Stillwater Area High School Head Football Coach Beau LaBore was appointed 2nd Vice President by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association for the 2018 season. In effect, LaBore will become Vice President in 2019 and then serve as the President of the statewide association in 2020.

“The opportunity to serve coaches and football in Minnesota is a great honor,” said LaBore. “It was humbling to be nominated and appointed.”

Coach LaBore, who has coached 17 years at the varsity level, started his head coaching career at Woodbury High school in 2005. He began serving the MFCA in 2007 as a conference representative and has held that position since. “The previous coach was angling for someone else to take it,” LaBore said. “Wanting to serve and give myself a stronger sense of how ‘things’ work I stepped in. I cannot imagine not serving as a rep.”

In 2009, LaBore became the first chair of the Community Service Award which recognizes outstanding team contributions to communities and the world, which help develop young men beyond the game of football. The position is a good fit for the Ponies coach, who has woven community service into the Stillwater program. Since becoming the Ponies head coach in 2011, the program has served no less than 1,500 hours of service annually in a multitude of areas, including: Special Olympics, adaptive football, meal preparation, food drives, nursing home visits, youth football, and more. For specific information on these efforts, visit: Ponies Football Service. 

“We promote that ‘giving is receiving,’” said LaBore. “High school athletics should go far beyond the game, Xs and Os, or wins and losses. We hope that a desire to serve others takes hold before they play their last down for us.”

In 2012, former MFCA President Dave Nelson of Minnetonka, promoted an idea that the state coaches work together to make an impact beyond the gridiron. The idea became Tackle Cancer. Coach LaBore has served on that MFCA board since, alongside former MFCA presidents Jeff Ferguson of Totino Grace and Jon Bakken of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown. The board works closely with the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund, which receives all the funds raised. This statewide effort has raised almost $1.4 million in six years for cancer research and patient aid in Minnesota.

The role of 2nd Vice President will not change much for LaBore, who already attends all MFCA Executive Director’s meetings, until 2019 when he runs the Rep Assembly meetings and conducts a President’s project. “I have a few ideas in mind,” LaBore hinted of his project. “The projects are important because the hope is they make an impact on our game, coaches, and participants going forward.”

The MFCA promotes itself as “The Keepers of the Game” overseeing high school football in our state for coaches and players. Former Ponies Head Coach and Hall of Famer George Thole served as MFCA President in 1995-1996. For more information: MFCA.