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December 14, 2004
Remembering Coach Donavon Larson
Knowing Coach Larson has meant so much to me that it’s difficult to put into words. I can honestly say that he was one of the greatest men I’ve ever met. The man cared so much about our school, its football team, and especially his players. When he recruited me in high school, he sent hand-written letters to me weekly and made frequent phone calls; it got to the point where there was no way to turn him down. I’m glad I didn’t.
I had a blast playing four years for Coach, but what I’ll remember him most for was what he did off the field. It was all of the little things that really made Coach endearing to the players. He knew every player’s family and all of their names; he even called my mom and sang “Happy Birthday” to her last year. When I took my medical school entrance exam this summer, Coach demanded that he be the first one after my parents to hear the scores. When I didn’t play well, he’d surely give me a kick in the butt, but he always apologized to me later and picked me back up. Little things like that made all the difference to his players.
Coach Larson was the epitome of what we call “Piper Pride.” He worked tirelessly and always represented the school and his team in a professional manner. I’m going to miss him terribly, but I know that I am a much better man for playing for Coach Larson.
- Mike Walsh #11
I am the grandmother of identical triplet grandsons. These boys have had a passion for playing football all their lives, and they thought sports ranked way above studying for good grades. In August of 2002, I talked with Coach Donavon Larson about the fact that these boys wanted to play football for Wayzata High School and had this idea that sports were a priority over good grades. Coach Larson asked for their home address and indicated that he wanted to write to them.
The letter from Coach Larson to my grandsons has had a profound and positive impact on these guys in terms of how they approached academics and sports. This letter has been posted on the family refrigerator since the day they received it in the mail from Coach Larson. They are seniors this year, and they proudly took their place as a part of the Wayzata football team, which went to the finals. Here is that letter:
“Dear Chris, Curt and Kyle:
I have been talking to your very proud grandmother, who indicated that you all want to play football for your high school. It is very important that you remember to balance your desire to play football with getting good academic grades. If you work hard on the academic side, you will be a better team player. I wish the three of you luck as you begin your sophomore year at Wayzata High School. Sincerely, Coach Larson “
Thank you, Coach Larson, for sharing your passion for the game of life with my grandsons. We will always remember you and forever be grateful to you. Chris, Curt, and Kyle were very saddened to hear about Coach Larson passing away. They never met him personally, but they felt that they knew him. They join me in extending our deepest sympathy to his family.
- Dixie Lindsley
I was a senior for the 2004 Piper football season. One of my best memories of Coach Larson was at the end of the season, when he asked all the seniors to come up to the front of the room for a formal goodbye. He then said to the team that he was going to retire, and the 2004 season was going to be the last time he would ever coach football. There were tears in his eyes, as well as the eyes of his players, and everyone could tell this was one of the hardest things he ever had to do. Coach Larson’s level of commitment to his players and coaches was something that I had never experienced before with any coach. He taught us so much more then just football; he taught us all how to be men.
- Mike Downs #35
I heard someone say that Coach Larson promised to be there next year for us cheering us on, but if you think about it, he’s still going to be there. He’s going to be there in all of us. He made such an impact on all of us. He touched us all in one way or another, whether it was just talking, getting after you because you’re not going to class, or helping with the struggles of college.
Coach Larson, in a way, was a grandfather to me. He pushed me; he pushed all of us to be the best that we could be. I remember Jermaine talk about why he called us MEN, because that’s what we were. We were no longer boys playing the game; we were men having a passion for the game, and no one had a bigger passion for the game of football than Coach Larson.
He loved football so much. He would talk about his glory days at Hamline, or his other coaching jobs, and you knew his heart was always in it. Andy Gagnon put it best: Even with our records, 3-7, 2-8, whatever it was, it didn’t matter to Coach. He always had the fire in his eye to come back the next year and work harder to get better.
Some coaches would have gradually lost that fire to compete, but not Coach. He always had that fire burning. Coach Larson made us feel like a family, and that’s what this team is, one big family. I felt that he wanted every one of the recruits to be part of this great family.
