky for the NCAA Division I record.

Don Corbett was a Winner and his son Darren Corbett followed in his father’s footsteps…The Corbetts were a winning combination and Don Corbett never let his son down…The dad always put his son and family first and that is why you would see Don Corbett climbing up those bleachers at Grimsley, on those cold January and February nights…

Don Corbett died from cancer complications on Wednesday and this man will be missed and if you get chance say a prayer for the Corbett family, and next Winter when it gets cold on the Winter Nights, stop and think for a second and if you are anywhere near the Grimsley or N.C. A&T campus, look up and you may see Don Corbett climbing one more time up those bleachers at Grimsley, or you may see him roaming the sidelines, inside the Corbett Center, on the N.C. A&T campus…

The Big Man will be missed, but the Big Man will not be forgotten, RIP Don Corbett…

Read more on this bigger than life man, that had a special place in his heart for his son and his family, when you CLICK HERE and check out Jeff Mills post on Coach Don Corbett….

+++++Darren Corbett, the former head boys basketball coach at Grimsley High School and an assistant coach at Page HS, is currently the head boys basketball coach at Terry Sanford High School, in Fayetteville, North Carolina…..+++++