Coach Larry McColloch

[A brief sketch of his career, edited by Lane Bond for the 50^th Reunion of the Class of 1952, Big Spring High School (Texas), November 2, 2002]
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Lawrence Edgar McColloch first saw the light of day in Burlington, Iowa, on August 20, 1920. He grew up in Burlington, graduating from Burlington High School in 1939.

He came to Texas to attend Texas Tech in Lubbock, where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Education in 1943.

He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in August of 1942, but the Army allowed him to finish college before beginning his active duty in May 1943. He was honorably discharged in February 1946, and promptly re-entered Texas Tech and earned his Master’s degree.

His first position was as head basketball coach, teacher, and assistant football coach in Memphis, Texas. In his third year there, 1948-49, his basketball team won the state championship, and he was selected as Coach of the Year in his division.

Aglow with this success, he was hired by Big Spring High School as head basketball coach, assistant football coach, and teacher. When he reported to school, he was approached by a student who said, "I am glad to meet you, Mr. McColloch. You are to be my tennis coach!" And that is how he learned that he was also to be a tennis coach.

At the end of the 1952 school year, he accepted an invitation to go to Odessa College as head basketball coach and Chairman of the Physical Education Department. Before he left Big Spring, however, he married Miss Jean Hyde, a BSHS English and speech teacher. (Those of us of the Class of 1952 can see that, without us here, there wasn’t much reason for staying in Big Spring.)

The couple was blessed with a son Kevin in 1955, and a son David in 1957.

After 27 years the marriage was dissolved, and in 1981, Larry married Beverly Williams of Odessa.

Beverly was born Carrizozo, New Mexico in 1933. Her father worked in a gold mine, which closed down six weeks after her arrival. He worked at whatever he could find for almost three years, in several towns in west and south Texas, and in Oklahoma, before finding work in Odessa working in the oil field. The work was steady but the location varied often, until Beverly was in the sixth grade, and the family settled permanently in Odessa. Dad traveled to the work, but the family took roots.

Beverly graduated from Odessa High School in 1951. She received a Bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fresno in 1973. She and her husband Kenneth, before his death, had a son Kenneth, a daughter Janice, a daughter Barbara, and a son Joel.

They have now enjoyed a marriage of 22 years and are still going strong. Coach has some health limitations, but they didn’t prevent the couple from taking a bus tour to California in September 2002.