Were you still in high school at age
16?
Not Bob Laycoe (Linfield Class of 1968).
Bob was 16 years old when he entered
Linfield College in fall 1964. (He turned 17 in October 1964).
Let’s back up a bit.
The Laycoe twins, Bryan and Robert, were born Oct 9, 1947, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Following Hal’s career as a professional
hockey player he became head coach (1957-1958 and 1958-1959) of the
New Westminster Royals of the Western Hockey League (WHL).
After
two seasons the Royals were sold and were moving to Portland to become that
city’s successful and long remembered WHL franchise, the Buckaroos.
While
the Royals were sold, they didn’t immediately morph into the Buckaroos until
the 1960-1961 season. That’s because Portland’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum,
home of the Buckaroos (and later of the NBA Portland Trail Blazers), was under
construction.
When Bob and Bryan transferred from the
Canadian school system to Portland public schools, they skipped eighth grade
and entered Portland’s Cleveland High School as 12-year-old freshmen in fall
1960.
At Cleveland, Bob competed in football
and wrestling and Bryan ran cross-country and track and field.
After graduating from Cleveland, Bryan
(a retired orthopedic surgeon living in southwest Washington) selected Lewis
and Clark College in Portland where he was a member of NWC championship
cross-country and track & field teams. He ran the half and quarter mile. Recruited
to Linfield by its football coach, Paul Durham, Bob was encouraged to go there
by his Cleveland football and wrestling coaches.
At Linfield Bob played football
(offensive guard) for four years and wrestled two seasons. He was a two-time
All-Northwest Conference offensive guard for the Wildcats and a 1967 Associated
Press Little All-Northwest football team member.
Winner of Linfield football’s “top
blocker” award for 1967, Bob was a nominee for the 1967 Hayward (state of
Oregon) Athlete of the Year Award. And the 1968 Northwest Conference student
athlete of the year award.
One of Bob’s Cleveland High Class of
1963 and Linfield Class of 1968 classmates is Odis Avritt. At Cleveland Odis
and Bob were football and wrestling teammates and played together on Linfield
football teams.
Odis
remembers “When Bob came to Linfield as a freshman in 1963 he weighed 195
pounds. When he returned to Linfield as a sophomore, he was 235 pounds.” All
muscle.
(Bryan
recollects even more impressive muscle numbers. They are identical twins. But,
after Bob’s hard work, he weighed in at 245 pounds and Bryan’s weight was 175.)
How’d
that happen?
Bryan
remembers Bob used weights downstairs at home. Odis recalls Bob working with
fitness pioneer Sam Loprinzi and working out at Loprinzi’s Gym in southeast
Portland, not too far away from Cleveland High.
When
Bob’s Linfield roommate, John McCallum, saw Bob’s new physique he called him
“Heavy Duty.” That nickname “stuck with Bob through the rest of his time at
Linfield,” said Odis.
Odis
recalls, “Bob and I took several trips down to Pacific City (on the Oregon
coast) and did running work outs in the sand dunes.”
Bob
graduated from Linfield in 1968 with a bachelor of science degree in education.
In
the 1967 season as a Linfield senior, he was a member of the famous Wildcat
team which upset heavily favored UH before 20,000 fans, the most to ever see a
Linfield football game. That game was in Honolulu, as was the 1968 UBC at UH
game. While UBC lost to UH in 1968, the UH head football coach singled out Bob
for his exceptional offensive line blocking. At times Bob opened big holes
which allowed UBC to advance the ball.
In
addition to being a UBC standout in football, Bob wrestled for Thunderbirds
during the 1968-1969 seasons on a team which won Western Canadian and Canadian
university championships. He was the Canadian open and intercollegiate
heavyweight wrestling champion in 1969.
After graduating from UBC in 1969, the Bob
and Sue moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. At the University of Saskatchewan, Bob
served four years as a faculty member, four years as wrestling coach, three years as football defensive coordinator and one
year as head football coach. In 1973 he became acting athletic director. Their
daughter, Tonya, was born in Saskatoon.
From 1973 through 1979 Bob guided the
Thunderbird wrestling team to five Western Canadian titles. In 1978 he was CIS
Wrestling Coach of the Year. And he coached Canada’s national wrestling team at
several international wrestling events.
From 1973 through 1987
Bob was football defensive coordinator on some of UBC’s best football teams
including the 1982 and 1986 national champions (Vanier Cup).
