George Johnson has been coaching since 1960. He has won 13 state championships at Ben Lippen, and, prior to that, won seven at Brookland– Cayce. On August 1, the S.C. Athletic Coaches Association awarded Johnson an Outstanding Service Award to commemorate his years in coaching. In September, Coach George Johnson will begin his 51st year as a track and cross country coach. On August 1, the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association awarded Johnson with an Outstanding Service Award for his 50 years of coaching.

His love of running began in high school, but unfortunately for Johnson his high school didn’t offer cross country. It wasn’t until he attended the University of South Carolina that he could run track.

In 1960, he became an assistant football coach and a cross country coach at Brookland–Cayce High School. After two years, he gave up coaching football and began to give his full attention to cross country. From 1960–1972, he coached cross country and track when it was only considered a club sport. During that time he won six state titles and was runner up five times. Once cross country became a full–fledged sport in 1973, he didn’t have the same overwhelming success, but still won another state title during the rest of his time at Brookland–Cayce.

During his tenure at Brookland–Cayce two squads in the mid–1960s stick out as two of his best teams. One squad won the Furman Invitational beating out the North Carolina State Champion, Hendersonville. The second squad went to a meet at North Carolina State University where they competed against teams from Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Before the meet, Johnson moved two freshmen to the junior varsity Squad. The varsity squad finished second while the junior varsity squad won its division.

In 1990, he took over as track and cross country coach at Ben Lippen. At the time, the track and cross country teams participated in the 1A/2A level. It took Johnson six years before claiming his first state title, but it was only the beginning. The Falcons would win one more state title as a participant at the 1A/2A level in 1997 before moving to the SCISA ranks in 1998. Despite the move, Johnson continued his dominance winning every state title from 1998 to 2006. His track teams also won state titles in 1996 and 1997.

Of all those state title winners, Johnson says the 1996 and the 2004 squads are his favorites. His 1996 squad finished in first place while amassing 37 points and second place Chapin had 103.

Many changes have occurred in the sport since Johnson first became a cross country coach. Most notably, the number of teams and participants in each meet has increased.

Despite winning multiple championships, Johnson says his greatest achievement is watching his teams improve. However, as the years pass, he says it is getting harder to get kids to participate in track or cross country.

Even though Johnson is entering his 51st year as head coach, he has no thoughts about retiring. Instead, he has ambitions of fielding more competitive teams and even hopes to field another championship winner.

“I have two mottos. One is PMA, positive mental attitude. The other one is Philippines 4:13, ‘I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me’,” Johnson says.

He says it is the love of his job and where he works that have helped him coach for so long.