John Beam, the legendary football coach who brought streaming era relevance and championship trophies to Oakland’s Laney College after success at Skyline High School was shot on the campus’ fieldhouse Thursday. The suspect remains at large as former players from Beam’s past congregated at Highland Hospital to commune over the grave news about their former coach.
Ray Bobbitt, a community leader and founding member of the African-American Sports and Entertainment Group, told the Chronicle that Beam, 66, had been shot in the head. No further details about his condition are known.
“We are just sitting here and praying,” Bobbitt said.
“From what I understand, it’s critical. It’s tense up there,” said Benjie Ross, who said he played for Beam at Skyline High School in the 1980s. He said he was not able to see his former coach on Thursday afternoon, but gathered with a group of supporters at the hospital, including former players spanning multiple generations.
Oakland police declined to provide information about Beam’s condition as of Thursday evening.
“Out of respect for the family I’m not going to provide any updates with regards to the victim,” Acting Oakland Police Chief James Beere said while leaving Highland Hospital shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday.
A source who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss information that was not immediately made public said Beam was believed to be alive when taken away in an ambulance to Highland Hospital. The shooting occurred inside the fieldhouse, the person said.
Oakland police said officers responded shortly after the report of gunfire and confirmed that a suspect – described as a man wearing a black hoodie – fled the scene. By early afternoon, police said there was no longer an active threat.
“We’re currently asking the public’s help in locating a suspect,” Beere said.
The shooting marks the second campus-related incident of gun violence in Oakland this week. On Wednesday, a student was wounded in a shooting at Skyline High School, prompting another lockdown and heavy police presence.
A shooting took place on Laney College’s campus in Oakland. By early Thursday afternoon, police said there was no longer a threat, but were searching for the shooter. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle)
As news spread quickly through the network of football players whose lives had been touched by Beam, many of them showed up to the hospital to demonstrate their support to his family.
Roughly a dozen people who appeared to be associated with Beam, including several people in sports apparel, walked through the hospital toward the acute care tower, followed by a police chaplain and other officers.
Clinton Pugh, 54, and his brother, both former players for Beam, walked out of the hospital before dusk after visiting the coach. Both declined to provide information about his condition.
They described him as a father figure to thousands who “turned boys to men,” instilling lessons on structure, family and hard work.
“It’s a sad day for sure,” said Pugh, adding that he hopes Beam “pulls through. If anybody can do it, he can.”
Martin Lawson, 55, said he met Beam when he was in seventh grade at Frick Junior High School, where Beam was a teacher. Lawson was grocery shopping when he got the call about the shooting. He paid for his supplies and rushed to the hospital, which he approached in the late afternoon as a rainbow appeared overhead.
“I didn’t want to believe what I was hearing when I first got the call,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking. I’m just here now to support him and the family. It’s absolutely horrible.”
Lawson said Beam had “a way of connecting with young men,” motivating them and challenging them to improve. He said hundreds of people showed up at a retirement celebration earlier this year for the legendary coach.
“I can’t imagine someone with that type of malice in their heart to do something like this,” Lawson said. “It’s crushing.”
Beam, 66, Laney’s athletic director, has been a cornerstone of Oakland athletics for more than four decades. He gained national recognition while still the head football coach when Laney College was featured in the 2020 season of Netflix’s “Last Chance U.” The eight-part docuseries followed Beam and the Laney Eagles football team while documenting the plights of various members of the team, and the city, itself.
Under Beam’s leadership, the Eagles won a national community college championship in 2018. He has helped hundreds of players transfer to four-year universities and several to reach the NFL, making Laney a symbol of resilience and opportunity in Oakland. John Ramos, who was an assistant under Beam, took over as football coach in 2024.
Beam began his coaching career in San Diego before moving to the Bay Area in the late 1980s. He coached high school football at Skyline High School, until 2004, when he began working at Laney College as the football team’s offensive coordinator, according to his LinkedIn page. He spent the next two decades at the school, ultimately becoming the Laney’s athletic director and head coach.
In past interviews, Beam spoke often about the value of youth sports in building community.
The eight-part docuseries “Last Chance U” followed John Beam and the Laney Eagles football team. (Netflix)
Referring to Oakland’s Dynamites, a youth football program that shaped many of his players, Beam previously told the Chronicle, “It gives them a place of community. Whole communities come to support these young folks. Kids are looking for that positive reinforcement.”
“I am heartbroken by today’s shooting at Laney College – the second shooting on an Oakland campus in one week,” Mayor Barbara Lee said in a statement. “We must continue confronting the ongoing gun violence crisis that is robbing our community of safety and stealing futures. This is a moment for our community to come together and address this violence with urgency.”
Franky Navarro, the Oakland Athletic League, or OAL, commissioner, described Beam’s impact on Oakland sports as “immeasurable, not just at Laney but also at Skyline. Without him, the city would be a lot different. … He definitely has a big commitment to people in sports, and youth in sports.”
The California Interscholastic Federation recently honored Beam with its distinguished service award to recognize his longtime contributions to high school sports in the state. CIF officials also presented Beam with a gold card giving him free lifetime admittance to high school games.
Beam, at the time, posted two photos on social media, thanking Navarro and the CIF for the honor.
Beam also helped Navarro stage the Oakland Football Classic last month to kick off OAL competition. That event – consisting of three high school football games at one site – was held Oct. 11 at Laney, through coordination with Beam.
Sarah Ravani, Jessica Flores and Mitch Stephens contributed to this report.
This article originally published at John Beam, coach from ‘Last Chance U,’ shot in head at Oakland’s Laney College.