By Gavin Kentch
PSA: The celebration of life for Tom Corbin, a legendary and beloved figure in Alaska coaching and endurance sport history, will be held on Tuesday, May 13, at, of course, the Kincaid Chalet, at 5 p.m.
Thomas Lee Corbin was born in Iowa in 1947. He was raised by adopted parents in Gunnison, Colorado, an area he held dear throughout his life. Corbin died in Anchorage last December; he killed himself before the terminal mantle cell lymphoma could get there first. Withering away like his father, as he had seen all too well during the man’s own cancer treatment, “is what I have always feared most in life,” Corbin wrote in a farewell note.
You can read the obituary in the Anchorage Daily News here. You can read my remembrance of the man here:
You can read a portion of Corbin’s note here:
“In lieu of flowers,” his family wrote in the obituary, “donations can be made to the Alaska Ski Education Foundation for a legacy trail sign project at Hillside Park, honoring those who helped Tom create trails 50-plus years ago.” You can find a link to the foundation here, and a donation link here. Select “Tom Corbin Memorial Trail Sign Project” from the dropdown menu.
Here are some photos (click any preview to enlarge and bring up a gallery). I miss you, Corb.
I reread this after working out this A.M. Tom Corbin & Tom Besh were my mentors at Western. They were seniors; I was a freshman, and we all trained and ran on the x-c running team. They encouraged me to try x-c skiing in the Gunnison winters to stay in shape since Western had no indoor facilities. I had never even heard of the sport. That changed my life with the culmintion at the ’73 NCAA SKI Championships at Middlebury, skiing for Western. Tom was a complex man – but he was my friend. We stayed in touch. I have lost a few great friends in the past year. Tom Corbin was definitly one of them.
-Chuck Cliggett