Former Players Remember Late Boag Johnson

Legendary former player and coach David "Boag" Johnson died Monday afternoon at the Cleveland Heart Clinic in Ohio after complication arose from heart surgery at the age of 83.

Johnson is known to many as the head boys basketball coach for Warsaw Community High School from 1961 to 1971 and is credited with turning the program around.

"He got us to feel what it was like to win," said Darrell Boling.

Boling was a former assistant for Johnson before becoming athletic director at WCHS.

While at Warsaw, his teams won 220 games and five sectionals. When Johnson and the Tigers won their first sectional under the coach's reign in 1965, it was the first sectional crown for Warsaw since 1956.

Johnson also coached three Indiana All-Stars in Mike Niles, Ben Niles and Charlie McKenzie.

Before Johnson came to Warsaw, he served as the athletic director and head coach at Columbia City.

A 1947 Huntington College graduate, Johnson gained recognition for his time in the NBA with the Anderson Packers and the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons.

Johnson is a part of NBA history, having played in the lowest scoring game in league history when the Pistons defeated George Mikan and the Minneapolis Lakers 19-18. The game brought about the 24-second shot clock.

By all accounts, Johnson was a ferocious competitor and that spirit carried over into coaching.

Hugh Ressler was an assistant for Johnson's final two years at Warsaw and recalls the coach's will to win.

"After practices we'd usually play 2-on-2 and invariably we'd guard each other and invariably I'd come out with a busted lip," recalled Ressler in a phone interview Tuesday.

Johnson provided not only a competitive spirit but also life lessons for many of those players he tutored.

"He was just a great guy," said former WCS Superintendent Dr. Lee Harman. "He was a good influence on me as a young person. He taught us lessons beyond the basketball court. That's a pretty good legacy, I think."

Harman played for Johnson in his first year at Warsaw.

Besides basketball, Johnson was known as a family man who enjoyed spending time playing cards with friends, golfing, reading and fishing.

Johnson was also an accomplished carpenter and builder, having constructed two houses in the Patterson Woods edition where he lived.

He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994 for his excellence at both Huntington College and his high school career at Union Center. He led the tiny Huntington County school to a sectional win in 1939 and lettered three years.

Johnson also served in the European Theater during World War II and played basketball for the Army being named to the All-Service Team.

He married Mary Ellen Robinson and together they had five children. Their oldest, David Jr. was killed in an automobile accident after an accomplished basketball career at Warsaw and Purdue. The couple had three daughters, Jorie, Mary and Ellen and another son Greg.

"He was a super guy, real competitor and loved kids. He was a mentor not only in coaching but in life. He's going to be missed bay a whole lot of people," said George Giblert, a former assistant for Johsnon. "What else do you say about him?"