Former Long Beach State Athletics Director Dave O’Brien died Saturday, losing a battle with cancer at the age of 57.
O’Brien, served as athletics director from 1991-1996. During his time at the helm, the men’s basketball team made two NCAA tournament appearances, the baseball team made two College Word Series appearances, the softball team made three trips to the College World Series, and the women’s volleyball team won two national championships, in 1991 and 1993.
Women’s volleyball head coach Brian Gimmillaro, who led the team to three straight Final Four appearances during O’Brien’s tenure, said O’Brien was a likeable, trusted man.
“He was a great guy to work for, and it’s truly a loss,” Gimmillaro said. “He was trusted by everyone throughout the school from the highest in administration to the athletics department staff … for me personally, he was a great colleague and a wonderful man.”
Perhaps O’Brien’s most impactful contribution to LBSU was his supervision of the construction and opening of The Pyramid, which broke ground in 1992 and opened its doors in 1994. The building has since been renamed the Walter Pyramid and has undergone several upgrades, but it remains the home of LBSU’s basketball and volleyball teams.
“That was a very difficult time because even though we were constructing the Pyramid, the national economy and the state economy weren’t good,” Gimmillaro said. “Because [O’Brien] was trusted, he was able to get miracle things done…we were lucky to have him.”
O’Brien left LBSU in 1996 for Temple, where he was athletics director until 2002. He saw similar success there, as the men’s basketball team made the NCAA tournament in five of his six years there and advanced to the Elite Eight twice.
O’Brien then took over as athletics director at Northeastern in 2002. He oversaw a move from the America East Conference to the Colonial Athletics Association during his tenure, which ended in 2007.
Services for O’Brien will be held in Pennsylvania according to LBSU Athletics.