Neil Corbett

Category
2014
About This Inductee

Neil is a graduate of the former St. Mary’s High School, where he was a two-year starter and letter winner on the baseball team and King’s College, Class of 1972. He began his long newspaper career following the June 1972 flood after being hired by the former Wilkes-Barre Record as an office clerk. Six months later he was promoted to a reporter’s position and, among his many assignments, was mentored by the late Record sports editor Bob Patton, covering high school football, basketball and baseball games. One of the highlights of his early assignments was covering the run by the Nanticoke Area Trojans basketball which reached the 1976 Final Four in Class AAA in the PIAA tournament. In 1978, he was promoted to the copy desk of the combined W-B Record and Times Leader, The Evening News, and was assigned as the back-up sports editor. The newspaper strike of 1978 led to the formation of The Citizens’ Voice which Neil was a founder. He assumed the sports editor’s position in May 1979 and held it for the next 34 years, retiring in 2013 as one of the longest serving sports editors in Northeastern Pennsylvania. During the three decades under his stewardship, The Citizens’ Voice sports section won numerous national and state awards for its coverage of the local scene and a number of staff members have accumulated individual honors. Early on, Neil recognized the importance of emphasizing local sports and was instrumental in the emergence of female sports in the Wyoming Valley, making sure results from such sports as field hockey, girls’ basketball and softball made an appearance on the daily sports pages and not relegated to year-end wrap-ups. Other scholastic sports such as swimming and soccer were also given their just due. In 2005, Neil formed a committee of CV staffers and local sports notables which led to the selection of the Top 100 Athletes from the Wyoming Valley. The project proved so popular with readers that he followed in 2012 with a project which identified the top 25 teams of all-time from Valley. He was also instrumental in developing “Gameface”, a unique high school football section which is a must-read each Friday during football season. During his career he had the opportunity to cover the great runs of the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1970s which culminated in their world championship in 1980 and following that with the Phillies series appearance in 1993. He served as a Penn State beat reporter for the Voice during the Joe Paterno years and was fortunate to cover the Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, including the 1986 national championship Holiday Bowl, Blockbuster Bowl and the 1994 unbeaten Rose Bowl champions. He also covered Notre Dame’s national championship team in 1989. He is the son of Margaret Corbett of Kingston and is married to the former Kay Schrode. They are the parents of Patrick Corbett (wife Shelly) and Nora Alu. They have two grandchildren, Mollie and Riley Corbett.