He built many bonds and won a lot of basketball games. Now Columbia legend is retiring
To call Bobby Young a pioneer would be an understatement.
The 38-year veteran coach of the Columbia High School girls basketball program recently announced his retirement. He captured five state championships and three runner-up finishes in his career. When he started in 1982, however, girls basketball was on the back burner on the high school level.
“When I started, there wasn’t much focus on girls basketball,” Young said. “Columbia High had seven girls coaches in the three years before I took over. They did not win a game a couple of those seasons. I had never been a coach on the varsity level, so I took it as a challenge to coach the girls. I was the boys JV coach up until that point.”
Young was able to learn from his peers on the boys side of things. He mentioned them all by name while reflecting on his career. The list is legendary among coaching circles around the state of South Carolina: George Glymph, Ben Trapp, Carl Williams, Tim Gates, Tim Whipple.
Young fondly remembers gathering every Saturday morning for breakfast on O’Neill Court and swapping stories of the past week’s games and coaching philosophies in general.
“I came along with what we call the golden age of coaching in the Midlands. All of those guys were mentors to me,” Young said. “Coach Williams was probably my closest mentor. It was definitely a coaching fraternity back then. I don’t want to use the word ‘steal,’ but we would all take ideas from those other coaches and make them our own over the years.
“You weren’t considered a great coach around the Columbia area until you won a state championship. I was glad to finally get that monkey off my back.”
Young contemplated retirement several times over the last few years and finally made the decision this summer.
“I’m getting up in age and I wanted to spend more time with my family,” Young said. “The kids are a little bit different and I think I might be a little different than what they’re looking for. It was time to let someone younger come along and coach the girls.”
Young won state titles in 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2004 with runner-up finishes in 2002, 2003 and 2012. He finished with a 643-217 record and over 20-plus region titles. He had one stretch in which his teams won more than 20 games for 20 straight seasons.
He was inducted into the Allen University 2010 Athletic Hall of Fame class as a baseball player and a coach. He was a 2011 inductee into the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame and coached several all-star and national showcase games.
In 2002, the Young and the Relentless Scholarship was established and named in Young’s honor and the honor of his wife. The Young Family Foundation offers a $1,000 annual scholarship to a deserving high school senior at Columbia High.
Young is married to Mary Moseley Young of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and he is the father of two daughters, Dr. Vicki M. Young and Dr. Traci Young Cooper. His daughters have fond memories of playing for their father at Columbia High.
“It was the best time,” Young Cooper said. “I don’t think we realized it at the time, but being coached by my father was a great honor. He took a bunch of young girls and was able to not only coach them in basketball but also taught them life lessons.”
None of the accolades mean as much to Young as the relationships he’s built over the years with players and fellow coaches.
“I can honestly say the biggest thing I can take away from my career are the relationships,” Young said. “You might not have been the best player or the best coach, but the bond we formed over the years are unbreakable. Each team was different and had its own personality, but they all hold a piece of my heart.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 8:45 AM.