Longtime NFL Coach Dies of Diabetes Complications

Larry Beightol, who was a longtime coach in the National Football League, has reportedly died from complications due to a number of problems including a heart attack, and complications from both dementia and diabetes.

Beightol spent 30 years as a coach in the NFL, beginning his career with the Atlanta Falcons back in 1985. He would go on to coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the New York Jets, the then-San Diego Chargers, the Houston Oilers, the Detroit Lions, and the Green Bay Packers.

Legacy.com reports on his death,

Pennsylvania-born Larry Beightol coached his entire life. After earning his Master’s at The College of William and Mary, in 1968, he began coaching there while still in his 20s. Throughout the 1970s, he was offensive line coach for a series of big schools, including North Carolina State, Auburn, the University of Arkansas, the University of Missouri and Louisiana Tech University, where he also was athletic director and, in 1979, served as head coach. 

In 1985, Beightol made the jump to the National Football League, signing with the Atlanta Falcons and beginning what would become a 30-year NFL career. He moved on to the Buccaneers and Chargers, then spent 1990 to 1994 with the New York Jets. He left New York for the Houston Oilers, coached three seasons in Miami and finished his career in 2007 with the Detroit Lions. His longest tenure was the seven years he spent with the Green Bay Packers from 1999 to 2006. 

While with the Packers, he coached Frank Winters, Marco Rivera, Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher, all of them future Packers Hall of Famers. Beightol himself is in the Packers Hall of Fame, too, as well as the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame and Catawba College Hall of Fame. After retirement, he ran football camps for up-and-coming young players

LEgacy

Rest in peace Larry Beightol.