Before he was ‘Big Red,’ Andy Reid lived the big life with his friends in L.A.

Andy Reid’s childhood friends from his time growing up in Los Angeles share old stories about the Kansas City Chiefs coach. Andy Reid’s old friends talk about growing up with him in L.A. Ted Pallas has an autograph from Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid, a sort of signature he takes everywhere he goes. “It was my brother’s, a hand-me-down, so that car was beat to snot,” said Reid, whose Chiefs will play Tampa Bay on Sunday in Super Bowl LV. “It helps you stay grounded throughout the rest of your life, at least to this point it has.” Participating in a Times videoconference about Reid were childhood friends Bruno, Pallas, Bruce Backley, Scott Lee, Greg Togneri, Tracy Lamonica and Mark LaBonge — a younger brother of former L.A. City Councilman Tom LaBonge, who died unexpectedly of unknown causes Jan. 7 and was a close friend of Reid’s. “At halftime, if it was a close game — I don’t know if he still uses this — he’d yell out, ‘We need to open a can of whup-ass!’ ” Reid, who wears shorts in Kansas City even on bitter-cold days, is a Southern Californian at heart, especially when he comes home for a visit — from his flip-flops, to his untucked Tommy Bahama shirts, to his penchant for Tommy’s burgers.