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BORN
1929
DIED
2016
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Victor Rapp Obituary
Victor Max Rapp of Orange City, Florida, was born on December 23, 1929. He departed this life on October 24, 2016. He was the son of Earl and Iva Rapp of Marionville, Missouri.
Vic graduated from Greenwood High School in Springfield, Missouri in 1947, and married Carol Lu Irby on July 14, 1951, in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
Not many people get to live their lives doing what they love, but Vic did. His life's passion was football. After attending SMSU and receiving a degree at the University of Arkansas, he coached high school teams in Missouri, obtained a graduate degree and coached at the University of Arizona, and then was hired as assistant coach at Mizzou under Dan Devine. After leaving Mizzou, he moved to the Canadian Football League, and was with the Edmonton Eskimos, going to The Grey Cup four times, and winning it in 1975. He was then head coach for the British Columbia Lions until 1982, where he won coach of the year, and was also inducted into The Wall of Fame. After BC, he headed to the NFL and coached with the L.A. Rams, Houston Oilers, Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay, Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals, and Philadelphia Eagles. He also coached in Germany. Vic and Carol had an interesting life and had many friends in the football community. On retirement they moved to DeBary, Florida.
Vic was a devoted Christian and met his wife at a District Methodist Youth Fellowship meeting. He belonged to the Community United Methodist Church in DeBary, Florida.
Vic was preceded in death by his wife Carol, his parents, a sister, Virginia Smith, three brothers-in-law, Eddie Gold, Don Bassore, Gene Smith, and nephew David Bassore.
He is survived by his three daughters, Marla (Scott) Rivera, Paula (Peter) Learn and Rhonda (Bill) Olafson, along with six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister, Betty Bassore of Marionville, Missouri; two sisters-in-law, Gloria Gold, and Linda (Tom) Rauch of Aurora, and numerous nieces and nephews.
A funeral service for Vic will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 1, 2016, at the Aurora United Methodist Church, with burial to follow at the Maple Park Cemetery in Aurora, Missouri, under the direction of the Crafton Cantrell Funeral Home of Aurora.
Online condolence may be shared at www.CraftonCantrellFuneralHome.com.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Victor Rapp
Sponsored by Crafton-Cantrell Funeral Home.
3 Entries
Gary Gallardo
January 5, 2017
Rest in Peace Coach!
Vernon Reed
November 5, 2016
When we were in grade school in Marionville, MO my 4 brothers and I often played football in our yard at 601 South Chicago. Victor Rapp often joined us and indeed he came to our house with ball in hand ready to play, promoting a game with the neighborhood boys. While the rest of us wore jeans or overalls, Vic was always prepared with his cleated football shoes, shoulder pads, hip pads, knee pads, jersey and helmet! All this before he was in high school! So it was no surprise to me that he made a career of the game. I was always interested to see how his pro teams did.
I am glad he was able to spend his life having fun playing the game that meant so much to him.
I, myself, loved football, too. I play all 4 years at Monett High School from 1949 to 1952. My final year, our Cubs came within 4 minutes of being undefeated. I owe a lot of that love for the game to those games with Victor when I was in grade school.
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