Scott Swanson
Larry Johnson’s favorite memory from his 19 years as athletic director at Sweet Home High School is from the Huskies’ 1987 state football championship.
But it’s not the game or the team victory celebration. It’s of watching then-player Dustin Nichol greet his father.
“Dustin and I were the last two on the field after the game,” Johnson recalled. “I remember how he spotted his dad, who was a quadriplegic, and how I watched him go over the fence that surrounded the field to greet his dad. It was absolutely unbelievable.”
Those are the kinds of memories Johnson, 66, treasures as, Saturday night, he was named a member of the Oregon Athletic Directors Hall of Fame in a ceremony held in Sunriver.
The other inductees this year were Dwayne Huddleston of Warrenton High School, Tom Jenkins of Marshfield High School, Pete Russo of West Linn and Wilsonville high schools, Jerry Westerholm of Seaside High School and the late Bill Foelker of Putnam High School.
Rob Younger, now associate director of the Oregon Coaches Association, coached football and other sports during Johnson’s administration at Sweet Home. He said Johnson has been in the running for the honor since the Hall of Fame was established in 2009.
“This is the fifth year of the Hall of Fame,” Younger said, noting that inductees include people who have served for decades, back to the 1940s and ’50s. “It’s fairly new. Not a lot of people have been honored. It’s amazing, seeing some of the people who have 40, 50 years of service.”
He said Johnson was singled out for “his tremendous service to the Sweet Home School District.
“What they try to do is look back at athletic directors who served their community and who were active contributors to the success of their athletic programs,” Younger said. “The bottom line is he’s one of the best of the best.”
Born in Eugene and raised in Springfield, where he graduated from Springfield High School in 1964, Johnson came to Sweet Home in 1971 as a junior high teacher and coach after serving in the Army and graduating from Southern Oregon State College earlier that year. He coached football and wrestling for the Tigers before moving to the high school in 1981, taking the athletic director job in 1985.
He served as athletic director until 2001, when he retired – for the first time.
“I retired four times,” said Johnson, who has returned to fill in as athletic director or in other administrative positions as needs arose. “I think I hold the record for that one. I don’t think anybody’s going to break that record. I think it’s pretty safe.”
As a retiree he’s served as a volunteer supervisor for the Oregon Jamboree and is a board member for the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District and the Sweet Home Alumni Foundation. He also enjoys refinishing antique furniture and is a frequent presence at sporting events, where he helps set up fields, run tournaments and help in other ways. He also volunteered for eight months in New Orleans during the rebuilding effort following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
He etched his name in local lore at last year’s Christmas Tree Auction for the Alumni Foundation when he offered to sell the pants he was wearing for $2,000, then got another $250 to put them back on.
“Anything for the kids,” he said.
Johnson said his main interest as an athletic director was to see young people succeed.
“When you see a kid performing at their hardest, even if they may not place in the top six, I get really excited,” he said. “I like to step into the swimming pool and watch a swim meet because it’s exciting when a kid is there and they are working so hard.”
He said he has always tried to be careful to respect his young charges.
“Whatever I did with a child, I always tried to preserve their dignity,” Johnson said. “I tried never to refer to them as kids – always as students. I worked at, and believed in, treating everybody with respect, even if I didn’t respect them. I treated them all one way.”
That extended to his own conduct.
“If I asked students to not swear, smoke or drink, I wasn’t going to do any of that,” he said.
Johnson said he is more interested in long-term successes than athletic accomplishments.
“Yes, it’s great to have championships, because you know those kids competed at their very best. But what I like is watching students from when they graduate, when I get to see them 20 years later as a parent or a young adult, and see their successes, that they’re doing a good job as a parent or a role model.
“It doesn’t matter the work they do. It’s irrelevant, actually.”
Younger said Johnson knew how to let coaches do their jobs, serving as a facilitator more than a director.
“His leadership style kind of reflects the kind of person he is,” Younger said. “He has integrity. He’s a man of character.
“The really positive thing with Larry was you knew he would listen to you and would have input, but ultimately he would make the best decision for the program. He was easy to work with because he would make you successful.”
Johnson said he couldn’t have done the job without support from his wife of 44 years, Candy, and two sons, Mark and Scott.
“When you put in the type of hours the way an athletic director should, they make sacrifices that are just very supportive of what you do. When you’re working three days a week from 7 in the morning to 10 at night, that’s a huge amount of time.”
He said it’s particularly important to him that he enjoyed the job – each time he returned.
“I’m proud of the fact that every time I left I loved what I was doing. I never said, ‘I can’t wait to get out of here.’”