The Alumnae of LeMoyne-Owen College will celebrate the College’s legendary Head Basketball Coach Jerry C. Johnson’s 92nd birthday. The event will be a weekend of fun and learning on Friday and Saturday, June 18 and 19, 2010. A Golf Scramble will take place on June 18th at the Tunica National Golf Course from 1:00 P.M. – 6:00 P.M. and a Coaches Clinic will be conducted on June 19th from 9:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M. at the Harrah’s Casino Convention Center (Ballroom A). The Celebration Dinner held that at 6:00 P.M. that evening at the Holiday Inn Express on Democrat Road at Airways Boulevard. Complete event scheduling and pricing is available at www.loc.edu. Proceeds from this event will fund the Magician’s Club which provides scholarships for the College’s athletes.
Coach Johnson retired from The College’s basketball program in 2005 after more than 46 seasons. When he was 86 years of age, he ranked first among active NCAA Division II coaches with 818 victories in 45 seasons. He has lost just 400 games in that time, and is the second winningest coach in Division II NCAA history behind another legend Clarence “Big House” Gaines.
Coach Johnson spent his entire career at LeMoyne-Owen College and coached more than 1,000 basketball games. Over his illustrious career, Coach Johnson has to his credit the 2000 SIAC Division II Championship, the 1975 NCAA Division III Championship, four titles in the now defunct Volunteer State Athletic Conference, and four SIAC Division III crowns. A legend in his own right, he is a native of Oklahoma, who was an All-American split end as well as an all SWAC basketball guard at Wiley College before earning his undergraduate degree from Fayetteville State University.
Johnson has also been active in community service having served as a member of the Shriner’s, and as a 33-degree Mason. He was a National Evaluator for the NCAA Sports Program, served on the Memphis Sports Authority, the Tennessee Governor’s Advisory Council for Children with Disabilities, was a Project Administrator for Orthopedically Handicapped Programs, and works with the YMCA and the Boys Club of Memphis. He directed the National Youth Sports Program (NYSP) for more than twenty years.
Coach Johnson has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career. Among these awards are: Inductee into the SIAC Hall of Fame; Ninth Winningest Coach in NCAA Basketball History; Vanguard Club Achievement Award; 100% Wrong Club of Georgia’s Coach of the Year; Tennessee State Legislatures’ Award for Coaching; Outstanding Faculty Member; Kodak Coach of the Year; Amateur Athletic Union; Vanguard Club Coach of the Year; Fayetteville Hall of Fame Inductee; Black College Legend Award; John Thompson-Martin Luther King, Jr. Classic Coaches Award presented by the Black Coaches Association; twice named SIAC Basketball Coach of the Year; Memphis City Council Citation, and “Simply the Best” presented by the Memphis Black Business Association along with a host of other accolades.
The young men who excelled in their chosen professions after leaving his programs have enriched Johnson’s career. Among them include eight NBA draftees, four high school and junior high school coaches, seven college-level coaches, four principals in the Memphis school system, three top-level business professionals, a city councilman, and the Mayor of Memphis.
This celebration weekend will recognize Coach Jerry Johnson’s many years of service and honor his 92nd birthday, and alumnae from all over the nation are joining in to honor Coach Johnson