John J. Corbett

Who was John J. Corbett?

John J. Corbett was an American football player and coach of multiple sports. He played football for Harvard University from 1890 to 1893 and was selected as one of the two halfbacks on the 1890 College Football All-America Team. He graduated from Harvard in 1894 and received a master's degree from Ohio University in 1910. Corbett went on to coach football in Ohio, Oklahoma and Wyoming. In 1914, he moved to Wyoming where he coached all of the athletic teams, including football, basketball, baseball, and track and field, for the University of Wyoming from 1914 to 1924. He remained the university's director of physical education until his retirement in September 1939. He became known as Wyoming's "Grand Old Man of Athletics." In October 1931, the University of Wyoming's athletic ground was named Corbett Field in his honor. Corbett died on February 21, 1947 of an apparent heart attack at his home in Laramie, Wyoming; he was 77 years old.