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Oakland took a blindside hit on Nov. 14. The startling death of legendary prep and college football coach John Beam was sudden, discombobulating and devastating for the students, athletes, young people, fellow coaches, family and friends who knew him, or simply fell into his considerable sphere of influence.
Table of Contents
Building football champions and shaping outstanding citizens
Rodney Campbell, class of 1991
William Blackwell, class of 1993
Johnnie Dempsey, class of 1993
Carina V. Lieu, senior class president, class of 2002
Daniel Cotroneo, class of 2002
Charon Merriwether, class of 2002
A legacy of mentorship at Laney
In the days since Beam was shot and killed, tributes have poured in from many corners — from the Frick, Skyline and Laney athletes and students who grew under his brand of tough love, to the colleagues who appreciated the energy, passion and commitment he brought to the profession. Many gathered in person at Highland Hospital. Others virtually to grieve and share stories. An impromptu memorial sprung up outside the Laney College athletic facilities, and, on Wednesday night, a moment of silence was held in Beam’s honor at Skyline’s soccer game.
Since his passing, The Oaklandside spoke with over two dozen people inspired by Coach Beam. Whether they crossed paths in one of Beam’s P.E. classes, or on the football field, or were one of Beam’s mentees during his time at Skyline High School and Laney College, the stories and tributes all touched on the traits that made Beam a pillar in The Town. He was fiercely competitive, passionate and cared deeply about the young people he taught and coached, who he worked tirelessly with to keep on the path to their best selves, whether they stayed in sports or not.
The Oaklandside has collected written submissions, videos, and photos, in addition to newspaper archives from Beam’s 45-year career, almost all of which was dedicated to serving Oakland youth.
Beam began his coaching career in 1979 at Serra High School in San Diego, where he was born in 1959. He met his wife Cindi, a therapist, when she was a student at UC San Diego, after they both attended a speech by Angela Davis. The young couple moved to Oakland in 1982 when Beam joined Skyline High School as defensive coordinator. In 1987, Beam was elevated to head coach. Beam was also a P.E. teacher at Frick Junior High (now Frick United Academy of Language) from 1983 to 1988.
At his retirement party from coaching football in November 2024, Beam received a plaque from some of his former students at Frick. He took to Instagram to share some words about his time there. “Frick taught me that there were no limitations to what the great students in Oakland could do,” Beam posted on his Instagram account. “All we had to do was believe in them and not set any limits on what they could achieve.”
Coach Beam began his career at Skyline High in 1982. A year later, he joined Frick Junior High as a P.E. teacher. Credit: photo of Beam courtesy of Shawn Granberry, Instagram screen grab from Coach Beam’s account.
Shawn Granberry, St. Paschal Baylon School, class of 1991
Coach Beam taught my whole family. He was also my ex-wife’s P.E. teacher at Frick. She talks about him all the time and how he would encourage young Black girls to get into sports.
He touched so many lives in Oakland and he never thought twice about it. From all the people I know from his early teaching days, he put a lot of emphasis on helping young Black kids be successful and survive. He taught in the middle of the crack epidemic. He was a phenomenal teacher who encouraged kids who would go home to horrible situations. Me and those kids went on to do amazing things.
While leading Skyline’s football team, coach Beam won 15 league championships and led the Titans in undefeated league play in the 1990s. As a football coach at Skyline High School and then Laney College, he sent a steady stream of athletes to Division I programs, more than a dozen of whom went on to play in the NFL and several playing in the Super Bowl.
Deon Strother, class of 1990
It felt like a protection that I was a part of the Skyline football team and being under Coach Beam’s tutelage. I would hear about what was going on around me, and I began to see it. East Oakland in the 80s, a lot of people were selling, a lot of people were using. I felt like he saved me from what I could have been doing and what was going on around me. If you were part of that program, a part of him, he made sure that you were on the straight and narrow, and you were doing what you needed to do, to stay out the street. That was huge for me.
Deon Strother with Coach John Beam at Beam’s retirement celebration last year. Credit: courtesy of Deon Strother
Rodney Campbell, class of 1991
It was 3rd-and-8 when I first understood who Coach John Beam really was. I got flattened by a varsity tailback, laid out with snot bubbles, and Beam let loose a sermon of cuss words so sharp they could’ve split a helmet. But beneath the fire was belief — he demanded excellence because he saw it in you long before you did. From that day on, he shaped my life. He made football fun, manhood intentional, and belief possible. Today we lost a giant, and I wrote the only roses I know how to give.
