BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Dr. Bob Corb was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame on Friday, August 26, at the Irvine Marriott in Irvine, California.
Among five inductees in the Class of 2022, the former official/National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Coordinator of Officials and current Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Technical Committee member was recognized for his efforts on the pool deck.
A collegiate club athlete at Northeastern University prior to completing his undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Corb holds both a masters degree in athletic administration, and a Masters and PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Southern California (USC).
A water officials, Dr. Corb has been involved in the sport of water polo since 1973. A native of Massachusetts, he began playing water polo in college, first at Northeastern and later at the University of Massachusetts. A past coach, player, referee and now an administrator, he started the New England Water Polo Referees’ Association (NEWPRA) in 1978. Also in 1978, Corb received his first NCAA Championship experience as he officiated in NCAA Championship play-in game between Brown University and Texas A&M University with CWPA Hall of Fame coach Russ Yarworth.
Following graduation, he traveled around the country for six months prior to coming back to Massachusetts and working for several years before making the move in 1980 to Southern California. A member of the Olympic Committee staff for the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, he continued his water polo officiating role from the East Coast in his new home of California.
Moving up the ranks both in USA Water Polo and on the high school student college levels, he became a FINA referee and traveled to over 10 different countries to officiate water polo. The President of the Southern California Aquatics Federation (SCAF) for three terms, and active in the USAWP referee organization, Corb was invited to officiate the first ever women’s NCAA Water Polo championship in 2001.
Following his retirement as an active official, Corb was asked by the NCAA to assume the role of Coordinator of Officials – a role from which he retired in 2019.
Away from the pool deck, his academic career and accomplishments were equally impressive.
After teaching for four years in the psychology department at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., he went to work at the University of California-Riverside in their counseling center where he created and ran a successful sport psychology program for 10 years.
In 2008 he was recruited to return to the counseling center at the University of California-Los Angeles, where he had completed his pre-doctoral internship, to become their first ever Sport Psychology Program Director. In that capacity he was responsible for ensuring that the behavioral health needs of the 670+ student athletes at UCLA were being met prior to his retirement.
2022 USA Water Polo Hall of Fame: Russ Hafferkamp, Bob Corb, Kelli Billish-Fitter, John Vargas and Layne Beaubien
