Larry Yarbray, former head basketball coach at Chester High, dies in bicycle crash in Delaware

Former Chester High head basketball coach Larry Yarbray Sr. was struck and killed as he was riding his bicycle with group of other cyclists south of Dover, Del., on Saturday morning, Delaware police said Sunday.

The incident is still under investigation, they said.

Yarbray, an avid cyclist, swerved into a GMC Sierra that was headed in the opposite direction when his front bicycle tire caught the tire of a bike ahead of him, according to Delaware state police. He was transported to Bayhealth Kent Campus, where he was pronounced dead. He was 51. The 23-year-old driver of the Sierra was not hurt, authorities said.

Facebook lit up with condolences over the weekend for the former Chester High point guard, a standout at Coppin State University and title-winning Chester High head coach.

“He’s like a legend,” said Maurice Nelson, 30, who played for Yarbray at Chester High. “He would get out there and show you what you had to do. And he let you play. He let you make mistakes and not take you out.”

The last time Nelson saw Yarbray was about a month ago at a cookout. “What was crazy was that every time I saw him, he would talk about his bike. It was his new thing,” Nelson said.

This season was Yarbray’s fifth as head basketball coach at Delaware County Community College. According to his community college bio, Yarbray spent nine seasons as head basketball coach at Chester High and 91% of Yarbray’s former high school players continued their education after high school.

“Larry used his platform to not only win games and championships, which was secondary, but to inspire others, empower his athletes, and transform lives,” said Rob Knox, who was the manager of the Chester High basketball team in the 1980s when Yarbray played point guard. “It’s a tough loss for the city of Chester because he cared.”