Rodney Campbell wrote a tribute for Coach Beam titled “One Time for John Beam.” You can read it in full here.
Anthony Cook, class of 1991
During my junior year, I was fortunate enough to try out for the team, and I’m honestly surprised and shocked that I made the team. I honestly thought I was going to get cut just because of the talent level we had. It felt safe being part of the team. I knew that coach had my best interest at heart. Coach Beam held everyone accountable. He expected everyone to show up and work and all do it as a team, and that is something that I really cherish. Everyone understood their place, function and their role to have success on the field, but more so to cause success in life. Coach Beam followed up with us, cared about us as we went to college and in life, and when we started having families of our own.
Damon Owens, class of 1991
I first met Coach Beam as a junior at Skyline when I wanted to try out for the varsity team, but my GPA was low. I walked into the weight room and I saw this togetherness, this camaraderie. After I saw that, something clicked in me. I asked for help and raised my grades. I went back and tried and made varsity. What you have to know about Coach Beam is that he used tough love, and sometimes, tough language, because he was competing for our attention. He was always with us, always accessible. Coach was influential in me getting into San Jose State.
“He reminded me that my next move matters more than my last mistake.”
Damon Owens
Coach Beam always told me that although I made mistakes, I am not a mistake. He reminded me that my next move matters more than my last mistake. That I can do whatever I put my mind to, if I did it the right way. He also encouraged us to clap for one another. He was real staunch about keeping your word and being a man of integrity. He reminded us that not all of us were going to play professional football. He wanted to raise good husbands and, and good fathers.
William Blackwell, class of 1993
I really enjoyed the fact that Coach Beam would explore your talents and give you a chance to show if you could do something, and your effort was going to prove what you really want. There were a lot of talented young men at Skyline. Our practices were so intense. Coach would make them that way. He would treat every day like it was game day. So, when we played the game it was never as tough as going against the guys in practice, because we were sharpening each other.
Ken Sellers, class of 1993
Beam was a philosophical genius. What I mean by that is that he put those Titan Pride shirts on every year, and he would have a different saying every year, and somehow he would inspire us. We thought we were out there playing football, and he was teaching us how to play football, but what Beam was doing was teaching us how to become what we wanted to be in life. Beam is the glue of that Titan pride.
Beam will be missed, and what he instilled in all these men and the community, it wasn’t just about football, it was about life.
Stephen Brown, class of 1993
Coach Beam had this presence around him, and how he was able to manage all those young men at that time. He was still caring for the ones whose names weren’t getting on the newspaper. He was still letting you know that you were just as important as anybody else.
I didn’t have a father figure and Coach Beam understood what I was going through. He had a different way with me than some of the other players because I was already a dad. He made sure I was getting through my Saturday school, that I had a job to pay for all my expenses. It really meant the world to me.
Derrick Taylor, class of 1993
Coach reminded us as young men, what it was to be men. He told us that when we stepped out on that field, we didn’t only represent ourselves, we represented him. We represented Skyline High School. We represented Titan pride football. We also represented our parents. In the end, when we left Oakland, he wanted you to know, you represent Oakland as well, so don’t get out of line. Make sure they understand that we’re respectful men. So it wasn’t always about football. It was about growing up and becoming a man at the same time.
I worked in cardiology for 25 years, and some of these interviews I had at two Ivy League hospitals were not hard, because Coach Beam pushed us in certain ways that made us realize that we were the cream of the crop, that we were worth being in those spaces.
I saw myself becoming the man that I watched him become. He was in his 30s when he coached us, so watching him go through those transitions and sitting in this space now. He did a lot at a young age, and was still showing us how to be men at that young age. He was preparing us for more than just football. It was about life.
Johnnie Dempsey, class of 1993
(Left to right) Former Skyline High football players Jerome Owens, Richard Lee, and Johnnie Dempsey pose with Coach Beam. Credit: courtesy of Johnnie Dempsey
The reason why I went to Skyline was for Coach Beam. When I was young, my brother used to come home and tell me stories about the great Coach Beam. It was something from a fantasy world hearing all these stories. We all wanted to be part of the team winning all those championships. Back then, athletes from Skyline and Coach Beam were on the front of the Oakland Tribune paper.
“All of us he mentored, we’re still a reflection of him in our own lives.”
Johnnie Dempsey
Coach Beam would always get the best out of us. Just when we thought we couldn’t go any further, quitting wasn’t an option. There were certain things he instilled in you as a player that you carry in life: not quitting, not making excuses, giving your best and more importantly, how do you want to be remembered? Coach also instilled family values. He always had his daughters with him. All of us he mentored, we’re still a reflection of him in our own lives.
