Coach Marion Wesley Kirby

Coach Marion Wesley Kirby, born October 26, 1942, passed away gently on June 19, 2023. He was 80 years old. People who talked about Marion Kirby’s football teams — and a lot of people talked about them — spoke about magic and mystique. They used words like storied and legendary. They talked this way because his teams won and won a lot, often in storybook ways. Opponents who heard the stories expected Goliaths and were surprised to find a field full of Davids instead — a lineup on the smaller side, underwhelming in shoulder pads and helmets, overwhelming in heart and discipline, practiced in tactics and tenacity. Kirby preferred his teams this way. He knew how to coach little guys with big hearts.

Proud son of Otis Boyd Kirby and Mabel Smith Kirby, Marion’s athletic career started behind his boyhood home in Hickory, NC, in a yard outfitted with a hand-me-down bat, a scuffed baseball, and a towering imagination. It extended from there to the neighborhood sand lots, then to the football fields of Hickory Junior High and Hickory High School, where Kirby played for NC Sports Hall of Fame Coach Frank Barger (and was all conference, all state, and a member of the 1960 East/West All Star Game), then finally at Lenoir-Rhyne College (Freshman of the Year Award, four-year letterman, and National Champion).

While at L-R, Kirby was a member of the Bears squad coached by the legendary Clarence Stasavitch, Kirby’s next-door neighbor and revered mentor.

The final moments of his college freshman season were heroic imagination brought to life: Kirby kicked the winning field goal to cap off an 11-0-1 season and secure the NAIA National Championship, known in the L-R annals as “the most outstanding campaign of any Lenoir-Rhyne athletic squad in history.” In Kirby’s telling of the story, that clutch field goal merely secured his plane ride home — he had missed the two extra points that put his team behind in the first place.

Kirby moved east in 1964, following Coach Stas to East Carolina University where he spent a year as a graduate assistant coach before setting off for Edenton and John A. Holmes High School. After a year as assistant coach for the Edenton Aces, he spent six as head coach, leading the team to a record of 59-14-3, three conference championships, and two eastern 2-A championships.

While in Edenton, Kirby met and married Carole Knotts, an enthusiastic and insightful partner in his career, and became a devoted father to son, Mark and daughter, Kelly.

In 1973 Kirby became the head football coach at Greensboro’s Walter Hines Page High School. There, alongside Frank Starling, Ken Page, Jim Collins and Victor Floyd, assistants on one of the most stable and talented coaching staffs in North Carolina history, Kirby steadily built a dynasty in red jerseys and silver helmets. Mixed early seasons in the 1970’s evolved into dominating, mythic seasons by the 1980s, when Kirby’s teams won the state’s 4-A title in 1980, 83, 84, and 85, and were runners-up in 1982. During that time, they strung together 47 straight games without a loss and 50 straight regular-season wins — both state records.

Kirby left Page after 23 years with a record of 219-51-5, fourteen conference championships, four state championships and countless Coach of the Year awards. He was the second winningest high school football coach in North Carolina’s history.

But he wasn’t done. In 1996 Kirby was tapped to establish from scratch a football program at Greensboro College. In six short years, he built a competitive Division 3 program from the ground up, ending his career on the field with back-to-back seasons of 5-5.

In 2002, Kirby made his final professional move to Guilford College, where he served as Athletic Director for five years, overseeing the improvement and expansion of its facilities and the number of athletic programs from 12 to 16. He saw the school claim a golf national championship and four Old Dominion Athletic Conference Championships before he retired in 2007.

Over the course of his career, Kirby gave back to his profession by serving on the boards of the North Carolina Coaches Association and the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. He received numerous Coach of the Year awards and was conducted into numerous sports halls of fame, including the North Carolina High School Athletic Association and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.

Fellow Page coach Mac Morris summed up Kirby’s career this way: “He was a better person than he was a football coach, and he was one of the best football coaches ever.”

Though he was famous for his gift of gab, Kirby’s success came less from anything he said or taught than what he did: “You’ve got to care about the kids. If they know you care about them, they’ll do anything for you,” he said. “And listen to what kids have to say. You can learn a lot from listening to them.”

Kirby was a man of simple and deep-rooted faith who spent his later years taking care of those he loved, quietly and well. He relished traveling the state to spend time with his family and young grandchildren, his lifelong friends, and the many former players and colleagues who enriched his life.

Coach Kirby is predeceased by his beloved parents, O.B. and Mabel, his sister, Marie Kirby Safreed, and his wife and long-time fan, Carole Knotts Kirby. He is survived — and sorely missed — by his son, Mark (Christin) of Raleigh, daughter Kelly of Chapel Hill, sister Shannon Kirby Neal (Benny) of Monroe, his grandchildren, Oakley, Charlie, Coleman and Sally, and countless former colleagues, students and players whose names aren’t listed here, but that he would surely know.

Be there. Be there on time. Do well. Kirby used these simple rules to guide the teams who played for him. They were the rules he lived by, too.

A memorial service will be held at Lawndale Baptist Church in Greensboro on Tuesday, June 27 at 3:30 p.m. followed immediately by a time for friends, former players and the community to gather with the family at Marion Kirby Stadium at Page High School. Memorial contributions may be made to the O.B. Kirby Scholarship Fund at Lenoir-Rhyne University at 625 7th Avenue NE, LRU 7467, Hickory, NC 28601.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.haneslineberryfhnorthelm.com for the Kirby family.