Sports Before and After

By Sara Sylvester ’09

Before and after retirement, sports have been a major factor in the life of Bill Corman.

Bill was SU’s first wrestling coach heading the program in 1956. He had twenty-three winning seasons out of twenty-six including a nineteen-season winning streak. At the time of his retirement, wrestling was the first sport to post over 200 wins with 234. In 1972, coaching two of his sons Bill Jr. and John, the team placed fifteenth at the NCAA national championships, the best finish ever for the Red Raiders.

It wasn’t all wrestling for Bill. He was a professor in the Health and Physical Education Department and was an assistant football coach. He was on the coaching staff the year Shippensburg was invited to play Slippery Rock at Michigan University in 1979. “I didn’t know they knew we existed,” he recalled.

After twenty-six years at Ship, Bill retired in 1982. He and his wife of sixty-one years, Ardenia, have made Shippensburg their home. They have watched their six children grow and start families of their own in the area. An integral part of their lives is attending the games of their fifteen grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren.

“What draws the most interest for my wife and me is watching them in sports,” Bill said. His grandchildren and great grandchildren participate in a variety of sports including basketball, baseball, and soccer. When asked which sport is his favorite, he always has the same response: “Whichever sport is in season.”

Hunting is a favorite pastime for Bill and his three sons. Mounted on the wall behind him is the first buck he bagged in 1947. The sketch, by one of his grandsons, marks the most recent, his 40th.

Fifteen years after retirement, in 1997, Bill was inducted into the SU Athletic Hall of Fame. He joined his son, Bill Jr. who was inducted four years earlier. The circle was completed in 2004 when John was honored.

While traveling is not a big part of the Cormans’ life, they did follow their youngest son, David for the brief while he played for the Baltimore Orioles.

In addition to keeping up with the sports schedules of both generations of grand kids, Bill continues to hunt and fish. He recalls getting his first buck in 1947, “I actually got that first buck on the day my first child, Connie, was born. So my wife was in the hospital in labor and I was out hunting,” Bill said with a laugh. He goes hunting with his three sons and other family at their hunting camp near State College. He also loves golf but admits he hasn’t picked up his clubs since 1982 when he retired.

Bill enjoys the Ship community and is active in his church. Feeling his retirement has mostly been a good experience, he said, “The only bad thing is that time flies; it’s already been twenty-six years.”

As he did with his own children and continues to do with the younger generations, Bill has always stressed the importance to always do your best. He refers to the Grantland Rice quote that hung above his office door: “For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes not that you’ve won or lost, but how you played the Game.”