Army veteran Samuel Johnson plays in NWBA Military Division tourney, serves as assistant coach in Women’s Division tourney
There was no break for Samuel Johnson.
When the Army veteran wasn’t helping coach wheelchair basketball at Friday’s National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) Military Division national championships opening day, he was playing it.
Johnson is doubling up this weekend — serving as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Rockers Women’s Division team and playing for the Lincolnway Special Recreation Center Association (LWSRA) Hawks Military Division team — at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Rockers went 2-0 on the first day of Women’s Division lower bracket pool play, while LWSRA also went 2-0 on the opening day of pool play in the Military Division. Both tournaments continue through Sunday.
The No. 14-seeded Rockers knocked off No. 12-seed ParaSport Spokane, 45-12, and the No. 10-seeded Ability360 Phoenix Mercury, 43-25. Meanwhile, No. 6-seeded LWSRA defeated the No. 8-seeded Kansas City (KC) Ethos, 59-45, and upset the No. 2-seeded Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMSCD) Wolfpack, 67-36, in its second game.
What did the Paralyzed Veterans of America Buckeye Chapter member think of playing in the Military Division for the first time?
“Oh, the team is incredible, the Hawks, we only got six players. We’re handling things. We’re beating teams of 10 and 12 people, and they substitute. If we play the rest of the games like we played these two games, ain’t nobody going to beat us, I’m just going to be honest with you,” Johnson says. “No one can beat us if we do what we did today to this team here that put up almost 60 on their first opponent.”
Injured in January 1996 after hitting a tree going 110 mph during a car accident while drinking and driving in Richmond, Va., Johnson wasn’t expected to survive. He sustained a level L1 incomplete spinal cord injury and says he lost his gallbladder, spleen and 90% of his large intestine. He was in a coma and on life support for two months.
Wheelchair basketball saved his life. So, he’s doing all he can to repay the sport and other adaptive sports. He says there’s a reason why he’s still here.
“That’s why I get involved with anything and everything — athletics, school,” says Johnson, who served as a combat medic from 1984-1988. “We do assemblies at schools where we put the kids in our chairs with the teachers in the chairs. We teach them about the different sports chairs and a regular wheelchair. And that’s just my calling. I love kids. I want to do everything I can just to help people. I want to be a conscience, advocate, to help people.”
Johnson has played on the Adult Division III Cleveland Wheelchair Cavaliers for the past three years — all because someone invited him to attend a practice and he liked it — and he has served as an assistant coach on the Cleveland Rockers Women’s Division team for the past two seasons. Tim Fox serves as the head coach for both teams.
Johnson was limited in his first year on the the Wheelchair Cavaliers team. But he and Fox, who’s coached the Adult Division team the past 18 years, developed a friendship, and a year later, Fox asked Johnson to serve as an assistant coach. Both are appreciative. Johnson considers Fox a mentor, while Fox says Johnson volunteers whenever he can.
“If there’s a community event where we’re getting a chance to speak to kids, raise awareness, he’s the first one to raise his hand. And he just draws everybody to him because of his personality. So, just love every moment about being around him,” Fox says. “And I’ve always told him, ‘It doesn’t matter what skill you bring to the game, it’s a matter of you being in the game and you being a part of the game and taking that game with you to others.’”
Johnson says coaching the Women’s Division is different from playing and coaching in the Adult Division and Military Division. He’s learned to have patience and understanding, and he says it’s given him a different perspective.
“Women, you have to take a different approach. It’s more encouraging. It’s more, ‘Keep going on, keep going, keep going. You’re doing fine.’ It’s more encouraging and uplifting them,” Johnson says.
Military Division Tournament
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
April 10
Pool Play
No. 1 Wounded Warriors Abilities Ranch (WWAR) 46, ParaSport Spokane 41
No. 7 Colorado Silverbacks 49, No. 5 Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets 37
No. 4 Dallas Wheelchair Mavs 52, No. 2 NMSCD Wolfpack 33
No. 6 Lincolnway Special Recreation Center Association (LWSRA) 59, No. 8 Kansas City (KC) Ethos 45
No. 1 Wounded Warriors Abilities Ranch (WWAR) 46, No. 5 Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets 30
No. 3 ParaSport Spokane 37, No. 7 Colorado Silverbacks 55
No. 6 Lincolnway Special Recreation Center Association (LWSRA) 67, No. 2 NMSCD Wolfpack 36
No. 4 Dallas Wheelchair Mavs 67, No. 8 Kansas City (KC) Ethos 54