in Minneapolis, Minnesota after completing high school. There, he played football, basketball and one year of baseball. Olson graduated in 1956 with double major in history and physical education and Olson was awarded the "Augsburg Honors Athlete Award," given annually to the top Augsburg male student-athlete. While at Augsburg, he and Bobbi were married on Thanksgiving, 1953. Reminiscing about winters in Minnesota, Olson said "Growing up, it was fine because I didn't know any better," Olson said. "People from North Dakota go south to Minneapolis for the winter." After graduating from Augsburg, Olson taught and coached high school basketball for 13 years. First in Minnesota at Mahnomen and Two Harbors, Minnesota for five years total. In 1961, Olson and Bobbi moved west, first to Boulder, Colorado, where Olson was a middle school guidance counselor. Then they moved to California where, in 1962–1963, Olson coached the freshman basketball team at Western High School in Anaheim. In 1963 Olson became the varsity coach at Loara High School, also in Anaheim. In 1964 he was hired as varsity head coach at Marina-Huntington Beach High School. Head coaching career Long Beach City College (1969–1973) In summer 1969, Olson became Head Coach at Long Beach City College. Olson took the position after desiring to coach in college and seizing the opportunity when Coach Rex Hughes left LBCC for the University of Nebraska. Olson was 35 years old with 5 children when making the career change from high school to college. As a high school teacher, Olson mentioned he had tired of mundane items such as hall monitoring and checking restrooms for smokers. Olson had also been working side jobs working for Wright Driving School and driving a gas truck for Texaco. Olson later said to the media of his move to LBCC, "I wanted a college job and at 35 I felt I couldn't wait much longer." Olson proved to be an immediate success at the college level, leading his Long Beach City College teams to a 103–22 record over four seasons and capturing the 1971 JC Championship. Of his tenure at Long Beach City College, Olson said, "I was perfectly content there, and had no plans to go anyplace, I loved it there. Del Walker, a great guy, was the athletic director, and I recall his telling me when he hired me that he wanted me to recruit players strictly from the Long Beach