Kyriacou Wins Inaugural John Beam Community Action Award

Chronicle names Bishop O'Dowd physical education teacher and Oakland Wildcats coach the first recipient of the award honoring John Beam.

Updated on Nov. 10, 2026 in Football

Empty youth baseball diamond on a modest East Bay city field in warm late-afternoon light, with a bat leaning against a dugout bench. — Chris Kyriacou, a Bishop O'Dowd physical education teacher and Oakland Wildcats coach, was named the first winner of the John Beam Community Action Award by the San Francisco Chronicle. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

The San Francisco Chronicle named Chris Kyriacou the inaugural winner of the John Beam Community Action Award. Kyriacou, a physical education teacher at Bishop O'Dowd High School, is 61 years old and coaches the Oakland Wildcats youth travel baseball team.

Why it matters

Kyriacou and John Beam shared a seven-year coaching staff at Skyline High, and Beam's death in November 2025 prompted the award's creation. The honor recognizes community action work in Oakland, where both men built their careers in local schools and youth sports.

Kyriacou has spent more than two decades at Bishop O'Dowd and shared a seven-year coaching staff with Beam at Skyline High. Beam's first Skyline football team finished 5-4-1 under his leadership, prompting him to recruit Kyriacou.

The players

Chris Kyriacou

Kyriacou is a physical education teacher and coach at Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland who has taught and coached at Skyline and San Lorenzo as well.

John Beam

Beam was a longtime Skyline High coach whose death in November 2025 led to the creation of the John Beam Community Action Award.

The details

Kyriacou and Beam first faced each other as rivals in a football game during the 1970s or 1980s, when Beam was a young defensive coordinator at Skyline. About three years later Kyriacou became Skyline's varsity baseball coach, and Beam later walked to the baseball field to ask him to help coach the football team. Kyriacou agreed to attend one spring practice after repeated requests and remained on the staff for seven years. He has since taught and coached at Skyline, San Lorenzo and Bishop O'Dowd, and gave a tribute at Beam's January celebration of life.

1970s-1980s: Kyriacou and Beam first faced each other as football rivals.
About three years after that meeting: Kyriacou became Skyline's varsity baseball coach.
2024: Beam and Kyriacou attended the Athletics' final home game together.
November 2025: John Beam died.
January: Kyriacou gave a tribute at Beam's celebration of life.

Season Trajectory

Beam's public tributes have moved from a five-minute narration by Marshawn Lynch before Super Bowl LX to a local award in Oakland. The honor extends that recognition into community sports work, where Kyriacou continues coaching youth baseball.

The award gives Oakland youth sports coaches a local model for community action recognition. Families in the area can look to Kyriacou's programs at Bishop O'Dowd and the Oakland Wildcats as examples of coaching work that extends beyond the field.

The takeaway

Beam's coaching legacy shows how a single request to help with a struggling team can shape decades of local youth sports. Coaches in Oakland can build lasting community impact by staying involved in the programs where they teach.