RECALLING IDENTICAL TWINS BOB & BRYAN LAYCOE and THEIR FATHER, HAL LAYCOE
9/26/2021 from Wildccatville
KEEPER – So how come a kid named Laycoe isn't playing hockey? “I was too big for hockey,” said University of British Columbia guard Bob Laycoe, son of Portland Buckaroo coach Hal Laycoe. “I quit playing eight years ago.” ‘Birds coach Frank Gnup considers Laycoe, who stands 6-1 and weighs 230, a fine “straight ahead blocker.” He should be. Laycoe, now 21, spent four years playing football for Oregon’s Linfield College, a tough football school, before heading north to do some graduate work in physical education. He wasn't on hand last year when SFU trampled UBC 32-13.
(Source: The Vancouver, B.C., Sun, Oct. 18, 1968.)
Background: After Bob Laycoe graduated from Linfield in 1968 he earned a master's degree at the University of British Columbia (UBC), B.C., Canada. After Bob played football for the Paul Durham-coached Linfield Wildcats (Cats) -- his final season in 1967 was Paul Durham’s final season as Linfield football coach -- he played another season for the Frank Gnup-coached UBC Thunderbirds (Birds).
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Vancouver Sun story above mentions Bob, ice hockey and his father Hal, who, at the time the story was written was coach of the Portland Buckaroos of the Western Hockey League.
The Laycoe family included Hal, wife Marjorie and their children, Bob and identical twin Bryan, and their sister, Rhonda.
The twins graduated from Portland's Cleveland High School. While Bob was a Linfield College of McMinnville, Ore., grad, Bryan graduated from Lewis & Clark College of Portland, Ore.
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When Wildcatville asked Bryan for a photo of Bryan and Bob wearing ice hockey gear, he responded with a photo (posted here) of them at age six. It was taken in Boston in 1953.
This is as close as I can come to it," Bryan said. The photo was taken
when their father (see hockey trading card posted here) Hal Laycoe was a
defenceman (1951-1955) with the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. He
played 11 seasons in the NHL.
When the Laycoes moved from British Columbia to Portland in 1960, Bob and Bryan were 12-years-old. "There was no amateur hockey," said Bryan. As for photos of them playing hockey in Canada? Bryan explained, "We skated on frozen ponds, no pictures."
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