Bob Levada, who taught and coached in Susanville schools for more than three decades, including 25-years at Lassen High, will be honored Friday evening when the high school’s Pacific Street gym is named in his memory.
Levada was a teacher and football and basketball coach at Lassen High until his retirement in 1984, also serving as the school’s Athletic Director and mentor to many young coaches.
He was instrumental in organizing the Lassen Invitational Tournament, a huge basketball event drawing teams from all over northern California and Nevada.
His JV basketball teams won the the LIT in 1961, ’62, ’64, ’68, ’80 and ’81.
Levada served many roles, often sweeping the court at halftime and even driving a bus if needed. Many of the closets and storage spaces in the big gym are of his design and construction.
He and his wife Mary were known to take in players who needed a place to stay or provide a hot meal when they were hungry.
It was while playing football for Lassen Community College, that Levada met his sweetheart Mary Pellizer. They were married on June 11th, 1950 and raised two beautiful daughters Ann and Michelle.
Ann and her husband David Trussell added two grandsons, Matt and Jake, to the family. Jake Trussell preceded his grandfather in death in 1999.
After his retirement, he continued to assist with coaching duties, maintain the basketball court, and make repairs to the gym until the early 2,000s. He rarely missed an athletic event unless he was out of town.
Levada was known as a man of integrity and character who touched the lives of hundreds of student athletes. His greatest accomplishment was to teach valuable life skills: respect for others and themselves, kindness, and compassion, and being part of a team, which required reliability and sacrifice. Much of this he did by example, just by being “Coach”.
The dedication will be held Friday evening in the gym between the JV and Varsity games, about 7:00.