Corrinne Tarver | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Alternative name(s) | Corrinne Wright | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | 1968 (age 55–56) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hometown | Mount Vernon, New York, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 4 ft 9 in (145 cm) [a] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years on national team | 1985–1986 ( U.S.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
College team | Georgia (1987–1990) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Former coach(es) | Suzanne Yoculan (Georgia) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Coaching career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Current position | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team | Fisk (2022–) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Corrinne Wright Tarver (born 1968) is an American gymnastics coach and former artistic gymnast. In 1989, representing the Georgia Bulldogs, she won the NCAA All-Around Gymnastics Championships, becoming the first African-American woman to do so. In 2022, she became the inaugural coach of the Fisk University gymnastics team.
Corrinne Wright grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. [3] She took up gymnastics in the footsteps of her older sister. [4] Early on she trained at a local YWCA without a dedicated space for gymnastics before beginning to commute to practice more intensively at a gymnastics facility in Stamford, Connecticut. [3] [4] In 1985 and 1986, she competed for the U.S. national artistic gymnastics team. [4] Recruited by the University of Georgia Bulldogs coach Suzanne Yoculan, Wright decided to go to Georgia after her first visit to the campus, in Athens. [4]
Wright was the first African-American member of the Georgia Bulldogs gymnastics team. [4] A nine-time All-American in her four years with the GymDogs, she helped win NCAA Team Championships in 1987 and 1989 as an early standout for Yoculan's burgeoning dynasty. [4] Yoculan remembered Wright as a stellar and fierce competitor who could sometimes be loath to practice. [2] [4] Wright later called herself "a ham ... I loved having all the eyes on me". [3] She would be inducted into the Georgia Bulldogs' Circle of Honor in 2005. [5]
In her first year, while helping Georgia to win its first team NCAA title, Wright placed third in all-around at the 1987 NCAA Championships with a score of 37.80, 0.30 behind champion Kelly Garrison-Steves of Oklahoma, and second in floor exercise with a score of 9.70, 0.10 behind Kim Hamilton of UCLA. [6] In her floor routine, she became the first NCAA gymnast to perform three double saltos in one routine and the first to land a double layout. [7] She was considered a contender for all-around at the 1988 Championships, despite some consistency issues, and sought to increase the difficulty of her routines, but an ankle injury restricted her practice during the season. [5] [8] She ended up repeating her floor result for second place by the same margin behind Hamilton, and made all-American on vault, but did not contend for all-around. [5] [9]
As a junior in 1989, while helping to win a second team NCAA title for Georgia, Wright won the NCAA's all-around title, becoming the first African-American woman to do so. [4] Her total score of 38.90, tied for the all-around record at that point, edged her nearest competitors by 0.20. [1] [10] Her strong floor routine—an ebullient display of tumbling, including a double layout, set to the music of Who Framed Roger Rabbit—earned her a score of 9.90, tied with Hamilton for first place. [1] [10] [11] The co-champion floor routines, performed back to back, were "as different as night and day": following Wright's effervescent and crowd-pleasing routine (with her coach describing her as "a little dynamo"), 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) Hamilton's balletic performance "was all lines and grace". [1] [2] Wright additionally medaled in uneven bars (9.80 in the event finals) and vault (9.675). [1] [10] She finished her college career the next year with an all-American showing in all-around in 1990. [4]
After completing her Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree at Georgia in 1991, Wright went to New York Law School, earning her Juris Doctor (JD) in 1996. [12] [13] She worked afterward in athletic administration for the NCAA's Northeast Conference and as a member of the athletic departments of Stockton and Syracuse. [12] [13] She has worked as a gymnastics coach since the 1990s, including at Star Bound Gymnastics Academy in Bridgeton, New Jersey, and as an assistant coach for Pennsylvania beginning in 2009. [12] [14]
In March 2022, Fisk University in Nashville hired Wright (by now known as Corrinne Tarver) as the head coach for its fledgling gymnastics program, the first such team at a historically black college in the country. [12] [15] While building the team, Tarver asked recruits, "Do you want to make history?" [16] [17] Tarver additionally became Fisk's athletic director in July 2022. [18] The Fisk Lady Gymdogs held their first practice on August 8, 2022, [19] and made their competitive debut at a Super 16 meet in Las Vegas on January 6, 2023, but placed last out of four teams. [16] The Fisk team, composed of freshman and transfers, attracted support on social media. [20] They had a poor win–loss record but managed to close their first regular season with a home win over Greenville. [21] Three Gymdogs— Morgan Price, Liberty Mora, and Zyia Coleman—competed at the 2023 USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Championships, two winning All-American honors (Price on floor and Mora on beam). [22]