Born in Greene County and raised in Alexandria, Virginia, Arrington was a part of the infamous T.C. Williams High School football team depicted in the movie “Remember the Titans,” and his coaching career was one of the most garnished in the Fayetteville area.
Arrington coached at Westover for 15 seasons, snapping an 87-game losing streak that ultimately led the Wolverines to an NCHSAA 4A girls basketball state championship in 2007-08 season.
"He (Arrington) didn't accept the previous culture at all. He completely turned his back on it and said that this was a new era, and we're going to do different things in a positive light," former Observer preps editor Earl Vaughn said.
But for some, that wasn't his biggest accomplishment as a coach — it was coaching a group of girls and building a special bond with them.
"Coach had us spoiled rotten while also making us earn everything we got," current Seventy-First girls basketball coach and member of the 2007-08 championship team Brandie Ingram said. "He set the standard for how a women’s basketball program should be ran, and he was everything you could ask for in a coach.”
"What impressed me the most about him as a coach is that he dealt with a variety of health problems during his career, but he managed to excel in spite of them," Vaughn said. "I always thought that was tremendous credit to who he was, and his credentials will be well-remembered in the Cumberland County sports community.”
Arrington was also a part of a huge social movement in the Virginia area as a member of the T.C. Williams football team, and allowed the change to follow him to Fayetteville with philanthropic work that helped the Westover team raise money for not only the girls‘ basketball team, but the entire program.
"We did fundraisers once a week by working the concession stand at home football games and local track meets. The money raised was used to purchase gear such as; shoes, bags, and sweatsuits," Coach Ingram said.
Coach Arrington was more than a basketball coach.
He was a friend, mentor, and a father-figure to his players, and showed up for them in ways that many of his players couldn't believe. "There is no doubt that I will continue to be a walking testament of his legacy, as he has laid the foundation for me to get into coaching and ultimately start my own program," Ingram said.
"What he did in Cumberland County wasn't new, and it wasn't a revitalization of girls basketball, but an expansion of what had already been done at other schools in the county, -- he just brought Westover in the folds" Vaughn said.
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