The Long Beach community lost a legendary coach and father figure last week, when Hall of Fame LBCC football coach Larry Reisbig died at 77.
Reisbig was head coach at Long Beach State from 1987-89 before moving to Long Beach City College, where he would leave his mark. Reisbig coached the Vikings for 11 years, going 83-34-1 (.707), making him still the school’s winningest football coach of all time. Eight of Reisbig’s 11 teams went to postseason bowl games and the Vikings won six Mission Conference titles.
In 1995 Reisbig coached a team for all time, as the Vikings went 11-0 and was named the top team in the nation.
“There’s no way we should have won a championship that year,” he would later joke.
The Vikings trailed Palomar 45-17 in October before coming back to win 46-45, the first of many improbable turns that season. Reisbig credited that comeback to a good luck charm printed in the Press-Telegram — it was a graphic printed on the comics page with dots on a white square, that you supposedly could rub together for good luck — which his wife Patty had in her purse.
“She kept it after the game, so you know, that’s the reason we won the national championship right there,” he said.
Reisbig was inducted into the California Community College Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame 10 years ago, and also served as LBCC’s athletic director from 2003-2010 after stepping down from the football job.
More than just a coach, Reisbig was remembered by those who knew him best as a mentor.
“He just loved to help people,” said his son Mike, who was an assistant under Larry at LBCC before eventually becoming head coach himself. “Heck, back when I was in high school he would have guys live at the house to make sure they were OK—things like that.”
Mike was hired at LBCC by his father in 1992 and was an assistant under him during the glory years, including the ’95 national title.
“It’s indescribable,” he said. “He’s your dad but on the field it’s more like he’s your friend. It was fun after he retired to look back and remember all those times. I wouldn’t trade those days for anything — they were the best years of my life.”
Reisbig’s coaching helped many Long Beach athletes reach the next level, but also helped them later in life. He was famous for trying to help former players get jobs as coaches, or to get their start in life.
The quarterback of the ’95 team was Neo Aoga, a Long Beach Poly alum who had bounced back from Utah and weighed 268 pounds. Reisbig had faith in Aoga that was repaid, as the coach/QB combo went 19-2 over two years.
“There was no one else playing QB at my weight,” Aoga said. “He never said anything to me, it was just ‘I trust you, if you can play, you can play.’”
Reisbig would later go and see Aoga playing at Azusa Pacific, and sent him frequent emails while Aoga was playing overseas in NFL Europe. After he was done playing, Aoga returned to Long Beach and Reisbig gave him a job coaching in 2004 (Aoga is still an assistant at LBCC).
“He had a huge impact on my life but I think there’s a lot of guys who would say that,” Aoga said. “Whether you were an inner city kid or a Lakewood, Los Al kid, Larry knew how to work with everybody. He was a special guy.”
Reisbig is survived by his wife of 58 years, Patty, his son Mike and daughter Stephanie Anne, three grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Services are tentatively planned for May 13 from 2 to 6 p.m. in LBCC’s Hall of Champions Gymnasium.
