Paul Johnson
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- Year:
- 2009
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- Sport:
- Tennis, Football
Paul Johnson became an assistant football coach and
men’s tennis coach at Itawamba Junior College in 1972.
The former head of ICC’s Physical Education
Department, Johnson has led the ICC men's team to 14 national
tournament appearances, including the last 12 years. His men have
either won or shared seven state championships and four Region
23 titles. In addition, Johnson has been named the MACJC
Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year seven times and has won the
MACJC Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year twice.
In the spring of 2009, his Indians finished
number 17 in the national tournament in Plano, Texas, where Coach
Johnson was inducted into the NJCAA Men’s Athletic Hall of
Fame. Before the 2008 NJCAA National Tournament, he received the
prestigious Herschel Stephens award, an annual national coaching
recognition for outstanding service and dedication to NJCAA tennis
which is voted on by the NJCAA Tennis Coaches
Association.
Coach Johnson was selected as the Mississippi Tennis Association
Coach of the Year for 2008. This award was based on Johnson’s
accomplishments during his first 33 years at ICC. He received his
United States Professional Tennis Association's Certificate in
1995.
Coach Johnson's Lady Indians were state and regional runners-up six times and have earned seven trips to the national event in Tucson, Ariz.