Tributes to football coach Ron whose love of football took him round world
A well-known football coach whose love of the beautiful game took him to America, the Faroe Islands and Jamaica to train aspiring players has died at the age of 76.
Ron Corbett, from Dudley, was passionate about sports from an early age, becoming a boxing champion while still attending Dudley Grammar School.
But his main love was football and his involvement in the game spanned more than 50 years as player, manager and coach.
Mr Corbett died last Thursday at Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital after suffering dementia for the past few years.
His heartbroken family today paid tribute to 'a kind man who never had a bad word to say about anyone'.
His daughter Jacqui Crump said even though battling dementia, her father had still tried to keep himself fit.
"He got into sports at a very young age. He was a boxing champion for England when he was still at school and also loved football and cricket," she said.
"We used to say if there was a ball involved in any game then my dad would love it.
"He was a very kind man and would do anything to help anyone. He was always passionate about his fitness.
"Even up to a few years ago he would still run a couple of miles every day."
Alongside his daughter, Mr Corbett is survived by his grandchildren Hannah and Alex and great-grandson Jay.
He was born on Dudley's Priory estate on February 2, 1939.
As a teenager, he played for Wolves in 1954 and West Bromwich Albion in 1956/57 with a stint for Dudley Town in 1955.
Mr Corbett was then called up for National Service with the RAF. But he still managed to fit in his beloved football by representing the combined services team and the RAF.
After his service, between the years of 1960 and 1965, he was a semi-professional player for Kidderminster, Lye and Lower Gornal football teams.
He fitted this in around his work running a convenience store in Kidderminster.
In the late 60s, he was manager of Brierley Hill Alliance Football Club and Oldswinford Football club before qualifying as a Football Association coach in 1975.
Mr Corbett also had stints at Kidderminster Harriers as assistant manager and manager of Solihull Borough FC.
In 1985, he coached overseas for the first time at the North America Soccer Camps.
In 1987 and 1988, he travelled to the Faroe Islands, an archipelago and autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark.
He would return a number of times, including the mid-1990s and early 2000s, to share his experience with the players there.
Mr Corbett also coached adult and schools teams in Mandeville, Jamaica with his first visit in 2000/01.
Mrs Crump said: "He always talked about his times in Jamaica with much fondness and missed it very much when he could no longer visit.
"If my father's first love was sport than the second was definitely travelling," she said.
Mr Corbett's funeral will be held at Gornal Crematorium on March 12 at 9.40am.
