Richard Allen (Dick) Campbell died mercifully July 13, 2020 after suffering six weeks from a metabolic encephalopathy. Dick was an amazing man who had a tremendous heart for kids—coaching his own six boys in baseball, soccer, and football and teaching and coaching high school and college football for 47 years in Illinois and Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Dick’s life demonstrated his passions for family and friends, coaching football, and teaching special students.

Dick was that person all of us know. The one who was friends with everyone. To Dick all people mattered. Those he encountered in childhood, teaching, coaching and his entrepreneurial endeavors were comfortable being friends with him. He made you feel like a very important person in his life—and you were.

Dick grew up in his beloved South Bay where he played youth baseball and was the youngest to have earned Eagle Scout rank at 13 years old. He also received scouting’s highest honor, the Order of the Arrow. At Aviation High School Dick played baseball and football with the friends he had known since childhood. They called themselves the La Rana Boys and formed lifelong friendships he held dear to the end of his days.

He began his teaching and football coaching career in 1970. In the ensuing 47 years he taught and coached at 8 high schools and 2 colleges. As head coach in 1975 Dick’s Garden Grove High School team had the winningest team in the schools 54 year history. He was named an Orange County Coach of the Year and was selected to coach the North team in the Lions Club All Star game. In 1985 at Diamond Bar High School he met Lois, the love of his life, and they were married in 1988.

For 15 seasons from 1982 to 1997, Dick was an assistant coach at Fullerton College including the 1983 National Championship team.

In 1988 he was recruited to sell sports video equipment for Lafayette Instruments which allowed him to share his passion for football with coaches all over the western US while he continued coaching at Fullerton college.

In 1997, missing his classroom contact with students, Dick decided to return to teaching—this time in a satellite special education classroom for Los Angeles County Office of Education. For 13 years he loved teaching his students that faced multiple challenges in school and life. In 2003 he become a Special Education Administrator for LACOE and in 2012 he retired from his principalship.

Retirement gave him the opportunity to coach for four seasons (2012 - 2015) for his son Garrett who was head football coach of Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois. In 2016, Garrett came to California as a teacher and now head football coach at Fullerton College and, of course, Dick joined the coaching staff. In 2017 Dick suffered a stroke forcing him to retire from coaching permanently.

Donations can be made in Dick’s name to the Special Olympics Southern California to help carry forward his passion for students with special needs.