Ray Corn, first head coach of Utah State gymnastics, passes away at 71

Raymond Corn, the head coach of the Utah State University gymnastics team for 31 years, passed away on Aug. 13. He was 71 years old.

In an interview with The Utah Statesman in 2006, Corn said that he was brought to USU to “change and elevate the program of gymnastics.” Now, his name is synonymous with Utah State gymnastics.

Corn was responsible for transitioning the Utah State gymnastics program from club level to NCAA status and was the first head gymnastics coach in USU history until his retirement in 2008. 

Throughout his coaching career, Corn took the Utah State gymnastics team to the postseason a total of 26 times, including five national championships, finishing as high as ninth place in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women National Championships in 1982.

Corn was named conference coach of the year six times (1986, 1987, 1988, 1994, 1998 and 2001) and was named the 1991 Midwest Regional Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the Utah State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015. 

The front page of The Utah Statesman — March 9, 1984

Corn was born in Cebu City, Philippines in 1949, moving to Kansas City, Missouri in 1954 and then to Broomfield, Colorado in 1960. Ranked second in wrestling in the state of Colorado in 1967, he was signed to wrestle for University of Northern Colorado, but ended up competing on the gymnastics team instead. He taught history and gymnastics at Bear Creek High School in Colorado from 1972-1977 before moving to Utah State in 1978 to coach the gymnastics team.

Corn also taught gymnastics and professional classes in the physical education department at USU.

Corn’s full obituary can be viewed here.