Sunday, July 05, 2020

Bob Laycoe, former Wildcat football standout, started at Linfield as a 16-year-old


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.

Bob’s father, Hal Laycoe, a former National Hockley League player; his mother, Marjorie; twin brother Bryan and younger sister Rhonda, all Canada born, lived in New Westminster, part of the Vancouver, British Columbia metro area. For the record, the Laycoe twins were born in Vancouver.

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 summer of 1968 Bob married his childhood sweetheart, Suzanne “Sue” Lind, in Bellevue, Wash. They moved to Vancouver B.C.; and he enrolled in the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver. After studying there he earned a master’s degree in physical education (kinesiology) in 1969.

During his time as a UBC student, he played for the UBC Thunderbirds football team and was its “Most Inspirational Player” in 1968. In that season, Bob played against some teams of which he competed as a Linfield football player. One of them was the University of Hawaii (UH).

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.

In 1973, the Laycoes returned to British Columbia. where son David was born. Bob became UBC’s head wrestling coach and football defensive coordinator. As he had done at the University of Saskatchewan, Bob continued teaching a full academic schedule in the UBC school of physical education and recreation staff. He was also involved in academic planning for the school.

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.

As head football coach of the U of T (Toronto, Ontario) 1988-2001 (14 seasons), he built the Varsity Blues into a powerhouse which won a national championship (Vanier Cup).

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.

They now live in the BC’s South Okanagan on a small fishing lake with their Golden Retriever, Odin. During their time on the lake, Bob fished and painted. They have about a hundred wood plaques of bird paintings he did at that time. 

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@gmail.com )



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Linfield 1965 Wrestling team photo by McMinnville N-R shows Bob Laycoe, second row in middle.