(Anita) Our guest this week on the “Why I Coach” series spent 31 years as head track coach at Anita and eventually CAM. Since retirement he’s continued to be involved in activities in a number of volunteer roles.
Lynn Johnson, a native of Blair, NE, was in the woodworking lab at the University of Nebraska when his advisor walked in and asked if he’d found a job yet. “This is when I was a senior and I said ‘No I’ve only had one interview’. The advisor told Johnson he had a friend that was the Superintendent in Anita, Iowa. “I had an interview on a Friday afternoon and Saturday morning I had a contract in my mailbox in Lincoln.”
Johnson was a shop teacher and considered coaching an extension of the classroom. Coincidentally the first girls track meet he ever coached was also the first girls track meet he was ever in attendance for. “I went to high school in the 1970’s and girls track started when I was a junior or senior. I wasn’t a runner, but I was a manager for the boys team in Blair and learned how to do the splits. In those days you had to have two or three watches because they didn’t have split timers. You had to supply a worker a lot of times because track meets were during the day. I got out of school nine or ten times in the spring which was always fun. That was my experience with track and the Superintendent told me, ‘You’ve got a way with kids you can do it.’ I said, ‘Oh…OK.'”
His tenure spanned three decades and he coached some darn good athletes in that time:
The program won seven conference championships in the 1990’s. It turned out to be a pretty good career for a guy with limited expertise when he started out. “Well, there was a lot I didn’t know and I made some mistakes early, but at that time we didn’t have that strong of a tradition. We’d had some great individuals, but not a strong team. As the teams got better and I learned more then it started to click.”
Johnson also spent a couple of summers as the head baseball coach. “That would’ve been in the ’70’s and I remember I was in over my head. Nobody else wanted to coach high school baseball and I had some experience so I said I would do it. We made sure the kids enjoyed it. We won very few games. We did always field a team and the kids enjoyed it.”
He was also the head girls basketball coach for two seasons. Even though they didn’t win a game he feels that might have been his best coaching work he’s ever done because they played a very tough schedule. “Our tallest starter was 5’6″ and that was a lie…she was 5’5.5″, but they were good kids we played hard and a lot of them went on to be very successful.”
One of his biggest claims to fame was holding mighty Elk Horn-Kimballton to under 100 points. After giving up the head role to someone he describes as a better candidate he shifted to junior high and says that was a great benefit for recruiting girls into high school. Johnson was also an assistant football coach at the high school and junior high levels. He served as the AD as well.
Previous Coaches
(Click to listen)
John Kesselring, Adair-Casey alum
Eric Maassen, (AHST grad) Sheldon
Jerome Hoegh, Atlantic grad (West Sioux)
Gaylord Schelling, Atlantic and Tri-Center
Dick Strittmatter, Atlantic native
Chad Klein, Audubon Native (Kuemper Catholic and Boone)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Monte Riebhoff)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Steve Ahrendsen)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Scott Weber)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Curt Mace)
Jason Mehrhoff, Anita Native (Carlisle)
Eric Hjelle, Elk Horn-Kimballton grad (Underwood)
Brett Watson, Elk Horn-Kimballton alum (Waukee Northwest)
Warren Watson, Elk Horn-Kimballton
Chris Stimson, Elk Horn-Kimballton
Scott Yates, Elk Horn-Kimballton
Jan Jensen, Elk Horn-Kimballton alum
Seth Poldberg, EH-K grad and Guthrie Center coach
Marc Bierbaum, Griswold grad and Iowa Western track/cross country assistant
Trevor Gipple, (Griswold grad) SW Valley
Curt Schulte, Harlan graduate (Glenwood)
Angie Spangenberg, Harlan and Red Oak
Eric Stein (Harlan grad) Iowa Central
Darrell Burmeister, Nodaway Valley
Lanny Kliefoth, Nodaway Valley
Chad Harder, (Walnut Grad) Tri-Center