Felicia Carr, class of 1994
Beam was my P.E. teacher in 11th grade. I absolutely hated dressing, he knew I hated dressing. I remember how he would yell out my [maiden] name, “Stevens!” Beam was awesome. He gave some of the best advice. He was loving. He was caring. Everybody knew that he was stern and he didn’t play, but he cared about all of his students. He mentored so many young men throughout the years. He was an amazing soul. He has touched lives across the world, and more importantly, he has been a father figure to so many young men in Oakland.
In August on 2024, Coach Beam surprised the 1994 class reunion. Credit: video courtesy of Felicia Carr
Oliver Newell, class of 1995
I remember watching Skyline play. I was still a young kid playing for the Oakland Dynamites. Being so young, and getting out there to see what they had to offer. I didn’t want to go anywhere else for high school. I can’t remember meeting Beam for the first time, but I remember feeling his presence for the first time, and feeling what that program is like and playing JV and winning that JV. I’m pretty sure my story is like everybody else’s. I don’t know how Beam has this many people with the same story about one person, but when you hear him talk, we all went through the same process.
Donald White, class of 1996
What Beam allowed me to do as a young man, was to have a safe space to be me and fit in with a lot of the big time athletes that we had at the school. He was going to hold you accountable, and he was going to get you to become the best version of you. He had a knack of figuring out what buttons to push, to figure out to get you to another level. He wasn’t going to let you be content with putting anything out there. He wanted to make sure that you were putting your best effort out there, regardless of what was going on. He held us to the fire, you were going to learn what Titan pride means, and understand that you’re part of something bigger than just you. You fall in, and everybody wins.
Coach Beam was a beloved and influential figure at Skyline High School beyond his football accolades. Credit: photo courtesy of Molly Lorenz. Yearbook pages courtesy of Daniel Cotroneo
Molly Lorenz, class of 2000
Skyline High played De La Salle in the fall of 1999. Everyone went to the game to represent our team, Skyline, and Oakland. Coach Beam had taken the team to 10 straight OAL Championships in the 90s, culminating my senior year. We didn’t have lights on our field so we never had night games at home, but when our championship football team played at De La Salle, we SHOWED OUT! Coach Beam created a team that made us Oakland kids proud of where we are from.
Carina V. Lieu, senior class president, class of 2002
Coach Beam’s presence went beyond the football field. His greatness was felt in our school mascot. He gave us a lot of pride as Titans to boast about, and he gave Oakland something to be proud of. Coach epitomizes love for our scrappy but deeply loveable Oakland. He can see the lotus in the mud, the roses in the concrete. In a field of flowers, Coach can see each one’s uniqueness. Thich Nhat Hanh has said that “there is no death, only transformation.” Even though he is not physically here anymore, it is amazing to see the thousands of lives he has touched. He lives on in the seeds of hope he planted within us. Only greatness can unite so many people. His loss isn’t one made in vain. We realized how much we needed him, how much he meant to us. I hope we become Coach to someone else who needs his energy.
“In a field of flowers, coach can see each one’s uniqueness.”
Carina V. Lieu
Daniel Cotroneo, class of 2002
My freshman year, I did go out for the football team, and on the very first ball that I caught, it was thrown so hard that it dislocated my pinky. Coach Beam came up to me and half-jokingly said, ‘you know, football might not work out, but we’re looking for a video guy.’ I was working at KDOL at the time, and so I became the video guy for the football team. I would say that the coach single handedly was responsible for six or seven full scholarships for players each season that came through the system.
Coach Beam struck the perfect balance between somebody that was both approachable and funny. But, at the same time firm and demanded respect, day in and day out, and demanded his players bring the best version of themselves to everything that they did, from sports to academics, to even how to talk to the media. He lived his life supporting other people.
Charon Merriwether, class of 2002
Coach Beam: the man, teacher, mentor, father figure, friend, but most importantly, the person who always had your back and encouraged you to be your best. I will hold the time spent, conversations had, and teachings learned dear to my heart forever. May Coach’s tough love, laugh, smile, and dedication be carried on and remembered always. Blessings to Mrs. Beam and the entire Beam family.
