Coach Johnny Anderson passes

Coach Anderson passed away this afternoon after a battle with cancer. Great guy, great coach. He worked wonders at McDowell in his years there and I know that the Freedom folks appreciate the job that he did with the Pats during his tenure there as well, both as an assistant under coach Wilson and as the head coach. He won (shared, I think, with E. Burke??) the Western 4A title at McDowell, back in the day when Asheville and Hickory were still in the conference, and his teams were always competitive. I hated when he left for Freedom, but it sure was a pleasure watching Leon Johnson run his option offense, even though that offense with Leon at the helm was tough for the Titans to stop. I used to see him around quite a bit after he retired and to this day he always called me by name (and I always called him coach Anderson). I would go up occasionally and watch the Titans practice during the preseason and loved his intensity and matter of factness; "men, we have got to get in some ^@$* shape and hold on to the @&%# ball before we can think about winning football games (among other things). Like I said, he did a great job in Marion, and I for one appreciate what he did. Rest in peach coach. You will be missed.

 

He was one of the greats, RIP.

 

He will be missed by so many...God Bless

 

In my opinion, either the field or Titan Stadium itself, should be named in honor of Johnny Anderson.

Johnny Anderson Stadium or Johnny Anderson Field at Titan Stadium.

A fitting way to honor a great coach and a greater man.

 

I wanna take just a moment to say a few things in regards to Johnny Anderson.

First off, I didn't personally know Coach Anderson. I do know he fought the battle against cancer. I've lost people I truly love to that disease, we all know the challenge that this illness brings to us. There's no doubt he was a fighter to the very end.

Coach Anderson was at McDowell before I ever walked the halls. But I do remember as a kid going to the football games on Friday night and watching the product that he put on the field. McDowell was always competitive when he was on the sidelines. If my memory serves right our only conference championships in school history was under Coach Anderson. We have never had an immense amount of stud athletes that came out for football but we had kids that came out and gave their all for him.


One reason those kids gave their all was because Coach Anderson gave back as an inspiration to them. Not only did he use a technique to make the kids good football players but that same technique made the kids better as human beings. A lot of players who played at McDowell have developed a life-long friendship with Coach Anderson. We all know what its like to lose a dear friend so its easy to understand why the Titan Nation is mourning at this point.


For everyone who knows Johnny, whether it be through football or any other relation...tomorrow (Saturday) will be a special day as we celebrate the life of Coach Anderson. There will be a service tomorrow morning at the McDowell High Football Stadium. I'm sure there will be a gathering including former players and coaches and those who just want to pay their respects to him.

 

We had two under Coach Anderson in 1974, 1983, & 1986 according to Marty's tribute, but we had one in 1992 under Coach Coy Gibson. The '92 team went undefeated in the NW4A, but many were influenced by Coach Anderson.

 

well said bigdan.

 

Coach Anderson

Coach Anderson is one of the greatest coaches and finest men I've known. He taught me at Freedom and I was his assistant my senior year. I would see him at many football games years later when he just came to watch. He was always good for a hug and a great story. I know he had a tremendous impact on all the young men he coached, but he always had time to be so nice to me (and he never coached me - I'm a girl!) and he will be missed.