- Date Of Birth: June 6, 1938
- Date Of Death: February 7, 2019
- State: Michigan
On the morning of 7 February 2019, Darryl Crabb finally made it to the 19th hole. Darryl was a lifelong Midland resident, only living in one other location: Mount Pleasant to attend Central Michigan University. He probably holds the individual record for the highest number of rounds of golf played at the Currie Municipal Golf Course.
Darryl was born on 6 June 1938 to Charles and Thelma (Hoddinott) Crabb of Midland. He was always thankful that the US Army staged the greatest 6th birthday present ever by invading Normandy and liberating Europe. He liked to joke that the invasion was named D-Day for Darryl Day. Darryl married his true love Mary Alice Kietzman on 9 June 1962 in a glorious ceremony that was covered by both the Midland Daily News and the Marion (Ohio) Star newspapers. He was completely heartbroken when she died on 1 January of this year.
Darryl was a large contributor to 20th century Midland sports history. Midland, Michigan was the site of the first Little League team in the State. During the 5 June 1950 opener, Darryl was perfect at the plate for Miller Furniture, the very first game played. He was the Second Baseman and lead-off hitter that began the long tradition of youth baseball in this town. Darryl was an active participant in Boy Scouts growing up, and became a beloved coach and teacher in the Midland Public School System.
He started his career as gym teacher at several different elementary schools. He later moved to Jefferson Intermediate and was assigned gym and geography teaching duties. He became the baseball coach at Jefferson as well as held coaching stints with the football and track teams over the years. He ended his career at Northeast Intermediate School teaching both gym and geography. During his time at Northeast, he added another sport to his coaching repertoire: tennis. He was fond of recounting how he first agreed to coach tennis and then read a book on how it is played. He was always a kind mentor to both the players he coached and the students he taught.
Darryl’s coaching career was highlighted by several undefeated seasons with various sports. He was a coach for the very first undefeated Jefferson football team in 1969 and recorded undefeated seasons for the Jefferson track team in 1971; Jefferson baseball teams in 1983, 1986, and 1987; Northeast baseball teams in 1992 and 1993; Northeast Boys’ Tennis in 1990; and the Northeast Girls’ Tennis in 1993.
He is survived by his daughters Krista (Kevin) Blaser of Midland, Danae (Bill) Cline of Midland, sister-in-law Sandy Crabb of Desbarats, Ontario, grandsons Nolan Kane and Cameron Graves, granddaughters Sydney and Katrina Graves, several step-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. Darryl was preceded in death by Mary Alice (Kietzman) Crabb, his brother Gayle Crabb, and parents Charlie and Thelma.
