Fred Johnson

Story by ALEX ABATE | DAR Sports Writer

Most players only get to play for Gene Bess for two seasons, however, former Three Rivers Raider Fred Johnson caught Bess in a transition period in his career and took advantage of it.

Johnson played for Bess for four seasons, 1965-69, when he was coaching at Oran High School, followed by two years at Three Rivers. Bess was an assistant to Bob Cradic for the 1969-70 season and took over as the head coach for the first time in 1970-71.

"The discipline and everything he stood for was everything we learned at home, he just enforced it in a different way," Johnson said. "Just being a good man and what he told you, he back it up 100 percent. Once you say something and commit to something, you carry it out, you either do it or you get gone."

Cradic coached the Raiders for three seasons before handing over the direction to Bess and finished with a record of 56-30 over those three years. Cradic and Bess were somewhat different in their coaching styles, Johnson said.

"Coach Bess was the disciplinarian type and Coach Cradic was somewhat," Johnson said. "That was the biggest shell shock to some of the guys, some of the players had played under coaches that weren't disciplinarians."

As a member of the Raiders for his sophomore season, Johnson helped program to its first trip to the NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kan. The Raiders won their first two games of the tournament that year before losing to hometown Hutchinson and beating Niagara Falls to finish third in the nation.

"We didn't know what to expect until we saw (Oscar Robertson's) picture," Johnson said. "When we saw that, we knew we had arrived. All these teams throughout the nation were sitting at home and there were 16 teams at Hutch, and we were one of them."

The successful season gave Bess, now a coach with more than 1,050 wins, an immense amount of optimism for the future at that time, he said.

"We found out real quick that we could win if we got the right kind of talent," Bess said. "That gave me a lot of confidence for the future in JUCO basketball."

After his career at Three Rivers came to an end, Johnson went on to Southeast Missouri State for his junior and senior seasons where he averaged in double figures both seasons.

After various jobs, including a trip to Memphis to work out with a former ABA squad, Johnson took a job at Oran where he coached from 1977-81. After Oran, he went to Scott County Central and coached girls basketball. There, he won two state titles, one in 1982 and another in '84. At Scott Central, Johnson had an overall record of 88-2 from 1981-84.

"I followed Fred's career pretty closely," Bess said. "He did a good job every place he went. That is what makes coaches satisfied and happy."

After getting out of coaching for a few years, Johnson coached in Illinois for two seasons before he came to Sikeston in 1990 and was the Dean of Students and boys basketball coach. At Sikeston, he made one state appearance in 1995 before hanging up his coaching sneakers in '98. He still holds his position there as the Dean and coached the girls basketball team in 2005-06.

As a coach, Johnson took what he learned from Bess and become an effective coach himself.

"Coach Johnson, I loved playing for him," Garrett Taylor, former player for Johnson from 1991-95, said. "He had a style of basically toughen you up. It was almost as if he pushed us so hard to come together as a team."

The Bulldogs' trip to the state final four in 1995 was ignited by the run-and-gun style of Johnson, Taylor said.

"We would've done anything for him," Taylor said. "If he wanted us to run 100 feet in a 90-foot gym, we would do it."

Johnson always had decent strategy for his contests. Taylor recalls one instance during a game that he, as the point guard, held the ball at the top of the court for an entire quarter.

"It ended up working, it was a low-scoring game," Taylor said. "(He was) probably knowing that in this situation we had to keep it more in a low-scoring game with solid defense."

Taylor, who resides in Columbia, likes to keep in contact with Johnson whenever possible.

"Whenever I am in Sikeston, we always rehash and reminisce," Taylor said. "He is always asking how my two young sons are doing."

Johnson still tries to make the trip from Sikeston to Poplar Bluff to catch an occasional Raiders game.

"Once a Raider," Johnson said, "always a Raider."