Skyline High alumni honor Oakland Coach John Beam with special screening of 'Last Chance U'

""During our 10-year anniversary, we were in the middle of the great recession, the financial crisis. Our 20th was during COVID. So, we weren't going to have anything. It took Coach Beam getting taken away from us to say, 'Hey. We need to do something,'" said organizer Charles Lassey, a Class of 2000 alumnus. The Skyline High School Class of 2000 paid tribute to Beam with a viewing party."

""First and foremost, that mustache that he had! I was like, 'Man. He always had that mustache,'" said Christina Macalino, who also graduated in 2000. Macalino had Beam as her P.E. teacher senior year. She said he was tough, but added that tough love was what helped bring the best out in students. "He was supportive, inspiring. He brought out the talent and cultivated the talent he saw in students. He believed in the Oakland community," Macalino said."

Alumni and community members held a special screening of the documentary series Last Chance U to honor Coach John Beam. The Skyline High School Class of 2000 organized a viewing party that doubled as a fundraiser for a teacher appreciation grant. Former students remembered Beam's toughness balanced by supportive, inspiring tough love that cultivated student talent and belief in the Oakland community. Beam taught and coached in Oakland for 45 years at Skyline High and Laney College and coached more than 20 athletes who reached the NFL. Beam was shot and killed in November at Laney College in a targeted incident allegedly involving a former student.

Read at ABC7 San Francisco