Nearly 25 years later, coach's legacy lives on

The Niles standout died in a tragic plane crash in January 1980.
By CHIP ALEXANDER
RALEIGH NEWS & amp; OBSERVER
Had Bo Rein lived, he would be 59. He might still be a college football coach. Who knows, he might even be coaching his alma mater Saturday against N.C. State, a team he once coached.
Such was his dream, his former wife said.
"Oh, God, yes," said Suzanne Klang, remarried and living in Portland, Ore. "That would have been the ultimate for Bo: coaching at Ohio State. I could see that happening, yes."
Rein was an All-Ohioan at Niles McKinley High before going to Ohio State, where he was a standout in football and baseball. He was a three-year starter at halfback for Ohio State, wearing No. 45 before Archie Griffin came along to win two Heisman trophies. He was the leading receiver as a sophomore and junior, and the Buckeyes' top rusher in 1966.
Rein was a shortstop and outfielder for the Buckeyes, who won the College World Series in 1966. He was drafted by both the Baltimore Colts and Cleveland Indians.
Injuries curtailed his playing careers, though, and when Lou Holtz, was putting together a staff at William & amp; Mary he hired Rein.
Rein was Holtz's offensive backfield coach for three years at N.C. State before becoming offensive coordinator at Arkansas in 1975, then returned to the Wolfpack the following season when Holtz became head coach of the New York Jets.
Rising star
At age 30, Rein became the nation's youngest major-college head coach when N.C. State hired him. In 1979, his fourth season at NCSU, he led the Wolfpack to the ACC championship -- the school's last football title.
He was considered a fast riser in the coaching profession. Soon after the 1979 season, Louisiana State hired him away from N.C. State, believing he could restore the Tigers' lost football luster.
"He had the four years experience as a head coach and was going to a good situation at LSU," said Wolfpack coach Chuck Amato, who was Rein's defensive coordinator at N.C. State.
But Rein wouldn't coach another game. At 34, he was killed in a bizarre plane crash strikingly similar to the one that claimed the life of golfer Payne Stewart in 1999, leaving behind a wife and two young daughters.
"Bo was a good, young, bright head coach," said Amato. "He was a coach with a lot of fire in him, one who related so well with the players."
How it happened
In January 1980, Rein took a recruiting trip to Shreveport, La. He was on a private plane back to Baton Rouge when the plane suddenly veered off course, climbing to 40,000 feet.
The twin-engine Cessna flew more than 1,000 miles in a northeasterly direction, passing over Raleigh. It ran out of gas and crashed into the Atlantic about 100 miles east of Norfolk, Va.
No wreckage was recovered. Neither were the bodies of Rein or his pilot. The National Safety Transportation Board later ruled that it could not determine a probable cause of the accident.
"We've always believed it was depressurization of the plane's cabin," Suzanne Klang said. "Maybe not as sudden as what happened to Payne Stewart's plane, but a more gradual depressurization where Bo and [the pilot] didn't know it was happening until it was too late.
"I want to believe Bo was asleep. No terror, no pain.
"I always thought Bo was about invincible," she said. "He always seemed to be such a lucky person, so optimistic things would turn out right, that nothing could harm him. Not at that age.
"But no one is invincible. Football and Bo's coaching was a big part of our lives, and his death was very hard for the girls, obviously. But you have to move on."
Chipping in
LSU also helped pay for the college educations of Kris and Linea Rein; both were given $10,000, Klang said. Kris graduated from the University of Washington and Linea from Oregon.
Kris lives in Portland. Her husband, a member of the Army Reserves, recently left for service in Iraq. Linea is a real estate agent in Boulder, Colo.
"It was all so tragic, what happened," said former Wolfpack center Jim Ritcher, who played for Rein. "Coach Rein had such a bright future in front of him."
The Pack finished 3-7-1 in Rein's first year. But State went 8-4 and 9-3 the next two years, then won the ACC title in 1979, going 5-1 in the league and 7-4 overall.
"Coach Rein was always upbeat, always motivating you, always with positive reinforcement," said David Horning, a former defensive end who is senior associate athletics director at NCSU.
Horning was stunned and saddened when Rein left for LSU. So was a teammate, Curtis Rein, Bo's younger brother and a receiver for the Pack.
"I really think Bo could have been a superstar in coaching," Horning said.