COMMUNITY IN MOURNING: Legendary coach dies after ‘targeted’ shooting

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FROM ABC 7: Legendary Oakland football coach John Beam, who was featured in the Netflix series “Last Chance U,” has died after being shot at Laney College, the Oakland Police Department said Friday, and a suspect has been arrested.

Beam is a football legend in the Bay Area and had coached the sport for over 40 years before becoming solely the school’s athletic director last year. He was 66.

Authorities also confirmed that 27-year-old Cedric Irving Jr. was taken into custody early Friday morning around 3 a.m., and was in possession of a gun, a source told ABC7 News. He was apprehended at San Leandro BART station. Authorities had been searching for the suspect since he fled the scene after the shooting at noon on Thursday.

Beam was declared deceased at 10 a.m. Friday after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head.

Oakland Police Assistant Chief James Beere said Beam and Irving knew each other.

“This was a very targeted incident,” Beere said during a press conference on Friday. He said the men weren’t close, but that the coach was “open to helping everybody in our community.”

Beere did not explain how they knew each other.

Irving was not a Laney College student, but he had a history of loitering on campus.

Shocked friends said Beam had a larger-than-life personality and that he was a “pillar” in the Oakland community. He was known to be a helper, pouring his time into young athletes to put them on the right path.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee released the following statement:

“Coach’s Beam’s legacy isn’t measured in championships or statistics. It’s measured in the thousands of young people he believed in, mentored, and refused to abandon, including my nephew, while at Skyline High School. He gave Oakland’s youth their best chance, and he never stopped fighting for them.

“Gun violence has stolen the life of a man who dedicated himself to building up the young people of this city.”

Piedmont Police Chief Frederick Shavies called the coach an “absolutely incredible human being,” and said, “Our hearts are aching.”

Lou Richie, head basketball coach at Bishop O’Dowd High School and a friend of Beam’s, said, “What happened today sends shockwaves through the community. He has affected more kids than anyone I know in Oakland and has stayed true to his form all of these years. He tells you how he sees it, and he doesn’t go back on his word. He’s one of a kind, that’s for sure.”

LaRonne Armstrong, former Oakland police chief, basketball coach, and friend of Beam’s, said, “To see today where someone who is a pillar in our community suffers at the hands of gun violence lets me know there’s much more work that needs to be done.

“My efforts, along with many others’ efforts to try and reduce violence in the city of Oakland, has still not gotten us to a safe place.”

Kenny King Jr, podcast host of Real Talk with Kenny King Jr, wrote, “Today the nation is hurting. We lost Coach John Beam. A lot of folks met him through Netflix and ‘Last Chance U’ but out here in the Bay he was already a legend long before the cameras showed up.

“Beam spent decades at Skyline and Laney, built a powerhouse, and brought Laney a national championship. But the wins were never the whole story.

“He followed the blueprint laid down by his mentor Stan Peters. Build players, sure, but build men first. Anyone who came through his program knows exactly what that means. He changed lives. He opened doors. He pushed you, challenged you, and believed in you even when you didn’t fully believe in yourself.

“His impact runs deep across generations of Bay Area football. And today, all of us who were touched by his work are feeling this loss.

“Rest easy, Coach Beam. Your legacy lives on in every player you molded and every life you lifted.”

Beam is survived by his wife, two daughters, and granddaughters.

Beam’s last X post:

READ MORE AT ABC 7

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