Lynn Dwight Cain (born October 16, 1955) is a Head Football Coach and retired

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

College career

After winning All Eastern League Defensive Back with the Roosevelt Roughriders in High School, Cain goes to

East Los Angeles College East Los Angeles College (ELAC) is a public community college in Monterey Park, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and the Los Angeles Community College District. With fourteen communitie ...

who'd just finished with a 1-9 season record. Cain finished with ELAC celebrating their first California Community College State 1974 Championship season with a 9-1 record, named the California Community College Player of the Year, Southern Conference MVP and the D1 most sought after Junior College Player with Conference Rushing Record of 1666 yards / 19 TD's. Cain played college football at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

after transferring from

. Lynn Cain was starting fullback for 1978 USC Trojans, who won the National Title that year. Sharing the

backfield The offensive backfield is the area of an American football field behind the line of scrimmage. The offensive backfield can also refer to members of offense who begin plays behind the line, typically including any backs on the field, such as the ...

with Lynn was Heisman Trophy winner Charles White.

Professional career

Cain played for the National Football League's Atlanta Falcons from 1979 to 1984 and for the Los Angeles Rams in 1985. He was drafted in the fourth round of the

1979 NFL Draft The 1979 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1979, at the Waldorf Astori ...

. He managed to have his best year in the NFL in his second season, 1980, rushing for over 900 yards and 8 touchdowns. Lynn wore #21 for the Falcons, and took the Falcons to the 1980 NFC Divisional Playoff Game (The

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

defeated the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

20-7 in the NFC Championship), along with William Andrews and Steve Bartkowski.

Coaching career

Cain's experience in many facets of coaching football, after his professional football career, he was hired as the Head Football Coach in December 2007, for ELAC's Huskies. As the head coach for his junior college alma mater,

, he brought back the tradition of winning and community pride. He coached at ELAC through the 2011 football season. That year they won their division's Championship. The last time East Los Angeles had won a championship was when Cain was the MVP player on the same field at

Weingart Stadium Weingart Stadium (formerly East Los Angeles College Stadium or ELAC Stadium) is a 22,355-capacity multi-purpose stadium located at East Los Angeles College, in Monterey Park, California. It was built in 1951 at a cost of $3.1 million, and followin ...

(37 years prior). After a call from the community, he is currently revitalizing the

Los Angeles Southwest College Los Angeles Southwest College (LASC) is a public community college in the unincorporated area of West Athens, California in Los Angeles County, California. It is part of the Los Angeles Community College District and its service area includes In ...

football team, after the global pandemic.

Personal life

Cain is the uncle of

The Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie, who replaced Kim Hi ...

rapper/singer/producer,

will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas. ...

. Lynn talked about the search for his missing father, Rogest Cain, on a 1988 episode of ''

Unsolved Mysteries ''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Ka ...

''. He is married to Lisa Gordon Cain, a humanitarian, and they have three children together - son Lynell Cain and daughters Desiree Jacobs and Ariyana Bragge. The couple also have five grandchildren - Angelyne, Damon and Raven Cain, and David and Dawson Jacobs and Koa Bragge.,

References

1955 births Living people Players of American football from Los Angeles American football running backs USC Trojans football players Atlanta Falcons players Los Angeles Rams players East Los Angeles Huskies football players {{runningback-1950s-stub