Head and shoulders image of Bob Laycoe, Huskie football and wrestler.
Bio/Historical Note: Robert (Bob) Laycoe and his parents, Hal and Marjorie, and the Laycoe family were amongst a group of Canadians who came to Portland in the summer of 1960. Hal Laycoe coached the new Portland Buckaroos hockey team for 9 years. Laycoe attended Cleveland High and played football and wrestled. Linfield College in McMinnvill, Oregon, and played football and wrestled. Upon graduation in 1968 he moved to Vancouver, earning an MA (1969) in Kinesiology and playing another year of football for the Thunderbirds at the University of British Columbia. He also won 4 Canadian titles in wrestling. Laycoe was an assistant coach with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football and wrestling programs from 1969-70 to 1971-72 and was head coach of both teams in 1972-73. Laycoe served as interim athletic director at the U of S when Don Burgess was on sabbatical in 1971-72. He coached football with Frank Smith at UBC from 1973 to 1987, winning two Vanier Cups (national championships). Laycoe was in Vancouver while his father coached the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL. Eventually Laycoe went to Toronto to coach the University of Toronto Varsity Blues from 1988-2002. He won a third Vanier Cup in 1993. When Laycoe’s neurological disorder forced his early retirement, he moved to the Okanagan in British Columbia. Hall of Fame awards followed Laycoe from Cleveland High to Linfield College, to the University of British Columbia and to the University of Toronto. The Frank Smith and Bob Laycoe Varsity Training Facility was established at UBC. Bob Laycoe died suddenly 28 December 2020 at age 73 from complications from cumulative traumatic encephalopathy and secondary Parkinson’s disease which developed over decades.
