A legendary track and field coach who competed in the 1964 Summer Olympic Games died after a month-long battle with COVID-19. Dennis Johnson was a star track athlete at San Jose State before coaching in Jamaica, which is where he is from. Johnson was 81 years old.
Johnson is mostly known for his time at the College of Arts, Science and Technology (CAST), which is now called the University of Technology. He became the coach of the school in 1971 and helped the program a very dominant 4x100m relay team, the first club side to break 40 seconds for the sprint relay, according to Sports Max. Johnson also led CAST to more than a decade of dominance of the Intercollegiate Championships.
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In an interview with BBC in 2014, Johnson revealed how he was able to have success as a coach, and that’s learning from his coach at San Diego State. “‘Bud’ Winter was a master coach,” Johnson said at the time.”I decided to come back home and bring his methodology to training sprinters in Jamaica. Herb McKenley coached me in high school. What he did when he came back to Jamaica was spread the gospel of track and field. I just wanted to be like him.”
Johnson entered a partnership with Stephen Francis in the late 1990s and the MVP Track and Field Club in Kingston. MVP became one of the leading clubs in Jamaica as Olympic legend Usain Bolt was part of the organization. “Usain Bolt came to us as a youngster,” Johnson said. “He was training under the IAAF High-Performance Centre, which I was director of. He went to school here. When I saw him run, I knew immediately that he would be a world-beater. “
During his time at San Diego State, Johnson was ranked the No. 2 in the world in the 100-yard dash by Track & Field News in 1961. He was named a member of the 1964 Jamaican Olympic team and placed fourth in the 4×100 meter relay in the games which took place in Tokyo.
“If you ever watch the 100m, the guy who is winning is relaxed,” Johnson said. “The guys who are second/third are very stiff. They are working very hard, but they still come in second. If I tell you to stop running after 60 or 70 metres, they say: ‘Come on Mr. Johnson, are you crazy, I am trying to win this thing.’”
