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REMEMBERING COACH JERRY JOHNSON
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HON. STEVE COHEN
of tennessee
in the house of representatives
Thursday, January 28, 2021
Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Coach Jerry C. Johnson, the basketball coach and athletic director at the historically Black Lemoyne-Owen College, who coached the Magicians to Memphis' only NCAA Championship title in 1975 and died Sunday at the age of 102. Coach Johnson won 821 games over 46 seasons at LeMoyne-
Owen, where he also coached swimming and track and field, and taught health and physical education courses. Many of the students he coached and mentored went on to illustrious national recognition, including eight who became NBA players. Coach Johnson, who came to the college in 1958, was the first Black basketball coach to win a Division III national title and LeMoyne-Owen was the first Historically Black College and University to win that recognition. The LeMoyne-Owen Magicians remain the only men's college basketball program in Tennessee, and the only sports program in the city of Memphis, to win an NCAA championship. In my own interactions with Coach Johnson, I was always impressed with his quiet demeanor and self-effacing attitude, even though he was as much a star in the Memphis basketball world as anyone. Off the court, he was just a good man, caring about people in a quiet and compassionate manner, reaching out to help players, former players, and students without regard to their athletic ability or gender. He offered a helping hand and his heart reached so many. Known as strict but fair, Coach Johnson, an Oklahoma native, had an unusual connection to the game of basketball: he learned it from Hall of Famer John McClendon, the former Cleveland State coach who served as the first Black coach of a professional sports team, and McClendon learned the game from James Naismith, the inventor of the modem game of basketball. Coach Johnson was the focus of a newly released independent documentary, ``1st Forgotten Champions,'' which was directed by Memphian Morreco Coleman and covered the 1975 Division III NCAA championship. The documentary recently premiered in California, Nashville and Memphis. Johnson was a member of the Memphis Sports Hall of Fame, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, the Fayetteville State University Athletics Hall of Fame and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. I extend my profound condolences to his son, Jerry Jr.; his daughter, Wandra Haywood and her husband, Samuel, of Gainesville, Florida; his six grandchildren; and his seven great-grandchildren. Coach Johnson will be remembered as a gentle giant and a gentleman. He led an exemplary life.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 17
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