Steve Mabry

 

By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

CHINA GROVE — In theory, Steve Mabry retired from China Grove Middle School in 2002 when he was 54, but the reality was far different.

Sports kept Mabry’s blood pumping and sports remained his passion until his death on Monday, Oct. 16. He was 75.

Mabry coached 31 years at China Grove, but he continued to help the high schools, mostly South Rowan and Carson, long after his official retirement.

He was a golfer at Warrior, and as a friend of head coach Daniel Crosby, he still was keeping stats for Mount Pleasant’s 2023 football team.

Mabry graduated from South Rowan in 1966. He was a reserve on one of the best basketball teams in school history. Denny Hogan, Ben Basinger, Darryl Gibson, David Teague and Jerry Overcash were the starters. South went 19-4. Mabry careered with a 10-point effort when South pounded North Rowan 98-45.

He graduated from Appalachian State and came back to southern Rowan.

When he was hired in 1970 at China Grove Junior High. Mabry figured he’d stay a few years, gain some experience, and then move on to the high school ranks.

But it didn’t work out that way. After a few years, he realized he was where he needed to be. This was the age group (grades 7-9) where he could make the biggest difference.

When the chance did come for high school jobs, he said no thanks, mostly out of love for China Grove. He had no interest in going anywhere else.

In the mid-1980s, Mabry became China Grove’s AD in addition to a growing stack of coaching duties.

He touched so many lives that he has to be one of the most beloved sports figures in China Grove in the last 50 years.

“The China Grove community is definitely grieving because we lost a good one,” said Justin Basinger, who was part of two generations of Basingers who played for Mabry at China Grove. I would see him at Gary’s and he still has always kept up with me. He cared about his players. He tried to mold them into young men who contributed to their communities and society.”

Everyone has a Mabry story. Most are printable.

He had a sweet spirit and a real love for the youngsters, especially the rough-around-the-edges ones who needed him the most, but he could go ballistic, at times.

“Coach Mabry was old-school, get in your face, tell you how it really is,” Basinger said. “He didn’t beat around the bush, so maybe in that moment you didn’t like him much. But you always appreciated him later. I was coached by Mike Gurley and John Davis, but the best tongue-chewing I ever got was from Steve Mabry.”

Don Bost and Mabry were tight. They coached together, administrated together, played golf together.

The story goes that Bost and Mabry were coaching separate basketball teams one summer at Winthrop’s camp.

Bost took his squad to the l0cker room at halftime leading by a point and was astonished when he returned to the court to find he was now down by one.

Mabry had gotten a technical.

“Your assistant won’t shut up,” the ref said. Bost tried to explain that Mabry wasn’t even a coach for his team, but the technical stood.

Mabry famously earned three technicals and an early departure from a China Grove basketball game.

Chris Corriher remembers that story as if it happened last night.

Joe Crapster, who would later star in football at South Rowan and Catawba, was very strong. He got two hands on a rebound and pulled an opponent who had only one hand on the ball down over his back. The ref blew the whistle, called a foul on Crapster.

Mabry was incredulous, blew a fuse, got two rapid-fire technicals. He didn’t realize he’d gotten hit with two, until the flurry of free-throw attempts began.

“Did they give me two technicals?” Mabry asked Corriher. Corriher informed him that indeed they had.

That’s when Mabry went crazy and got his third one.

“He was defending his player,” Corriher said. “He was thrown out of the gym after that, but then we could still see him peeking in through the narrow windows of the gymnasium. He did inspire us to come from behind and win after his episode. He was funny, he was energetic, he was loud. He cared about his players and obviously defended them. He got me out of more trouble than I deserved. which I always thanked him for doing. I’ll miss him.”

While there are comedic memories of Mabry’s tantrums, he did some serious work coaching the steady pipeline of talent that went from China Grove to South Rowan, especially in football. Starting with the mid-1970s, South was a factor in football for decades.

“South was winning so much in football, it put a fear of losing in you,” Corriher said. “But we were very well-prepared in junior high by coaches like Steve Mabry and Don Bost. We learned how to be physical early on. We ran the same offense and defense they used at South, so when we got to South, it was our turn. We were ready to keep it going.”

Some great ones came through China Grove during Mabry’s days. Tommy Barnhardt made it to the NFL as a punter. Greg Poole starred at the University of North Carolina.

“I didn’t play in the Little Leagues or the Gray-Y leagues  as a youngster, so they didn’t really know me when I got to China Grove, but the coaches there, guys like Steve Mabry and Raymond Daugherty, they saw something in me,” Crapster said. “I played fullback and linebacker. I broke my arm as an eighth-grader, but  I still loved everything about football.”

Mabry helped groom coaches in addition to players.

“I remember Coach Mabry cut me from the 8th-grade basketball team at China Grove, but he encouraged me to work on my skills and try out again the next year and my basketball journey continued at South with Coach (Bob) Parker,” Gene Doby said. “I coached with Coach Mabry and Rick Houston at China Grove for seven years. I coached one more year after that with Hunter Fuller, and Coach Mabry would come to the games, sit in the stands, and write down on index cards the things we needed to work on.”

Stephen London, who became an assistant football coach at Salisbury, South Rowan and Carson, was given his start by Mabry at China Grove in 1997.

“He was a great man and a leader,” London said.

Lisa Withers Troutman played tennis for Mabry at China Grove.

“One of my best memories was that we had to run from China Grove Middle to the tennis courts at the community building before practice every day,” she said. “He would drive up beside us in his Corvette drinking a cold drink and he’d offer it to us — if  we made it to the tennis courts before he did. Of course, that never happened. He later coached my son in football and I am so thankful we both had Steve Mabry in our lives. He was the best.  He always encouraged us and never failed to speak to any student he ever had.”

Daniel Pinyan came full circle with Mabry.

“I remember him at church when I was a little kid,” Pinyan said. “He drove the Corvette that was in the lot and he sang with my parents. I remember he knew how to turn my jacket into a sling when I smashed by fingers in the front door of the church. Later, he was my coach at China Grove in football and basketball. My mom worked there and he would take me to her office rather than the principal’s office when I misbehaved. That was a whole lot worse.”

As an adult, Pinyan coached alongside Mabry when Jesse Carson High opened in 2006. Mabry was part of that patient coaching staff that survived an 0-22 start to build a solid program.

Adrian Parker is another athlete who knew Mabry forever.

“Coach Mabry was a life-long friend to my father ( Bob) and introduced my step-mom (Janice) to him,” Parker said. “He coached me in basketball in middle school and then in AAU with Coach Bost. Then we attended Sunday school together for decades. There aren’t many folks, outside of your family, that you know your whole life. He was one of those folks for me.”

During his time at China Grove, Mabry coached track, tennis, baseball, football and basketball — and was the cheerleading advisor.

“Steve Beaver, Raymond Daugherty, Steve Mabry and I were coaching three sports, mowing the grass and getting paid $50 a month for it,” Bob Parker said. “I was coaching the boys and girls ninth-grade basketball teams, driving the bus and being the cheerleading adviser for all the road games. That $50 a month — you would get it all at one time in a check for $450 at the end of the year — wasn’t much. But it was sports, so it was enjoyable.”

Mabry helped make sports more enjoyable and made lives better for decades,

The athletic fields at China Grove were named the Steven N. Mabry Athletic Fields in March 2002.