RALEIGH – For 30 years he was a commanding presence at Ridgecroft School with his booming baritone voice.

Headmaster Chris Aycock calls him a teacher, mentor, and beloved coach that epitomize the spirit of the school for three decades; devoting his life to making the school a better place.

“Ridgecroft students love him, and they have so much respect for him,” Aycock said. “He’s someone kids can go to, have conversations with, and take advice from.”

Aycock, along with his dad, Tom, the former headmaster at the school, were on hand to introduce Doug Cobbs on Feb. 19 for induction into the NC Independent Schools Athletic Association Hall-of-Fame in a ceremony held at the Raleigh Marriott.

Cobbs was one of four 2016 inductees – which only happen every three years. He’s joined this year by NCISAA Business Manager Kathleen Bailey, Ben Crabtree of Fayetteville Academy, and Earnest “Benny” Alexander of Rocky Mount Academy.

Cobbs stepped down last spring from his athletic director’s post and from part-time coaching with the Rams, though he remains on the faculty as a teacher.

“It’s just such a wonderful place to work,” Cobbs said in a telephone interview after the induction. “I’m very pleased over the things they’ve said about me.

“I can’t get away from these kids,” he noted. “I’ve been doing this for over 45 years and they keep me young.”

Cobbs, a native of Richmond, VA, was a multi-sports star at John Marshall High School. He later attended nearby Virginia Commonwealth University and received a B.S. degree in Health and Physical Education.

Cobbs began his teaching and coaching career at Frederick Military Academy in Portsmouth, VA and after 14 years as a teacher and coach of multiple sports there, he moved on to Ridgecroft School where he spent the next 30 years as a teacher, coach, and Athletic Director.

Cobbs still teaches two classes at the school in Health and History. During his athletic tenure, he coached soccer, boy’s basketball, girl’s basketball, and softball. His softball team captured the NCISAA 1A state softball title in 1993. He considers one of his most memorable accomplishments his Lady Rams girls’ basketball team that made a miracle run to the state finals in 2007 as a seventh-seed in the tournament.

While at Ridgecroft, Cobbs added almost 20 teams to an athletic department that services a school enrollment of just 300. This only happened because athletes adopted his philosophy of playing multiple sports.

Cobbs served the NCISAA on the Board of Directors/Board of Managers for 25 years, retiring in the summer of 2015 at the same time he hung up his whistle at Ridgecroft.

“He was a part of the growth of the NCISAA into three divisions,” said fellow Board of Managers member and Hall of Fame Committee member Grant Coffey, athletic director at Carmel Christian School in Matthews, NC. “He aided in the inclusion of 7th graders in varsity sports, and was also the state committee chairman for softball as it transitioned from slow pitch to fast pitch.”

Coffey says Cobbs has always put the kids first and has always been the voice for the 1A private schools.

“He advocates for these smaller schools,” Coffey added. “His knowledge, wisdom, and experience have been an asset. He’ll tell it like it is because he loves kids and he wants what’s best for kids. He’s a great person and he leaves a great legacy for both Ridgecroft and the NCISAA.”

Part of that legacy came in January of 2015 when the NCISAA honored Cobbs and his career by naming its Distinguished Service Award in his honor.

“I was totally caught off-guard with that one,” Cobbs said in an interview.

He credits getting notice for the Tarheel Independent Conference, a collection of smaller 1A independent schools located as they are in the more rural and remote part of the state.

“We’re sort of stuck up here like we are and we need to have that voice,” Cobbs adds. “The efforts of these kids and coaches have also produced several state championships in the TIC for this part of the state.”

Cobbs says he’s also proud of the life-lessons that he taught his players. That includes current Ridgecroft volleyball and girls basketball coach Susan Oliver.

“I started playing for Coach Cobbs in the seventh grade,” Oliver said. “I had no idea that years later I’d be sitting beside the man who taught me everything I knew about basketball.

“The one thing he told me that sticks the most is he said while I’d teach these girls about basketball skills, it’s the life’s lessons you teach them that will stick with them always,” Oliver added.