Sharon Frasier, class of 2003
Coach Beam is a legend, and I find comfort knowing we showed him love while he was still here. As part of Skyline’s Class of 2003, I saw with my own eyes how he changed lives — especially for teenage boys with limited resources whose dreams depended on football. In Oakland, “making it” meant playing for Skyline, because everybody knew Beam could get you to college and a whole different future. He was tough love, jokes, honesty, guidance, and unshakable belief all wrapped in one. He stepped in like a father figure for so many who needed that presence, and he gave chances that changed generations. This loss hits deep. Coach John Beam is forever loved.
“In Oakland, “making it” meant playing for Skyline, because everybody knew Beam could get you to college.”
Sharon Frasier
Beam’s tenure at Skyline ended in 2004 when he joined Laney College as the running backs coach before eventually taking over as defensive coordinator. He became Laney’s athletic director in 2006 and, in 2012, Laney’s head football coach. During his time as head coach, he led the team to the 2018 State Championship. That year, he earned the Coach of the Year award from the California Community College Athletic Association.
As a coach, he achieved a 90% graduation and transfer rate from the community college. According to ABC7, between his time at Skyline and Laney, he shaped the careers of over 20 NFL players, including former Broncos running back C.J. Anderson, former Steelers Pro Bowl offensive tackle Marvel Smith, and former Patriots cornerback Sterling Moore.
Tony Ray Parnell, running back and wide receiver, 2012-2013
“You took a chance on a kid from Florida and helped mold me into the man I am today. Thank you. 2 Claps Ready Ready!!!!”
Credit: photo courtesy of Tony Ray Parnell
Keith Anthony, running back, 2012-2014
Emmanuel Pride, Logan High School head football coach
If I had to sum up my relationship with Coach Beam and what he instilled in me into one word, I would say, “progress.” Not just progressing on the football field as a student-athlete, but in life. Just having that constant drive, hunger to get better at whatever it is you’re trying to get done.
From when I graduated high school in 2015 to currently being a head football coach, he had a vision for me he saw beyond the field. From the moment I stepped foot at Laney to the moment I walked out of that place, it was always family. I took the gray shirt route my first year, which was very typical there, ’cause they were very big on development. But he showed the same love that he showed for the starters.
It was always tough love with Coach Beam. He wasn’t going to sugarcoat it ’cause, in his words, “If I sugarcoat it, you might try and eat it.” He wasn’t afraid to tell you what it was, because even if it wasn’t something that I wanted to hear, it was definitely something I needed to hear. That’s something I’ve tried to embody as a head football coach in my own program.
“He wasn’t going to sugarcoat it ’cause, in his words, “If I sugarcoat it, you might try and eat it.”
Emmanuel Pride
In the midst of developing as a football player, winning a state championship, getting my school paid off, we had a conversation where he asked, essentially, “What’s next?” You feel like you reached the mountaintop but he opened my eyes as to how this is barely tip of the iceberg
I think picking up that whistle and getting into coaching, I couldn’t have had a better role model. There were talks between him, not just about the X’s and O’s of football, but just, how to reach young men … Coach Beam would pull you into his office and talk about what he felt you were capable of doing. We’re in the business of correcting, as much as we’re in the business of critiquing.
You know, I came into Laney overweight and Coach Beam was very adamant about me changing my body, losing weight. I didn’t understand why he was so hard on me at the time. But then for him to pull me in the office and just tell me what exactly it could do for me, was the result that it can yield as well. I think that spoke major volumes to me in terms of character.
Now that he’s gone, it’s on us to carry on the legacy.
Brian Hernandez, Laney head strength and conditioning coach from 2014 to 2018
Coach Beam led the Laney Eagles to a State Championship in 2018. Credit: Peralta Community Colleges
Alex Kith, Mt. Eden High School head football coach
I played for Coach Beam in 2008 and 2009 at Laney College … His goal was to build relationships with his athletes and leverage those relationships to bring out the best in them. And it didn’t even have to be on the field — it could just be in life. You’ll hear stories from people who say he wasn’t just taking the best student-athletes. He was taking guys who had been in trouble, who were struggling, and he was dragging the best out of them. His biggest thing back then was transferring, in getting guys out of Laney and into four-year programs.
He was also clear about how to improve. He’d set us up like, “If you do X, Y, and Z and you use us, we’ll help you get where you want to be.” … Not everyone went on to play football, but I ended up transferring to the University of San Diego. Many of us were transferring just for academics, not just football, and I think he took a lot of pride in that too.
