Corrinne Tarver

Corrinne Wright grew up in Mount Vernon, New York.[3] She took up gymnastics in the footsteps of her older sister.[4] Early on she trained at a local YWCA without a dedicated space for gymnastics before beginning to commute to practice more intensively at a gymnastics facility in Stamford, Connecticut.[3][4] In 1985 and 1986, she competed for the U.S. national artistic gymnastics team.[4] Recruited by the University of Georgia Bulldogs coach Suzanne Yoculan, Wright decided to go to Georgia after her first visit to the campus, in Athens.[4]

Wright was the first African-American member of the Georgia Bulldogs gymnastics team.[4] A nine-time All-American in her four years with the GymDogs, she helped win NCAA Team Championships in 1987 and 1989 as an early standout for Yoculan's burgeoning dynasty.[4] Yoculan remembered Wright as a stellar and fierce competitor who could sometimes be loath to practice.[2][4] Wright later called herself "a ham ... I loved having all the eyes on me".[3] She would be inducted into the Georgia Bulldogs' Circle of Honor in 2005.[5]

In her first year, while helping Georgia to win its first team NCAA title, Wright placed third in all-around at the 1987 NCAA Championships with a score of 37.80, 0.30 behind champion Kelly Garrison-Steves of Oklahoma, and second in floor exercise with a score of 9.70, 0.10 behind Kim Hamilton of UCLA.[6] In her floor routine, she became the first NCAA gymnast to perform three double saltos in one routine and the first to land a double layout.[7] She was considered a contender for all-around at the 1988 Championships, despite some consistency issues, and sought to increase the difficulty of her routines, but an ankle injury restricted her practice during the season.[5][8] She ended up repeating her floor result for second place by the same margin behind Hamilton, and made all-American on vault, but did not contend for all-around.[5][9]

As a junior in 1989, while helping to win a second team NCAA title for Georgia, Wright won the NCAA's all-around title, becoming the first African-American woman to do so.[4] Her total score of 38.90, tied for the all-around record at that point, edged her nearest competitors by 0.20.[1][10] Her strong floor routine—an ebullient display of tumbling, including a double layout, set to the music of Who Framed Roger Rabbit—earned her a score of 9.90, tied with Hamilton for first place.[1][10][11] The co-champion floor routines, performed back to back, were "as different as night and day": following Wright's effervescent and crowd-pleasing routine (with her coach describing her as "a little dynamo"), 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) Hamilton's balletic performance "was all lines and grace".[1][2] Wright additionally medaled in uneven bars (9.80 in the event finals) and vault (9.675).[1][10] She finished her college career the next year with an all-American showing in all-around in 1990.[4]

After completing her Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree at Georgia in 1991, Wright went to New York Law School, earning her Juris Doctor (JD) in 1996.[12][13] She worked afterward in athletic administration for the NCAA's Northeast Conference and as a member of the athletic departments of Stockton and Syracuse.[12][13] She has worked as a gymnastics coach since the 1990s, including at Star Bound Gymnastics Academy in Bridgeton, New Jersey, and as an assistant coach for Pennsylvania beginning in 2009.[12][14]

In March 2022, Fisk University in Nashville hired Wright (by now known as Corrinne Tarver) as the head coach for its fledgling gymnastics program, the first such team at a historically black college in the country.[12][15] While building the team, Tarver asked recruits, "Do you want to make history?"[16][17] Tarver additionally became Fisk's athletic director in July 2022.[18] The Fisk Lady Gymdogs held their first practice on August 8, 2022,[19] and made their competitive debut at a Super 16 meet in Las Vegas on January 6, 2023, but placed last out of four teams.[16] The Fisk team, composed of freshman and transfers, attracted support on social media.[20] They had a poor win–loss record but managed to close their first regular season with a home win over Greenville.[21] Three Gymdogs—Morgan Price, Liberty Mora, and Zyia Coleman—competed at the 2023 USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Championships, two winning All-American honors (Price on floor and Mora on beam).[22]

• "HBCU Fisk University making history with gymnastics program" (video). ESPN. April 11, 2023.