Larry Houston; Athletic Coach, Olympic Official

Larry Houston, 91, a Los Angeles high school teacher, coach and recreation program director who was an amateur athletics official. A graduate of UCLA, Houston taught in Los Angeles schools, where he launched a program rotating portable swimming pools to elementary school playgrounds so that children could be taught to swim. He was also instrumental in having low-impact playground surfaces installed throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District. In 1989, Houston was inducted into the Amateur Athletic Union’s Hall of Fame for his 62 years of volunteer service. Over the years, he served as member, officer and chairman of the AAU’s district and national track and field committees. He was also president and secretary of the Southern Pacific AAU. Houston began working with the Olympics for the first Los Angeles Games in 1932. As a member and officer of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games, he also helped return the Games to the city in 1984. He was assistant manager of the U.S. Olympic men’s track and field team in 1952 and head manager in 1956. On Monday in Woodland Hills.