I moved back from San Diego in 2013 and started coaching at the high school level at my alma mater, where I still work. I coached there for about five years, took a break, and in the spring of 2022, Coach Beam called me. I might still have the voicemail. He said he needed a running backs coach. Someone he trusted, with experience. I was a last-minute hire, but that first year went really well. We went 8–3. I learned a lot from him and from other guys on staff.
Alex Kith (middle, to the right of Coach Beam), along with other members of the Laney Eagles coaching staff. Credit: Joyce Xi
On bus rides, Coach Beam would tell stories about Skyline and reminisce about big games. It was amazing to soak all of that in. … Now I’m the head coach at Mount Eden High School and assistant athletic director, and a lot of how I conduct myself stems from what I learned watching him.
One thing he told me was, “If you can go coach high school, go do it. Be the change.” We can complain about how things are run, or we can go fix them. After my first game as head coach, he called and asked how it went. I told him it was tough, and he said, “Look at the positives and build on them.” He always reassured me I was doing the right thing. After everything that’s happened, it’s lit another fire under me. This is my calling. I don’t know if there will ever be another John Beam, but if I can come close to what he did, that would make him proud.
Fred Zepeda Fresno City College cornerback coach
At first, he didn’t know my name, and then, once he started to know that I was a coach, he would spend time with me before the games.
As my kids grew up, they heard stories about Coach Beam and his teams. Then the “Last Chance U” documentary came out in 2020. Both of them watched it all the time, including several times before Fresno faced Laney. I think they watched it ten times.
Then the game came around. I introduced Coach Beam to my kids. He took time out to spend time with them, asking about them. It was special.
When we heard about what happened, we were in shock. But I started thinking about his family, his wife. That was hard. That hurt.
Beam was always ready to pitch in and find new ways to support Oakland youth. He ran his own free NFL camp for Oakland middle schoolers for several years and also worked with the Young America Baseball program in the city. But, his influence went beyond the students he coached and mentored and reached even those who didn’t get to have him as their coach through his community work to keep Oakland youth off the streets and on a pathway to college. His leadership story reached a wider audience across the country after the 2018 championship. The Laney Eagles 2019 season, as Beam sought to rebuild the team, was featured in the fifth season of the Emmy-nominated Netflix series “Last Chance U.”
Oakland Fire Department Chief Damon Covington
Being in Oakland, you know Coach Beam in passing through sports. He was a legend way before his Laney days.
We have dealt with Coach every year [since I was the President of the Oakland Black Firefighters Association]. Whenever we start our firefighter academy, we take our recruits up the first day and do a fitness test at Laney and Coach Beam always meets us there, and would talk to the recruits about what it takes to be an Oakland firefighter and the pride we have in our city.
In February, he came to talk to our executive staff for Oakland Fire. You knew immediately that you were in the presence of greatness. He had a knack for connecting with people. He talked to us about respecting your teammates, being a good teammate for your team, and holding each other accountable.
We have lost an icon. He represented everything that was good about Oakland. The kids that he was dealing with, a lot of them were on a bad path. Instead of being incarcerated or worse, they had a chance to go to college and change the entire trajectory of their lives.
Alexis Gray Lawson, athletic director and community school manager at Oakland Tech, former WNBA player
Losing you has left a space in the community that I don’t know how to fill. Thank you for the advice, believing in me, and seeing greatness in me long before I saw it in myself. Your lessons shaped the person I am today. I carry your words with me every day, and I promise to honor your legacy through my work, my leadership, and the way I show up for others. You are the landscape of Oakland in the way you gave, and I will never forget you.
(Left to right) Oakland Fire Department PIO Michael Hunt, former OFD fire marshal Felicia Bryant, Coach John Beam and OFD Chief Damon Covington pose together. Credit: courtesy of OFD
Oakland filmmaker Mario Bobino (center, next to Coach Beam), and Skyline football players at KDOL-TV. Credit: courtesy of Mario Bobino
Mario Bobino, filmmaker and former director at KDOL-TV
I met Coach Beam in 1992 when I was the sports director for KDOL-TV. Coach Beam asked me to film all the games, and I’d give him copies. He’d watch the tapes, then ask me to make him highlight reels that he would send to colleges to get scholarships for his players.
Years later, when I became a filmmaker, I needed a location to film a movie, and he let me use that whole athletic facility at Laney for free when I was supposed to pay money for it. He said, because of everything that I did for him, he took a chance on me.
“You’re not going to come across somebody like this man ever again. He was so genuine. He is irreplaceable.”
