Sweet Home High School staff bid retiring Assistant Principal Larry Johnson good-bye Thursday night in the only way that seemed appropriate for the type of guy who thinks it’s funny to give his co-workers dead flowers on special occasions.
While recognizing and honoring Johnson for his integrity and work, high school staff pulled no punches when it came to giving him a hard time at the roast. The staff also honored retiring English teacher Sharon Gilbert who was not present.
Supt. Bill Hampton, also retiring, was present and recognized.
Football and softball Coach Rob Younger and wrestling Coach Steve Thorpe emceed.
Johnson is a 1964 graduate of Springfield High School. He graduated from Southern Oregon College in 1971. He received his master’s degree from Lewis and Clark College in 1975. He received his administration license in 1979.
Johnson has been with School District 55 for 31 years. He was a teacher, coach and vice principal at Sweet Home Junior High and assistant principal and athletic director at Sweet Home High School.
He was 3A athletic director of the year in 1998 and in 2002. He was the first assistant principal and athletic director to be a delegate assembly representative at the 3A level.
He has worked hard on raising funds, raising an average of $10,000 per year.
“He has been a role model and a mentor for many of us here at the high school,” Principal Pat Stineff said. “He will be missed by us all.”
“We got you the throne you deserve,” Younger told Johnson, asking him to come to the front of the room and sit on a commode brought out for the occasion.
“When they started, I was three,” Thorpe said. “Do the math. That means these guys are very old.”
With retirement looming, Thorpe said many of the staff have become familiar with a sign saying, “Mr. Johnson will not be in today.”
He has been “for some, a diamond,” Thorpe said. “For others a cubic zirconium.”
Basketball Coach Mark Risen, a five-year student of Larry Johnson’s Camp for Coaches, wearing boxers and goofy grin demonstrated the extreme class represented by Johnson’s academy.
Risen described what it was like coaching with Johnson, sharing stories and pointing up Johnson’s addiction to Coca Cola. He recalled how Johnson enjoys sharing quotes from other people.
“If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn’t thinking” by General Patton was one he tossed Risen’s way; and he was always talking about how Frosty did this, did that, said something or believed this or that.
“I kept waiting for something from Santa or Rudolph,” Risen said.
When talking to Johnson about a problem, “he won’t move until he listens to every word we say, getting you to think he’s hanging on every word your saying,” Risen said. “It all changes when you’re done.”
Johnson crosses his legs the other way, tilts his head slightly, and “you know he’ll tell you something he thinks you need to know,” Risen said. “You get down the hall, just about to your classroom and think he’s done it again — He made you take ownership of the problem,” that its the individual’s problem to solve.
He loves to share books, such as “Make the Big Time Where You’re At,” Risen said. Coaches around the room recognized the title.
Johnson also taught that every player was important from every background, Risen said. He’d say, “it’s not what you began with, Mark. It’s what you finish with that matters.”
Risen shared photos from Johnson’s high school career as a basketball player, ending eventually with Johnson at a microphone in a skirt, showing how far people can come in Johnson’s academy.
“The best thing about that is Sean was taking pictures,” Thorpe said of Risen’s presentation. “It’s going to be in the paper.”
On a more serious note, Risen said he was able to answer a question Johnson once asked him — What would it take to keep him in Sweet Home?
Risen said he, Thorpe and others have had offers from other schools, but they stay.
“It’s the environment that keeps me here … because of the environment he’s helped create in this athletic department,” Risen said. To Johnson and his wife, “I salute both of you and thank both of you for what you’ve done for us.”
Risen was followed by coaches and teachers, sharing memories, funny, embarrassing and meaningful.
Baseball Coach Dan Tow brought out a parade of some of the horrifying uniforms worn by players and coaches over the years. It didn’t stop there as Tow explained the hideous vest he was wearing.
“This vest is something Larry naturally wore to work this year,” Tow said. “Candy (Johnson’s wife), I apologize. I just went to your house and took them.”
He also noted the amazing support of Johnson when he had a conflict with a parent early in his coaching career.
“That night, Larry Johnson and Candy came over just to make sure that I was okay, that I wasn’t upset,” Tow said. “I always appreciated that, Larry.”
“When Norm (Davis, former wrestling coach) died,” Jennifer Davis, his daughter-in-law, said. “I was in Chicago, and I was feeling awful for not being here. He (Johnson) knew. He called me in Chicago and said, ‘I know what you’re thinking.'”
He told her it was all right, that he had a similar story to share, Davis said. That helped her through her own problems during that time.
Nancy Ellis, filling in for her husband, thanked Johnson for heading Central High School off with an offer to baseball Coach Lynn Ellis to come to Sweet Home. She had wanted to go to Central, but in retrospect, she is glad her family ended up in Sweet Home.
“He’s (Mr. Ellis) appreciated your humor over the years, but I’ve never understood it,” Mrs. Ellis said.
Rachel Kittson Mokatish, who is working on her law degree at Willamette, explained how Johnson had taken her in when she was pregnant as a senior in high school.
Like the furniture that Johnson works on in his spare time, she had rough edges with “potential that a lot of people couldn’t see,” she said. “His invitation into his family has made a world of difference.”
She thanked Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and their children, Scott and Mark for their kindness.
Sherman Weld told the crowd that their gifts, mostly gag gifts, would certainly end up being gifts for Johnson’s family come Christmas time, saving him the trouble of shopping.
Mrs. Johnson said Mr. Johnson never gets rid of anything, referring particularly to clothing. He hangs onto it until it comes back into style. As a result, he has 22 years worth of loud ties in boxes. She presented him with a quilt, miniature shirts and ties, made from those ties and old shirts.
Jokes, thanks and sentiments flurried about the room throughout the evening, Johnson eventually being allowed to share his own with those present.
“Thanks to each of you for being here,” Johnson said to the high school staff. “My job is easier because I surround myself with quality people who put kids first.”
Not to ride Sentimental Street too far, Johnson passed out gifts of his own to the staff, ranging from copies complaints against coaches to the “pain in the…” trophy he gave Risen and an Oregon Pac 10 championship hat he gave to Vice Principal Steve Fletcher.