James Johnson (JJ) Memorial Service

[nutman]

https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2019/September/23/James-Johnson-Memorial-services

There are many coaches across our state, country, and the world who knew JJ.  He was a big man with a big personality.  He served in the past as an assistant coach at NC State and Arizona State for Bobby Douglas.  Johnson won a silver medal at the 1991 Pan American Games. He won a gold medal at the 1986 Pan American Championships, and won seven career Pan American Championships medals. He won three World Cup medals during his career. Johnson won three U.S. Nationals titles in Greco-Roman, and was second in the 1992 Olympic Trials.

He was an NCAA qualifier for the University of Kentucky, competing for Fletcher Carr. Johnson was the first wrestler from D.H. Conley High School in Greenville, N.C. to win a state wrestling title when he won the North Carolina state meet in 1976. He was also the first athlete from North Carolina to be an All-American at the USA Wrestling Junior Nationals.  Most recently he served as the Greco Coach for Sunkist Kids.  He has cornered several Wisconsin athletes who were sponsored by Sunkist.


For those of you who do not know how this happened, it was tragic.  He suffered an appendicitus at the Junior World Championships in Estonia, where he had emergency surgery prior to the start of the event.  He returned to the U.S. in hopes of healing, so he could corner at the Senior World Championships.  He suffered complications and passed away.  I'm not sure how many children he has in total, but know he has two children under 16.