Corfield’s Main motivating factor

It all happened so fast. Early in 2019, Greg Corfield and his family were given devastating news – his mother was diagnosed with cancer for the third time and the doctor had given her six months to live. It was only days later that 56-year-old Mary Beth Corfield passed away, leaving an unimaginable void for her three children and husband Rob.

Her youngest, Greg, wanted to just put his life on hold. But the fifth-year Gryphon defensive line standout from Niagara Falls, ON knew that it was more important to honour his mother the way she lived her life – by never quitting.

“She was just really into sports and she passed that down to all of us,” the 22-year-old Corfield says of his mom, who played hockey, baseball, and volleyball.

“When I was a kid playing travel hockey, if I didn’t want to go to practice, she made sure that I went. Once we started something, we were committed to it and we were going to finish it. That helped with football and playing at a competitive level, having that instilled in us at such a young age made me not want to give up and battle through any type of hardship I was faced with.”

Corfield was most certainly put to the test in his final season as the University of Guelph. Mary Beth was originally diagnosed with colon cancer in 2010. She beat that. A few years later, the family was told she had lung cancer. She also beat that.

But it came back just a few years ago and earlier in 2019, the news that Greg, his older sister Holley and older brother Derek had been dreading, eventually came. And just days later, his mother was gone. The aftermath was all a bit of a blur for Corfield, who says he was unprepared for what happened. His siblings and girlfriend Alexis Cook were instrumental in helping carry the load when Corfield felt the need to shut it all down.

In March, the regional CFL combine was scheduled in Toronto.

“I didn’t want to do anything but knowing that my mom would have wanted me to go and do the best I could, I was forced to go right back into training,” he says.

Football, and most importantly, his Gryphon family, played a role in helping the young student-athlete cope with such a massive loss. His coaches, teammates, and especially his roommates – Lukas Brennan, Daniel Fascione, Spencer Swan, and former player Aidan Fraser – showed their support doing whatever he needed, whether it was offering a shoulder to lean on or relaying information to a coach on behalf of their brother.

By the time the training camp rolled around, Corfield says he felt like he “could use a good hit to the head – or hit someone else.”

“The season, for me, was all about her,” he says of a memorable 2019, his last wearing the red, black, and gold jersey. “That was the motivation to get back going and try my best not to skip a beat.

“This year was my first time playing without her there. That was tough, just knowing she wasn’t there. Most of last season, she was pretty sick but she made sure to come to every one of my games.”

Mary Beth was always in Corfield’s thoughts. On game days, the team would lock hands with his teammates for an “Our Father” and when it ended, he would continue a prayer internally, asking his mom to watch over them. He also found his grandmother’s “worry cross,” a wooden crucifix that was passed down to Mary Beth when she lost her mother. Corfield considered it his good luck charm for the 2019 season.

When the season ended at the OUA semi-final against McMaster in Hamilton, he reflected on what was his most challenging year at Guelph. Corfield was ultimately thankful to be part of a special edition of the Gryphon program.

“The beginning was tough but seeing how everyone rallied together, we were one of the strongest Gryphon teams I had seen in a while,” he says. “How we were playing and how we all had our minds set on making a good run, we had no doubts in our mind that we were capable of winning. That helped with just putting my head down and grinding, doing whatever I needed to do, whether it was lifting weights or extra practice.”

Corfield is ready for the next step in his life, even though the thought of doing it without Mary Beth is painful. When he wraps up his classes at the end of this year, the plan is to pursue a unique passion – sewing. Corfield’s mother was extremely supportive of this interest, even buying a nice, new sewing machine for him. It’s been a therapeutic activity and something he takes pride in, like when he crafted a pair of shorts from table-runner material. The plan is to finish at U of G and then move on to a school like George Brown College for fashion design.

Corfield has learned much throughout this ordeal. Just like getting a good push off the line of scrimmage, the only way to go is forward. He has honoured his resilient mother by battling through adversity.

“As much as I wanted to stop everything, chill out and do nothing, life doesn’t stop,” Corfield says. “You just have to keep going and sometimes that’s the best thing you can do to get through it, working as hard as you can on the things that make you happy.”

He has also come to understand the true value of the friendships and relationships he is lucky to have. They must be cherished.

“You don’t know when they might end,” says Mary Beth Corfield’s youngest child.

Written by: David Dicenzo