New to "The Coaching Factory Hall of Fame" and inducted during ceremonies held February 1, 2014, were two individuals that represent the wide spectrum of academic preparation at SUU in the physical education and science departments, and also represent successful coaching careers in high school athletics. They epitomize all that is praise worthy about high school sports.
Robert Corry ('71)
Dr. Bob Corry was born and raised in Cedar City, shined as a middle-distance runner at Cedar High and at Southern Utah University, and returned to his hometown after completing medical school at the University of Utah and serving a residency in Georgia. For 34 years he was a leading family practitioner in Cedar City, but also found time to share with Cedar High's youth his love of running and competing.
He began as a volunteer assistant girls cross country and track coach from 1985 to 1992, then took over as head girls track coach from 1993 to 2003, and as head coach of the girls cross country team from 1993 to present. Since 2003, he has fulfilled the duties of assistant girls track coach as well. His Cedar cross country girls won the state crown each year from 1993 through 2000, and again in 2007, to provide nine state championships. His team also finished second in state in seven years. His track teams won Utah titles five times, from 1998 thorugh 2001 and again in 2011, and picked up four second place trophies. He coached relay teams to five state records and produced more than a half-dozen record-holders in individual events.
In 2000, he was the Western United States High School Girls Cross Country Coach of the Year as well as Utah State 3A Coach of the Year. He was an Olympic Torch Bearer in 1996, and won a gold medal in the 800-meter run in the inaugural Utah Summer Games, while adding a handful of other medals over the years.
Saluting his lifetime of commitment to youth and athletics and his dedication to excellence, Southern Utah University proudly inducted Dr. Bob Corry in the Coaching Factory Hall of Fame.
Ginger Webster Whipple ('75)
Some five years after graduating from Southern Utah University with a bachelor's degree in physical education, Ginger established the first volleyball program at Alamo, Nevada's, Pahranagat Valley High School, which had been educating students since 1921. In providing athletic and competitive opportunities for girls in Lincoln County, she expanded the breadth of their worlds and fostered great personal growth. In so doing, she put the school, and the volleyball program, on the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association map, by running up an unmatched chronicle of championships.
Her Panther girls won their first state crown in 1985, and in 1995 began a run of historic and unprecedented proportions, with 19 consecutive years in the finals of the Division IV finals. They won 15 first-place trophies during the period through 2013, including a nine-year streak from 1997 through 2005. As perennial champions of the Southern League, nearly always with undefeated regular seasons, the Panthers have registered an overall winning percentage that is well above the .800 mark. Along the way, Ginger has developed scores of all-state team members and sent a good proportion of players off to collegiate ranks from the school with an enrollment of fewer than 70.
In recognition of her outstanding career in coaching, characterized not only by her record-breaking successes on the court but also by her exemplary guidance and empowerment of young women, Ginger Webster Whipple is indeed a worthy inductee into the Southern Utah University Coaching Factory Hall of Fame.
Special Award and Acknowledgement
During last year's high school football season, one Utah high school coach, Matt Labrum ('95) from Union High School, suspended his season and with it his entire team and had them turn in their jerseys. He did this to inform his team that they were doing things that responsible people should not be doing. This coach stood his ground with his team against poor performance in the classroom, bullying outside the classroom, and included disrespect of teachers and students. So according to remarks made in the Desert News, " . . . this coach stopped playing football and started discussing character."
SUU and "The Coaching Factory" recognized Matt Labrum, an alumnus coach, for the values he exhibited with this community, peers, and his own team.
Also honored that night were alumni coaches who either won Utah state championships or were runners-up during the 2012-2013 academic year.
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