Oakland Police announced Friday that former Laney College head coach and athletic director John Beam died from a gunshot wound suffered in a campus shooting Thursday. Police also announced that a 27-year-old suspect, Cedric Irving, was arrested early Friday morning in connection to the shooting.
Beam, 66, was most recently serving as the athletic director at Laney College in Oakland. He was shot Thursday just before noon at the Laney Field House on campus at Laney College. The former Laney College head coach was hospitalized and listed in critical condition following the shooting Thursday.
Oakland Police chief Floyd Mitchell announced Beam’s death at a press conference Friday.
It marked the second shooting is as many days at an Oakland school. Police called Beam’s death a “targeted incident” involving the longtime Bay Area football coach.
Beam Leaves Lasting Legacy on Bay Area Football
Beam was the head coach at Laney College from 2012-24 where he helped guide the Eagles to multiple league titles. Laney won the CCCAA championship after defeating Ventura College at the end of the 2018 season. That same year, Beam won the CCCAA Football Coach of the Year award.
He began his coaching stint at the school in 2004 as a running backs. Beam was then promoted to the offensive coordinator position in 2005. The work being done by Beam and his staff at Laney was documented by Netflix in the final season of the “Last Chance U” series.
The show chronicled the lives and ups and downs of junior college football players going through a season at schools around the country. The show’s fifth and final season highlighted Laney during the 2019 season. Beam’s big personality and optimism rose to the forefront throughout the series.
He coached 45 years total beginning his career in San Diego before moving to Oakland to coach at Skyline High School in 1982. Beam was promoted to head coach in 1987, and led Skyline to a stellar record during his tenure there.
The team won 15 league titles and went undefeated in four seasons during that span. Beam finished with a 157-33-5 record between 1988-2003. His 81.8 winning percentage ranks top 10 all-time among California coaches with 150 or more wins, according to the Cal-Hi Sports State Record Book.
“Coach Beam’s legacy isn’t measured in championships or statistics,” Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said. “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.”
Outpouring of Support Following Death
The decades of mentoring and coaching of youth around Oakland earned Beam a reputation that reached beyond the gridiron. Since the shooting, there has been an outpouring of support for Beam via social media from players and Bay Area residents acknowledging his impact.
Among those taking to social media to remember Beam on Friday was Damian Lillard. The Oakland native said Beam provided the future Weber State and NBA star with his first job. Lillard’s brother Houston played football at Laney College.
“Rest In Peace Coach Beam. Condolences to his family and all who loved him,” Lillard wrote in an Instagram post Friday.
“This man is a true Oakland legend and GREAT man. Gave me my first Job at Laney Football games…Hundreds of kids all over Oakland became the type of men they are today because of this dude and for someone from that exact world to randomly come and take his life just ain’t right… this ain’t the Oakland I grew up in. Shit sad!”
Beam is credited with sending over 100 players to Division I colleges during his time at Skyline. He also coached more than 20 players to the NFL during his time as a coach. Seven of those players have participated in the Super Bowl.