He made you feel welcome, and he would always be there for you. If it wasn’t for that day I was called into my high school office to speak to Coach, I probably wouldn’t have even considered Hamline as a choice of colleges.
But whether you liked it or not, he stuck with the phone calls, the letter-writing, and the long drives to visit you and let you know that you were welcome to be part of this family. I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to know almost everything there is to know about you. He knew your parents and would talk to you about them and ask how they were, just because that was the kind of guy Coach was.
The world has lost a great husband, father, grandfather, coach, friend, and just a great person in general.
Rest in peace, Coach. Thank you.
- Andrew Seymour #16
One of the many things I will remember about Coach Larson is his smile. And, in the words of Coach Larson, “Once a Piper, always a Piper.” You will be missed, Coach.
- Amanda Gage
Coach Larson meant a ton to me and to every player who ever donned the pads under him. He will always have a special place in my heart, and there is no doubting that. Simply put, he never, ever gave up on me, or on anyone who has ever walked through his office door. He knew exactly how to motivate you, no matter if it was a swift kick in the butt, or sitting you down and having a long talk.
Coach Larson was not an ordinary person at all. He cared very deeply about everyone on the team. He didn’t care if you where the starting quarterback or the backup punter, he cared right down the line about everyone. You could walk into his office at any point in the day and shoot the breeze with him and I am kicking myself for not taking that opportunity more often. You could mention a player’s name to him and he could tell you everything you would want to know about them: their jersey number, hometown, high school, high school coach, position in high school, parents names, intended major. It simply amazed me to hear him ramble some of the things off, because I had no idea how he was able to do it. That right there is the proof that Larson was no ordinary person. He was a person who had room in his heart for everyone.
The world lost a great person on Sunday, Dec. 5. There are millions of people who will never know about him, as a person or the mark that he left behind on the world. It is truly their loss, to not be able to spend five minutes with this man, so full of life, now taken away from this world, well before his time.
- Josh Heasley #62
Like many of the football players, I am going to remember Coach Larson as the man of the football field, especially Thursday afternoon specialty periods.
Now, one thing people have to realize is that Coach Larson had relaxed throughout the four years I played football for him, but he always got the blood rushing to his head during these two periods. These are basically the last two periods of the week for us, so some people are not concentrating as much as they possibly could. It always seemed as though either the long snapper would snap it over the punter for the scout punt team, someone would not block the correct guy on the punt team, or in my case I may not yell peter loud enough on a bad punt and it would hit one of our players. At this point is where you get all of Coach Larson’s acronyms. Others times, he would just call someone a dumbhead, or tell a player to get their head checked out because something is wrong with you.
- Mike Van Loh #2
The memory of Coach Larson that I would like to share is his occasional creativity (some might say exaggerating and others flat-out lying), but all of which were done with good intentions. Larson was always partial to the Piperline Move-In Crew program, volunteering all of the football first-years to help out. Rather than simply flat-out telling the first-year class that they had to do it, which he easily could have done, he tried to put a smiling face on the four hours of grueling work with a few ludicrous claims regarding the great potential that each football player would have in scouting the incoming girls on campus.
“Just go up to them with your hair all slicked back and offer to carry their heaviest thing. Their parents will also be right there, so you might get the introduction out of the way, too!” he would say.
I think I heard that exact description at least three separate times leading up to Move-In Day. Larson always had a way to put such a good forecast on things, a trait always greatly appreciated in a world of so much complaining and groaning.
In addition to the pep talk, he backed it up with some facts by then proceeding to evoke the memory of Brody Anderson meeting his current girlfriend during the Move-In Day the previous year. Wow, that almost made even me want to volunteer myself for the Move-In program again, but, in fact, Brody didn’t meet his girlfriend at the Move-In program.
Furthermore, she was never at the Move-In program, because she doesn’t go to Hamline and was Brody’s high-school sweetheart. Some might say that Larson was confused. I think him to be smarter than that, because all of the first-years did show up to Move-In Day and provided a great service to the incoming students - and did so with their hair slicked back.
