Former Thousand Oaks Coach Howell Dead at 63

Joe Howell, former Thousand Oaks High football coach, died Friday morning at UCLA Medical Center, a family spokesman said. He was 63.

Rio Mesa Coach George Contreras, speaking on behalf of the family, said that Howell had recently suffered from hepatitis caused by a blood transfusion.

An autopsy is scheduled to determine the cause of death.

Howell coached at Thousand Oaks from 1968-76 and won Marmonte League championships in ‘72, ‘73, ’74 and ’76 while posting a 52-35-1 record.

“Joe was integrity,” said current Thousand Oaks Coach Bob Richards, who served as an assistant under Howell. “I just wish that more coaches had his perspective of what high school football should be. If they did, we’d have a much-healthier high school situation.”

Several who coached or played under Howell went on to become coaches, including Richards, Contreras and Moorpark College assistant Dave Murphy.

Howell, who graduated from Central State University in Edmund, Okla., in 1954, coached seven years in the Midwest before moving to Ventura County in 1961.

He served as an assistant coach at Oxnard High for six seasons before being named coach at Thousand Oaks, where he worked to improve not only his own program but football throughout the county. He co-founded the Ventura County Football Coaches Assn. in 1973, initiated the Ventura County All-Star Game and served on the board of directors of the Southern California Interscholastic Football Coaches Assn.

In 1970, Thousand Oaks was among the first in the county to install lights to boost attendance, Contreras said.

“He was an extremely important figure in Ventura County football,” Contreras said.

Howell continued to teach at Thousand Oaks until his retirement in 1985. Since then, he had worked as a cabinetmaker.

Services will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the Pierce Brothers Mortuary in Thousand Oaks. Howell is survived by his wife Nadine, son Jody and daughter Julie.