Green Bay — Larry Beightol, the former Green Bay Packers offensive line coach, died on April 4 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He was 81.
Beightol died from heart failure, dementia, and diabetes problems, according to his obituary.
Beightol began his NFL career in 1985 as an offensive line coach for the Atlanta Falcons. He has also coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the San Diego Chargers (where he was offensive coordinator for a year), the New York Jets, the Houston Oilers, and the Miami Dolphins. He retired in 2006 with the Detroit Lions. His longest tenure with the Packers was from 1999 to 2005.
He coached four future Packers Hall of Fame linemen: Frank Winters, Marco Rivera, Chad Clifton, and Mark Tauscher.
Here’s a presentation Beightol gave about offensive line play while coaching the Packers.
Beightol was born in Morrisdale, Pennsylvania. He played football at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina, and earned a master’s degree from The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
He started his coaching career at The College of William and Mary and went on to work at North Carolina State, Auburn, Arkansas, Louisiana Tech, and Missouri. Except for one year as athletic director at Louisiana Tech, he was an offensive line coach at all of his previous positions.
Marv Levy, a Pro Football Hall of Fame coach, hired Beightol as William and Mary’s defensive line coach, his first coaching position. The following year, legendary college coach Lou Holtz came over, and Beightol served as his coach for 13 years.
He was a member of both the Catawba College Hall of Fame and the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame (Western Division). Marco Rivera asked Beightol to introduce him in Green Bay when he was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame.
Email Richard Ryman at rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @RichRymanPG, Instagram @rrymanPG, and Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG.
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