OAKLAND — There was hardly room to stand, but Cindi Beam rose to hug every well-wisher who stopped by to say their lives were changed by Coach John Beam.

A former Skyline High School tight end donning a letterman jacket wept as his mother whispered into Cindi’s ear. The coach’s wife returned a deep gaze into the woman’s eyes, echoing the kind of direct eye contact that John was known to offer anyone seeking his guidance when he served as the high school’s legendary football coach.

Beam was fatally shot last month at Laney College’s Field House, the athletics facility where he held court and shaped generations of young men.

The scene at Everett and Jones Barbecue, where on Friday the sports icon was memorialized, reflected a different town. This was an Oakland that Beam knew well — where

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