By Terra Avilla
As we enter a brand new year, I thought it was only fitting to write about a man who was instrumental in helping my family start a new beginning in Susanville long ago, when my husband first started working at Lassen Community College.
Glen Yonan, or “Coach Yo,” as he has been affectionately called for years, has not only made himself an individual who is a ‘must go to’ for advice, friendship and wisdom for my family, but has also been a mentor for thousands of students who have passed through LCC.
If you have not had the privilege of meeting Coach Yo, he is the Athletic Director for Lassen College, and prior to that, he spent years coaching their baseball and softball teams. Coach Yo and his beautiful family have been in Susanville for decades.
He always seems to know what to say, and always appears confident. Through my husband’s career, I have had the opportunity to watch how he conducts himself through his work.
Coach Yo is an innate leader, and I am thankful my husband has the opportunity to learn from him. What you see with Coach Yo, is definitely, what you get, and in the case for all of the athletes who have been lucky enough to meet him, you get a man with gruff on the outside, but a whole lot of heart on the inside.
In addition, if you know ‘Yo’ he is not going to like being in the spotlight this week for my article, but people like him: the doers, the movers and the shakers, who just show up and get stuff done, deserve every bit of praise we as a community can throw their way.
For years, Coach Yo has selflessly served our community by taking care, and I mean genuinely taking care, of the athletes at the college. He worries about them – if they are getting enough financial aid, if they are eating enough, if they are sleeping enough, if their grades are doing well. Coach Yo makes it apparent he cares about where they go after their time at Lassen College.
The saying, “he would give you the shirt of his back”, would definitely apply to Coach Yo.
We recently had an athletic department dinner where he gave a toast to all of the coaches and thanked them for their hard work. He is the type of leader who never takes the praise for the programs’ successes but would be the first to take accountably on any of the teams’ shortcomings.
I think what stands out the most to me about Coach Yo is he truly wants the athletic programs to help foster productive, successful people. Yes, they are athletes, but he wants them to make sure his coaches focus on the ‘student’ portion of being a student-athlete. Students that leave Lassen College go on to be successful people.
Over the years that I have known him, he will give me a hug, say something cantankerous and smile. He is perhaps one of the most ornery people that I know. Underneath that very thin layer of resoluteness is a man who collects money every year to donate to a family that may be struggling, helps organize a free ‘thank you’ breakfast for our county’s Veteran’s every year, who passes out bibles during worship from his church, and organizes a law enforcement appreciation dinner through the college annually.
When my husband first moved here, Coach Yo took him under his wing and provided an immeasurable amount of mentorship I do not think my family will ever be able to repay. Over the last years, Coach Yo’s sense of community, and servitude, as well as his huge heart, whether or not he wants me to point it out, is definitely one of the reasons, Lassen College is so unique, and one of the reasons why I love this place.
