Nahshon Wright had simply made an enormous play for the Chicago Bears, and in spectacular style.
The fifth-year cornerback leaped excessive in full dash along with his hand stretched over his head to intercept a move by Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy ultimately zone to protect a 10-3 Bears lead late within the second quarter.
No wild celebration adopted. As an alternative, Wright jogged to the again of the tip zone and took a knee in reminiscence of Oakland soccer legend John Beam, the previous soccer coach at Laney School who died Friday after being shot on campus a day earlier.
“He was watching over me,” Wright, who performed for Beam at Laney in 2018, stated after the Bears’ 19-17 victory on Sunday . “It’s crazy. He called me the night before he passed and he told me that every game he watched, I just seemed to get a pick. So I just know he was behind me today.”
Simply earlier than midday Thursday, the Oakland Police Division responded to studies of gunshots at Laney and located Beam affected by gunshot wounds. He was transported to an space hospital, the place he was listed in crucial situation. At roughly 10 a.m. the subsequent day, Beam was pronounced lifeless.
Oakland police arrested 27-year-old Oakland resident Cedric Irving Jr. as a suspect within the case early Friday morning on the San Leandro BART station. Irving is a former soccer participant at Skyline Excessive College the place Beam as soon as coached, however police stated he didn’t play below Beam.
Former Laney School soccer coach John Beam holds the trophy after the Eagles gained the California Group School Athletic Assn. championship in 2018.
(Peralta Group School District through Related Press)
“This was a very targeted incident,” Beere stated.
Irving is scheduled for arraignment Tuesday, Jones Dickson stated.
Beam coached soccer in Oakland for greater than 40 years. He got here to Laney as operating backs coach in 2004, was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2005 and was head coach from 2012 to 2024. Upon retirement from teaching, Beam continued to function Laney’s athletic director, a publish he had held since 2006.
For a lot of of his gamers and members of the neighborhood, Beam was rather more than a coach, as seen by viewers of Season 5 of the Netflix documentary sequence “Last Chance U,” which centered on Beam and the Eagles through the 2019 soccer season.
“Filming with him at Laney College gave us a firsthand look at his passion, his integrity, and his unwavering commitment to the young men he coached — and to the city of Oakland,” the present’s creator, Greg Whiteley, wrote Friday on X.
Wright informed reporters that Beam was “someone I could confide in, someone that I love dearly.” He added that the coach crammed an enormous void for him and his brother — New Orleans Saints cornerback Rejzohn Wright, who performed at Laney in 2018 and 2019 — after the dying of their father in 2017.
“Beam stepped in, stepped in as a father figure, a father role,” Nahshon Wright stated. “He did a lot for me and my brother, my family. He’s been there. He’s been there every step of the way, and it won’t stop. I gained an angel, for sure.”
In a scene from “Last Chance U,” Laney coach John Beam talks to participant Rejzohn Wright.
(Netflix)
Rejzohn Wright reposted a video clip of his brother’s interception and its aftermath on X and wrote: “Long live Coach beam forever with us!”
In an Oct. 19 Instagram publish, Beam wrote that he was “in Chicago to watch the brothers battle” because the Bears hosted the Saints. The delight and love Beam felt towards his former gamers was greater than evident within the pictures he posted and the phrases he wrote.
“The Wright Way — always believe and keep grinding, never give up and believe the path will open up,” Beam wrote.