Mario Bobino
Beam was a father figure to all of his players. He could have been at USC. He could have been part of the Pac-12, but that’s how much of a commitment he had and how devoted he was to the youth in Oakland. We have lost a leader. You’re not going to come across somebody like this man ever again. He was so genuine. He is irreplaceable.
Eduardo Yagües Nuño, head football coach at San Francisco City College
[Coach Beam] was very verbal and active, always looking for ways to improve the game, to make JC football better. It’s a tragic, tragic thing that has happened.
I heard a lot of different stories about how competitive Coach Beam was, even when he was playing badminton. Obviously it extended to the football field and into recruiting, ’cause we always recruited the same players. But it’s a hard job. Especially for family members when we gotta stay late to meet a recruit or their families. He was highly dedicated to this.
At these colleges, we get all kinds of kids, from different socioeconomic backgrounds. And you’re always gonna end up being either a counselor, a big brother, a parental figure, whatever that person needs to stay the course.
Paul Perenon, former head football coach at Bishop O’Dowd and Mt. Eden
There was never any gray area with Beam on anything related to football. If he liked one of my guys [for a spot at Laney], he made it clear the kid’s gonna come and have a chance to play right now or if he thought the kid needed a year to develop physically: “We’d love to have you, but you’re probably gonna have to gray shirt or red shirt and spend a year getting bigger, stronger, and faster, and then have a chance to earn a spot and earn playing time.”
A lot of people use the term “old school.” I don’t. Beam was all about accountability and consequences. You don’t get it done, there’s a price that’s gonna be paid. You listened to the way the kids who’ve been interviewed since the tragedy happened last week — they’re gonna tell you he was tough on them. Demanding. And that was the best. Even though it was painful and difficult and challenging, that’s the way it had to be. And that’s why Coach Beam was successful. And I have a lot of respect for that.
I had a long conversation with John about a year and a half ago at a coaching conference with younger coaches. Everybody was saying kids have changed. But John and I were saying they haven’t. We started coaching around the same time, so we were looking at one another, saying, “No. No. What’s changed are adults’ expectations and willingness to hold kids accountable.” They keep moving the line back and are afraid to say no. The things available to kids are different — social media, cell phones — but if you place your limits on them and hold the kids to what your expectations are, those things become no different than the stuff that was available for kids to get distracted with 40 years ago.
Chris Kyriacou, former Skyline football and baseball coach, Bishop O’Dowd athletic director
I first encountered Beam when he was a first-year defensive coordinator at Skyline High School. He was like 23 years old, and I was playing at Oakland High. I tackled somebody on the sideline. We’re playing in front of 2,000 people in a first-place game. I start talking some mess to the kid I tackled. Coach Beam is right up in there saying, “You ain’t doing nothing!” We bark at each other. I thought to myself, “Who is this guy?”
Fast forward a few years. He’s the JV coach at Skyline, I’m the JV coach at Oakland High. I have a good team but he arguably has the best JV team I have ever seen in my 45 years watching the game. He was incredible. I have respect now for this guy but still don’t think I like him because he’s too much like me.
Fast forward again. I’m the head coach at Skyline High School in baseball and he is the head varsity coach. He has big shoes to fill in Tony Eulalia, great coach, and a little bit of the talent graduated, but as a coach we think we can do everything. They come in 5–4–1. They don’t win the OAL title, and John is feeling like, “Gosh, I thought I was better than this.” So he wanted to bring in new coaches. So he talks to me in the baseball field to ask me to coach with him. I said “No, thank you.” He came back two days later: “Coach, we got the same kids. They told me they like playing for you. I need guys like that.” I said yes, and what a blessing.
Chris Kyriacou (right) with Coach Beam at a game in Oakland. Credit: courtesy of Chris Kyriacou
That guy did so much for me, didn’t even know me but a year and a half. He comes to my wedding. Three months later, I’m 24. I got no credit, he co-signs for a car for me. Ends up being my master teacher. Ends up coaching my JV baseball team one year. We become friends.
He was an uncle to my two boys, and he’s an uncle and father to thousands. And it’s not just the football players, it’s not the junior high basketball kids, but the boys and girls that never played a sport that had him in PE that all feel like, “Man, this was my guy.” And again, even though he was retired as football coach recently, trust me, he was still playing life coach to everyone.
Those shoes can’t be filled by one person, two people. Hey, it might take a hundred of us to say, “You know what? I know I’m busy. I know we’ve got bills, but guess what? Do we have time to help with the community?” If we all use him as that motivator, something good can come out of this. We can keep his legacy going.”
The Oaklandside reporter Jose Fermoso contributed to this story.
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