The Life of a Silent Hero

When we think of college basketball’s esteemed 800-win club, Mike Krzyzewski, Dean Smith and Bob Knight are likely among the first coaches who come to mind.

Another member we’re less likely to identify but is equally as important is Coach Jerry C. Johnson. For 46 years, Coach Johnson led the men’s basketball team at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, winning 821 games and guiding the program to the 1975 Division III national championship.

Johnson died this past weekend. He was 102 years old.

Johnson was the first Black basketball coach to win a Division III national championship, and his team remains the only men’s basketball program in the state of Tennessee to win a national title, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

In leadership, it’s often said that the best leaders are the ones who produce future leaders.

Johnson coached or mentored eight future NBA players. He also coached a future Memphis mayor, a future city councilman and seven other future college coaches, all while also serving as LeMoyne-Owen’s athletic director, track-and-field coach and swim coach, according to the Commercial Appeal.

He achieved excellence in relative obscurity and led the life of a silent hero.

“It was an honor to be in your presence coach,” Memphis Tigers Coach Penny Hardaway posted on Instagram on Sunday. “The knowledge that you passed along will always be with me.”

“A gentleman who truly cared about the game and the kids,” former Memphis Coach John Calipari tweeted.

Johnson is 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, according to the Commercial Appeal.

While he may not have accumulated his wins on ESPN or in state-of-the-art arenas in front of capacity crowds, he transformed hundreds if not thousands of lives in his many decades in athletics.

The state of Tennessee lost a giant, the city of Memphis a pillar of the community and the coaching world an underappreciated legend.

The next time the college basketball royalty discussion arises and the common names are tossed around, let’s also remember Coach Jerry C. Johnson and introduce his legacy to someone else.

May he rest in peace.

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