Huron Expositor, 2002-06-12, Page 7v
S -THE HURON EXPOSITOR, June 20, 2001
News
Golden Bears gather to celebrate Terry Johnston's career
By Susan Hundertmork
Expositor Staff
From his famous mule kick
that could send the bench
flying out from under his
basketball team to his words
of support during crucial
moments of the game, Terry
Johnston's 31 years as
Seaforth District High
School phys. ed. teacher
were remembered Saturday
by the former players who
returned to spend one more
afternoon on the basketball
court.
"Terry's mellowed over the
years but he used to have a
big temper. Once he kicked
the bench so hard during a
game that all the
players fell off,"
laughs 1980
SDHS graduate
John Neilsen .
Sweat flies,
bodies collide
and the
basketball soars
through the gym
as SDHS
Golden Bear
players from
the 1970s, 80s
and 90s race
past the bench
where Neilsen
shares his
memories while
taking a breather
from the game.
He was one of
close to 500
former students
who returned to
1980s whcn'it won seven
WOSSA (Western Ontario)
championships.
John was on the team in
1980 when SDHS beat
Stratford Central Secondary
School to win the Huron -
Perth conference for the first
time ever.
"He was as intense a coach
as we were players but it was
always a positive intense.
Everyone else thought he
was crazy but we knew
where he was coming from,"
says Dennis.
John also credit. Johnston
with supporting him towards
his triumphs as a shot putter.
Neilsen held the Canadian
high school record for shot
putting until
1998 and
still holds
Quoted
'He was as
intense a coach
as we were
players.
Everyone
thought he was
crazy but we
knew where he
was coming
from,' --
former SDHS student
Dennis Neilsen
SDHS to celebrate
Johnston's retirement and
participate in a family fun
day with sporting events and
an evening dance.
"Terry used to wear this
brown cordoroy jacket he'd
take off and jump on with
both feet," adds John's
younger brother Dennis, who
was one of the players on the
flying bench. "I remember a
pink carnation in the lapel
being just crushed during one
game."
The four Neilsen brothers,
also includin tkly:" and
Tony, were osa:Jkthnston's
basketball team during the
t h e
Canadian
junior (19
and under)
record at
1 7 . 5 5
metres.
"For three
years, he
took me to
the big track
meets in
Mansfield,
Ohio where
all the U.S.
university
scouts go,"
he says.
The
Neilsens say
Johnston,
who's attended all of their
weddings, has maintained
friendships with many of his
former students.
"He's become a close
friend of our family. I had a
surprise party for my 40th
birthday recently and Terry
was there," says John.
Jim Nigh, who graduated
in 1976, says that along with
Johnston's intensity came a
great understanding of
human nature. He says he
learned from Johnston how
to perform his best under
adversity.
"He knew when to push
people and when to let nature
Terry Johnston talks to former student Jim Nigh at
retirement party at Seaforth District High School Saturday.
take its course," says Nigh.
He remembers a crucial
free throw during a
basketball game Johnston set
up between members of the
professional London Lords
football team and the SDHS
boys team. After Nigh
missed the first of two shots,
Johnston yelled, "Jimmy,
we'll take one."
"And, suddenly I had the
confidence I couldn't have
created for myself. He said
the right thing and I dropped
in the winning shot. I think
about that moment
sometimes because it
reminds me what I'm capable
of in a crisis," says Nigh.
When Nigh didn't have the
marks to get into university,
Johnston took him to a
tournament where a
university scout from New
Brunswick offered him a
scholarship. And, Nigh says
Johnston's influence also got
him a teaching job in
Amherstburg, when he first
graduated from teacher's
college.
"He's been like an older
his
brother to me and I'll never
find the words to express my
thanks," he says.
Dan Maloney, who
graduated in 1975,
remembers that Johnston
gave up a lot of his free time
for students athletes, taking
them to tournaments and
track meets.
Early one Saturday
morning on the way to a
track meet in London, a half -
asleep Maloney watched an
airplane out the window of
Johnston's speeding car.
When Johnston was pulled
over for speeding, Maloney
volunteered that the airplane,
which he hadn't realized was
a police patrol tracking cars
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Susan Hundertmork photo
John Neilsen, class of 1980, shoots at the net during a game of men's basketball Saturday
afternoon, when former Seaforth District High School athletes returned for a family fun day to
celebrate the retirement of their coach and teacher Terry Johnston.
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with radar. had been
following them for some
time.
"1 got speeding tickets
going to that meet• two years
in a row, almost to the day. 1
remember the second year
Dan saying, 'Mr. Johnston -
that plane's up there again,'"
laughs Johnston.
Debbie Pratt, who was
Miss Dawson during her
years teaching phys. ed in
Seaforth from 1980-83, says
among her good memories of
SDHS are the times Johnston
would call up to her in the
stands and ask her to take
over when he'd been kicked
out of a boys' basketball
game on a technical foul.
"Terry'd get
kicked out of a
game two or
three times a
year for kicking
a bench or
throwing a chair
and I'd always
be here waiting
to coach the
girls' team after
the boys were
through," she
says.
Johnston
spends the
u‘ cr the years.
"I could not sit down and
he quiet during a game but
eventually 1 learned that
there are some kids you can
yell at who will than exceed
your expectations and some
kids who will then get frozen
and tight."
"Everyone kept saying I
was going to have a heart
attack but when the game
was over, it was over. The
officials said they enjoyed
my competitiveness and gave
me technical fouls when 1
deserved it," he says.
And, as he watches his
former students race up and
down the basketball oourt, he
says the fact these men and
women are
still playing
is one of the
Quoted
'He knew when
to push people
and when to let
nature take its
course,' --
former SDHS student
Jin Nigh
afternoon Saturday standing
at the sidelines of the game,
chatting with former students
and calling out comments to
the passing players.
He laughs about the sports
jackets he stopped wearing to
games because he ripped out
the shoulder and arm seams
too many times and the
flying benches he's kicked
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things that
pleases him
most about
his teaching
career.
."There's a
15 to 18 -
year age
difference
between
some of
those
players and yet they come
out and play. About 80 per
cent of my former students
are still playing somewhere
in a rec league. Along the
way, they picked up the love
of the game," he says.
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