“Bob is still lauded
by coaches and players for his strength and conditioning program, his
thoroughness, his motivation and his meticulous preparation,” said one story.
He and UBC former head
football coach Frank Smith -- both UBC Sports Hall of Fame members (inducted
September 2019) -- are remembered through their names of the UBC Smith
& Laycoe Varsity Training Center.
Said a story about the center, “There
can be no question that the strength and consistency of the UBC's defensive
unit contributed immeasurably to the longest and most profound era of success
in the program's history. At the heart of UBC's notoriously stingy defence
during this period was Bob Laycoe.
“Former players frequently describe him
as being highly detailed in his preparations, and as an even-keeled coach who
conveyed a strong sense of discipline, effectively modelling the high standards
he set for himself and for his players.
“Consistent with his disciplined
approach and attention to detail, Coach Laycoe was an ardent proponent of strength and conditioning, and oversaw the
details of the team's rigorous training program, and thereby made an even
greater contribution to the team's overall success.”
In 1988, the Laycoes moved to Ontario,
Canada, after he was named as head football coach of the University of Toronto
“Varsity Blues” football team.
Bob
had the saying "Remember Who You Are" during his time coaching
University of Toronto football. He had a
sign made and it was put above the door leaving the football locker room before
going out on the field. All players touched it while going out. It was a
special thing.
In the summer of 2002, due to
Parkinson’s disease, Bob stepped down as U of Toronto head football coach.
Later, Bob and Suzanne moved back to British Columbia.
Bob is the 2013s “Award of Merit”
recipient in the Mel Krause Cleveland Commerce Athletic Hall of Fame. (His high
school alma mater, Cleveland, in Portland was initially named Commerce High
School. This “hall” honors those who attended the school with either name.)
He received the American Football
Coaches Assn. Lifetime Achievement Award for 35 years coaching at the
university level.
In 2018, Bob was honored in Toronto
during a recognition of the 25th Anniversary of the U of Toronto Varsity Blue’s
1993 winning the national champion (Vanier Cup).
During that celebration Bob was lauded
for "his character and determination and promoting collaberation required to
succeed" He always stressed the importance of being an exemplary
student-athlete. His former players announced they created the Bob Laycoe
Football Award of Merit to recognize and reward Varsity Blue athletes embodying
those traits.
A U of Toronto story
helps summarize Bob’s impact as a coach. Bob “served as a mentor and an
inspiration to his players,” said the story It quotes Bob saying “I have tried
to give my players something they will remember and carry with them through
life …“That’s what football is all about, so much more than just winning and
losing.”
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Sources:
Sources for this story include, but not
limited to Bob and Suzanne Laycoe, Bryan Laycoe, Odis Avritt, and information
online from or about UBC, U of Saskatchewan and U of Toronto. Bob Laycoe, Linfield football
player, drawing by Bruce Priem.
Photo info:
· --Bob
as a UBC football player.
· --Bob
as a UBC faculty member.
· --Bob
as U of Toronto head football coach.
· --Bob
on wedding day 1968 in Bellevue, Wash. Left to right, Lowell Dayton (Class of
1968/football), John Hart (Class of 1968/baseball), Bob, Bryan and John
McClaskey (Linfield Class of 1967/football).
· --The
Laycoe family in 1964 outside their Portland home. In the back (left to right)
Hal, Bob and Bryan. In the front (l-r) Rhonda, Marjorie and “Rusty,” family
dog.
· --One
of the many bird paintings plaques Bob has created during the time he and his
wife, Sue, have lived on a fishing lake in BC’s South Okanagan.
Postscript:
=Two other names should ring a bell. The
starting left guard is Bob Laycoe, son of Hal Laycoe, Portland Buckaroo hockey
coach and a former Boston Bruin. The starting left tackle is Jeff Basinski, son
of Eddie Basinski, former major-league second baseman.
=Laycoe
started college when he was 16 and now, as a 6-2 by 205-pound sophomore, has
just turned 18. “He’s probably the youngest sophomore regular in the country,”
Durham points out.
Source: Article about Linfield
College football in Christian Science Monitor, Dec. 16, 1965
==CANADIAN CELEBRATIONS
=Linfielder Bob Laycoe 73rd birthday on Fri., 9 Oct 2020.
=Canadian Thanksgiving on Mon., 12 Oct 2020.
(If you want to wish Bob & Suzanne Laycoe well their email address: bobsuzannelaycoe@
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Linfield 1965 Wrestling team photo by McMinnville N-R shows Bob Laycoe, second row in middle.
