Larry Iriondo was confined to a wheelchair but never defined by it.

The Boise man was known for his love of all sports and prolific baseball talk (The Yankees were his team). He died on June 19. He was 54.

Iriondo was paralyzed from the chest down in 1974 in a car accident. His zeal for life, and sports, helped him and others flourish, friends said.

Iriondo, came to be known as “Coach” after a July 1980 full-page article and photo gallery in the Idaho Statesman detailing his exploits leading the Phipps-Schlitz baseball team in Boise.

“I realize it’s not my job to play,” Iriondo told the Idaho Statesman in 1980. “It’s something you realize after the accident. My job is to keep these guys organized and win.”

Tony Hodges came to know Iriondo back in the 1970s. Hodges played basketball for Boise State University, and several players lived in a house across the street from the Iriondo clan. The family adopted the team and made the players feel at home, Hodges said.

Larry remained a friend over the last 40 years, Hodges said.

“He was always there for support for the ballplayers; he was the sixth man,” Hodges said. “He was the type of guy who earned the title coach.”

In 2002, Hodges and his former teammates had a reunion for their coach’s 70th birthday.

“The first thing we wanted to do was go visit Larry, so we piled in a couple of vehicles and went to visit for a couple of hours,” Hodges said.

Greg Turney played on that Phipps-Schlitz team, along with Iriondo’s brother, Joe Iriondo. Life-long friends with both brothers, Turney said he’d lost touch with the family in recent years.

“Larry was a very inspirational person to anybody who was around him,“ said Turney, who runs a landscape business in Boise. “He never let his handicap get in his way of achieving what he wanted to do.”

Joe Iriondo just remembers his brother as a man who was passionate about everything in his life, including sports, politics and food.

“He was a very likable individual. His smile was his shining star,” Joe Iriondo said. “He treated people with respect and it was given back to him.”

For example, Joe Iriondo’s son had given him a “Yankee haters” cap in Boston Red Sox colors, which he sported during a visit to his brother’s home. The passionate Yankees fan didn’t lose his cool. In fact, he liked the hat, Joe Iriondo said.

“That was just his perception of sports and competition,” he said. “He didn’t despise it, he didn’t hate it. He was a better man.”

Uncle Phillip Iriondo said his nephew was loved by his friends, many from back in the 1970s when he was a student at Boise High School.

“It is just amazing what he could do,” Phillip Iriondo said. “He went to ball games and he liked sports. He was very active.”

Larry Iriondo lived with his father, Ladio Iriondo, his uncle said. Ladio died in January 2010. His mother, Felisa Iriondo, died in the mid-1980s.

“I never saw him in a bad mood at any given time,” Turney said. “He always had a smile on his face, and he was a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of guy.

“He’s an individual you won’t forget if you knew him,” Turney said. “I miss him. I’ll never forget him.”

It is telling, Hodges said, that he couldn’t remember how Iriondo had ended up in a wheelchair. He wasn’t sickly or homebound, Hodges said. He recently came across his friend in the middle of Ann Morrison Park.

“I was really sad that Larry passed,” Hodges said. “On the other hand, I am really happy I had him in my life for four decades.”

Iriondo died after a short illness, friends said. He went quietly, watching a Yankee’s game, his brother nearby.

“I’ve learned a lot about coaching,” Iriondo said in 1980. “But more important, I’ve learned a lot about people. It’s always fun knowing that you’re making some good friends.”

Kathleen Kreller: 377-6418

In Remembrance is a bi-weekly profile on a local resident who has recently passed away. To recommend a friend or loved one, email newsroom@idahostatesman.com.