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Coach Kara “Cobby” Bright was born in Brilliant, Ohio and was a 1945 graduate of old Smithfield High. He attended The Ohio State University as an undergraduate and received his Bachelors degree at Milligan College. After serving 17 months in the Korean War, he went on to earn his Master
s degree in Education at the University of Mississippi.
His first taste of teaching and coaching came in Roanoke, Virginia where he coached basketball and baseball at Floyd High School for two years. He moved on for a five-year stay at Surry Central High School in North Carolina where he served as the school's head coach in football, basketball and track. Coach Bright's return to the Ohio Valley in 1962 marked the start of an era for the small community of Smithfield. As the school's head coach in basketball, he produced many outstanding teams during the 60s and 70s. With the formation of the Buckeye Local School System, Kara was the administration's first choice to serve as the new school's head basketball coach. He declined and took a position at Buckeye Central Junior High in Dillonvale. While at Central, he coached the Charger football team until his retirement in 1987.
In addition to being a coach and an educator, forty years of Kara’s life was dedicated to organizing retreats for youth. He began his work through the formation of the Ohio Chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and ultimately developed new and exciting programs through his vision of Brightway Center. Through it all, his greatest moments of joy were when he saw the young people he mentored reach out to other underprivileged youth.
Over the years, word carried of Kara’s work with young people and he was invited to speak in at universities and retreats throughout the nation, to include Atlanta, Knoxville, Memphis, and at UCLA, and Southern California University to name a few |