Published: October 13, 2008 11:09 pm            

Ex-area educator Cobbie Lee dies

Was a standout athlete at Catlettsburg,Murray State

A former area high school educator and standout athlete at Catlettsburg High School and Murray State University has died at the age of 88.

Cobbie Lee, who played for Catlettsburg in the 1930s and served as principal at Boyd County High School and Raceland High School, among others, was remembered as being a great athlete and for being fair and tough as an educator.

“Cobbie was a real good school man, a great guy to work for,” said Paul Reliford, the former Fairview school superintendent who worked with Lee at Boyd County, Rock Hill and Raceland. “What you saw is what you got. I think sometimes his bark was worse than his bite. If you didn’t know him, his bark would scare you to death.”

Before he started his career in education, Lee was an all-sports dynamo at Catlettsburg and then at Murray State, where he earned 20 letters while playing football, basketball, baseball and track and field.

Lee played in the late 1930s at Catlettsburg during a heyday for Wildcat football. Catlettsburg was 26-6-4 from 1935-38.

After his career at Murray State, Lee was taken by the Cleveland Rams in the 18th round of the 1941 NFL Draft although he never played.

“He was one of the greatest players ever to play for Catlettsburg, especially in football,” said Marvin Meredith, a Catlettsburg sports legend himself. “(Ashland’s) Ralph Felty told me Cobbie was the toughest player he ever played against in college or high school.

“When you’re speaking of great players from our area, you have to put Cobbie Lee right in there. I’m not sure he got the credit he deserved.”

Ron Reed was a young coach at Raceland High School when Lee was principal there in the late 1960s. He remembered the square-jawed Lee as somone who “turned schools around.”

“He was a great guy for a young guy to be around,” Reed said. “We would talk for hours.”

Reed said Lee’s honesty was genuine.

“He was rare as an administrator because he wouldn’t lie to you,” he said. “You knew where you stood.”

Reliford said Lee knew who his friends were and if you were one of them, it was for life.

“I think the world of him,” Reliford said. “Whatever he told you, you could write it down.”

The funeral for Lee, who lived in Ceredo, will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Neal Funeral Home. Burial will be in Catlettsburg Cemetery.

Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.

MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.

        

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