- Mike Pesko #83
As an athletic trainer for Coach Larson, he would always make me laugh, especially the day he said, “What is that thing on your head? Because if it is a hat, it should really be a potholder! We need to get that potholder off your head and get you some Piper gear!” There won’t be a day I wear that hat without thinking of him.
- Rachel Wyman
When I started to think about my memories of Coach Larson, I realized there are a whole bunch of them. The thing I will remember most about Coach Larson is his speeches and the way he would just tear into you when you did something wrong, and then he would calm down and put his arm around ya and talk you through the right way to do things.
The memory that sticks out the most was when we watching film from our red-gray scrimmage. Coach was our defensive line coach at the time, and the defensive line was not doing things right. He was getting mad, calling me and Jake [Bjerke] names for making stupid mistakes.
The next play came on the film, and the defensive line made another stupid mistake, and he went off on us, saying, “We will see the dark side, men, if we don’t start picking it up, and we won’t like the dark side.”
At the time we were all scared, but then after a few days we thought about how funny that speech was, and how it really motivated us.
Coach Larson was and still is one of the MIAC’s finest. He is the whole package when it comes to being a Piper. Like Coach Larson always said, “Once a Piper, always a Piper.”
It’s a sad day to be a Piper, but I know he would want us to move on and put it behind us and start working on improving for the next season. I will sorely miss you, Coach, and I love ya.
- Tom Schadegg #55
Coach Larson holds a very special place in the hearts of the HU cheerleaders. He was always so willing to help out with getting us anything we needed He opened the weight room for us at 6:30 am, two days a week, always with a big smile and a “You girls look great this morning.” He always made the effort to make us feel like members of the athletic department, from the football banquets, to picnics before games, or at any time he saw us.
His love for life and his family was obvious. I think each one of us has heard stories of how he met his wife, Cindy. He loved telling those stories. Coach was always cheerful, positive, and loving. We will always remember him as classy, confident and loving.
Coach, we love you for making us part of the Hamline football family. You will be greatly missed.
- The HU Cheerleaders
You were always kind to me and my staff. I didn’t know you really well, but you always made me feel you cared and encouraged me. I want you to know, wherever you are, that you made a difference in the lives that you touched. You were important. Many people will miss you, including those in food service. May the fish bite long and hard.
- That one Sorin girl (Cynthia)
I remember dragging myself to those last few days of high school, sighing the whole way, saying, “What’s the point?” But nearly every day after being accepted by Hamline, I came home to a cardinal red and gray postcard, marked on the back in flowing red ink. On it were words of the future, words of inspiration. More importantly, the postcards often had questions about my family, only touching on football and my life to come at Hamline. The bottom of every postcard was signed by Coach Larson.
Those postcards always put a smile on my face and confidence in my heart. I remember those last few days of that summer before I started football camp. All my friends from high school had confused looks of joy and anxious fear on their faces. Thanks to old Lars I already felt home at Hamline. He had that way about him; you only had to meet him once, and you could call him a friend. He remembered every face, and more importantly, he remembered every story.
Coach Larson always had hope. I came to Hamline football as an offensive lineman, weighing in at 185 pounds; in offensive-line terms, I was a runt. But he never gave up the runt lineman from Henry Sibley
High; he pushed me so far on the field that I remember leaving practice in anger. But once we had all showered up, and I saw him outside the locker room, always with his smile and coffee-stained cup in hand, he would thank me for my hard work. When I decided not to play football this year, I expected him to hold some sort of grudge, but old Lars proved me wrong. Every time I saw him on campus he would ask me the same questions about family and school, and would listen to my stories.
Coach Larson will never be forgotten. He touched far too many people’s lives. If I ever have any boys that decide to play football, I’ll tell him the story of Coach Larson. I’ll tell him the story of the man that made Hamline home far before I even set foot on campus.
- Sean Bailey
Posted by msveum at December 14, 2004 11:07 AM