Larry Johnson

Ask any coach who has been “in the game” for a length of time about the importance of the people who do the extra things (just to help out) and they will tell you, you can’t do it without them.

Ask Astoria coaches over the last 48 years about contributors, and the name Larry Johnson comes up over and over and over. Contributing to youngsters activities just came naturally to Larry. He did it just because he loved helping “kids”.

Larry arrived at Astoria High School in 1963, after graduating from Wayne State in Nebraska and having taught industrial arts and coached football, basketball, baseball, and track at Rosalie and Seward high schools in the Cornhusker state.

However many ways there are to contribute, Larry “pushed” the limit. Over the next 30 years a partial list of contributions to athletics as well as to other school programs includes:

-Making all the athletic award plaques for all the sports for over 20 years.

-Building several of the trophy cases in the sports hall that display the numerous trophies won by Fishermen athletic teams.

-Building the sheds that stored track equipment.

For the track program Larry poured the concrete discus and shot put pads, built the pole vault cover, made the trophies for the cross country invitational, built practice hurdles and repaired real hurdles, as well as other equipment, patched the track, helped the distance runners resole their shoes, and built the stairs for the finish line shed.

Larry served as assistant track coach for 14 years 1964-69 and 1974-81. He also coached junior varsity football in 1963. After 1981 he served as starter for Astoria High and Middle School track meets and was the starter for a number of Cowapa League District Championship meets.

His woodshop classes constructed the two dams that helped Eldon Korpela start the unique fish hatchery program that Astoria high School is famous for today. Larry’s classes also built equipment for the drama department’s plays.

Larry was part of the group that started the Astoria High Scholarship Fund. Which at this date ranks as one of the premier high school scholarship funds in the United States. Larry, who retired from teaching in 1993, continues to this date as starter for Fishermen home track meets.

It is impossible to total the number of athletic contests, in all sports that Larry and his wife Eileen have attended showing their support for the athletes. It is also impossible to calculate the amount of money Larry has saved the school district, so let us just say there are a lot of zeros after the first number.

Larry now joins his son Kip and his daughter Kam in the Astoria High School Athletic Hall of Fame.