OAKLAND, Calif. – John Beam, the famed former football coach who was featured in the Netflix series “Last Chance U,” which featured the relationships he built with players that others couldn’t gamble on, has died. Shot on the college campus where he workedThe Oakland Police Department said Friday.
Police say the suspect knew Beam, 66, and targeted him. has been arrested,
Beam’s death, a day after the Laney College shooting, shocked the community and many held a vigil outside the hospital before he died, remembering him as someone who always tried to help anyone he could.
Oakland Assistant Chief James Beery said the suspect went to the precinct for a “specific reason,” but did not elaborate on what that was. “This was a very targeted incident,” he said.
Beere did not say how Beam and the suspect knew each other, but said the suspect was known to hang out around the Laney campus. The suspect had played football at the high school where Beam worked, but not when the coach was employed there.
The suspect was taken into custody without confrontation and a gun was recovered, the assistant chief said. Charges were still pending.
Authorities credited technology, particularly cameras installed on college campuses, private residences and public transportation, for tracking the suspect, identified as Cedric Irving Jr.
Irving was arrested without incident just after 3 a.m. Friday at a commuter rail station in Oakland, and police recovered the gun. According to the Alameda County inmate locator, he was being held at a local jail on charges of murder and carrying a concealed weapon. He will be indicted on Tuesday morning. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
Irving’s brother, Samuel Irving, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was stunned to learn of the arrest and that his brother excelled academically and athletically in high school, where he ran track and played football. The brother said Cedric had become distant from the family in recent years after arguments with his father. Irving recently lost his job as a security guard after a fight, his brother said, and was then evicted from his apartment.
“I hope it’s not him,” said Samuel Irving quietly. “The Cedric I knew wasn’t capable of murder – but with the way things were going, I honestly don’t know.”
Police said the shooting happened just before noon Thursday, and officers arrived to find Beam shot. Few other details were available. It was the second shooting at an Oakland school in two days.
The Netflix documentary focuses on athletes attempting to turn their lives around at junior colleges, and starred Beam’s Laney College Eagles in the 2020 season. Beam gambled on players that no one else wanted. He developed deep relationships with his players while fielding a team that regularly competed for championships.
Beam’s family said in a statement that he was a “loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, coach, mentor and friend.”
The family requested privacy, saying, “Our hearts are filled with an outpouring of love.”
Piedmont Police Chief Fred Chavis, who previously served as deputy chief in the Oakland Police Department, said he was a friend, disciple and longtime admirer of Beam.
“John was more than a coach,” he said. “He was a father figure not only to thousands of men in our community but also to young women.”
Chavez said he met Beam when he was in the eighth grade and she supported him in high school. Chavez said he supported him after losing his father, calling him “an absolutely incredible human being.” He asked how Beam “made his mark on so many people with only 24 hours in a day?”
Two former players of Beam–Brother Nahshon And Razon WrightNow in the NFL with Chicago Bears And New Orleans Saints – Posted on social media after the firing.
“You mean a lot to me,” Razon Wright said in a post along with a photo of Beam.
His brother shared a photo of the coach with a broken heart emoji.
Mayor Barbara Lee described Beam as a “stalwart” in the city who mentored thousands of youth, including his nephew, and “gave Oakland’s youth the best possible chance for success”.
“For more than 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field and his family as well as our community has been touched,” Lee said.
Beam, who served as athletic director, joined Laney College as the running backs coach in 2004 and became head coach in 2012, winning two league titles. He retired from coaching in 2024 but remained at the school to shape athletic programs. According to their biography on the college website, at least 20 of their players have gone on to the NFL.
Beam’s shooting came a day after a student was shot at Oakland’s Skyline High School. The condition of the student is stable. Beam previously worked at Skyline High School, and the suspect played football there after Beam left for another job.
Lee said the back-to-back shootings at Oakland campuses show that “the crisis of gun violence is ongoing in real time.” He gave no indication that they were connected.
