Memorial for Coach John Beam, who shaped generations of Oakland athletes, matches sports icon's spirit

OAKLAND -- There was hardly room to stand, but Cindi Beam rose to hug every well-wisher who stopped by to say their lives were changed by Coach John Beam.

A former Skyline High School tight end donning a letterman jacket wept as his mother whispered into Cindi's ear. The coach's wife returned a deep gaze into the woman's eyes, echoing the kind of direct eye contact that John was known to offer anyone seeking his guidance when he served as the high school's legendary football coach.

Beam was fatally shot last month at Laney College's Field House, the athletics facility where he held court and shaped generations of young men.

The scene at Everett and Jones Barbecue, where on Friday the sports icon was memorialized, reflected a different town. This was an Oakland that Beam knew well -- where sports forges the kind of lifelong community bonds that overcome any undercurrent of tragedy.

"I'm thankful for what your husband has done for my life story," Damon Owens, a 1991 alum of Skyline High, told Cindi on the microphone. He was among a packed sea of red Skyline jackets, former student athletes who greeted each other jovially during an otherwise emotional celebration of a man who had believed in their success.

Beam, who received national recognition after his appearance in the Netflix series "Last Chance U," is among the highest-profile Bay Area residents to be killed in recent memory -- a shooting that sent shockwaves through the city's tight-knit sports community.

Skyline High leaders had already figured they would rename the football field after Beam. By next season, the change will become official. Beam turned the program into a powerhouse amid a 40-plus year career in Oakland. He left in 2004 to begin coaching at Laney, where he remained as athletics director before his death last month.

He befriended and mentored the standout young athletes who came up through the city, transcending sports to become a community leader who defined Oakland's success by more than