Howie Johnson finding new location to enjoy tournament -- the bench

Dec. 22—Bill Hodges, The Associated Press' 1979 Coach of the Year for guiding Indiana State to the NCAA championship game, once described former Sycamore guard Howie Johnson as "a quiet assassin shooting the basketball."

Johnson, now 68, hasn't stopped shooting since.

Born in Lawrenceville, Illinois, he first earned his reputation for marksmanship in the Clark County town of Marshall, Illinois, where he helped the Lions — coached by the late Carrol "Nellie" Bennett — earn the Wabash Valley Tournament title during his sophomore and junior seasons of high school in 1971 and 1972 respectively. Back then, the tournament concluded in January of each year, unlike now when the modern-day Wabash Valley Classic is scheduled between Christmas and New Year's.

In January 1971, the 17-team tournament was whittled down to eight that qualified for the finals in West Vigo's gym (now known as the Jim Mann Green Dome).

Marshall beat the host Vikings 70-63 in the semifinals as young Johnson tallied 27 points, then the Lions edged Sullivan 74-71 for the championship as Johnson pumped in 25. John Ridgeway led the Golden Arrows with 29 points.

According to "The Wabash Valley High School Basketball Tournament," a book researched and complied by Dean Kendall, Marshall's enrollment was 430 students for the 1970-71 school year.

The next year, that figure fell to 418 and the total number of teams entered for the final official version of the old Wabash Valley Tourney dropped to 14, with the final four advancing to Sullivan's old gym.

There, the 6-foot-2 Johnson played probably the best game of his high school career — posting a tournament-record 46 points along with 23 rebounds — to pace the Lions over the host Arrows 100-79 in the semifinals. With no 3-point line, Johnson used 13 field goals and 20 free throws to accumulate his total. He received ample support from teammate Tom York, who scored 32 points.

In the 1972 tourney finale, Marshall knocked off Clark County rival Casey 70-58 as Johnson was "held" to 31 points and York added 20. Jay Hart fired in 30 points for Casey.

Johnson's 46-point outburst against Sullivan ended up being the highest single-game total in the 57-year history of that tournament, topping the performances of such basketball legends as Terre Haute Garfield's Clyde Lovellette (35 points in 1948), Westfield's Denny Throneburg (32 in 1968), Terre Haute Gerstmeyer's Arley Andrews (30 in 1954) and Garfield's Terry Dischinger (29 in 1958).

In Johnson's senior year of 1973, although the Wabash Valley Tournament had run its course, Marshall entered an off-shoot tournament — known then as the "Wabash Valley Classic" (no relation to the current version) — and the Lions won that too but with much less fanfare.

At Marshall, Johnson averaged 27.2 points per game as a senior, 27 ppg as a junior and 24.9 ppg as a sophomore. He finished his high school career with 2,295 points over four seasons, with Marshall reaching the Illinois Class A Sweet Sixteen in 1973.

III

Multiple decades have passed since Johnson took his post-Marshall hardwood talents to the University of Illinois and ISU (where Hodges was an assistant coach when he played). Having started a family in Terre Haute, he has enjoyed watching the 21st century-version Wabash Valley Classic from the crowd as a fan since it debuted in December 2020.

Next week, however, Johnson's seat will be a little closer to the action.

You see, Johnson is now an assistant to former Lion/former Sycamore Logan Eitel, who took over Marshall's head-coaching duties during the off-season. The Lions will face their rivals — Casey — in the first round at 4 p.m. EST Tuesday in Terre Haute South's gym.

Johnson is looking forward to the new challenge at this stage of his life, but you can twist his arm into reminiscing about the past once in a while.

"One of the differences I remember [playing in the Wabash Valley Tourney in Indiana gyms], the backboards — we played on fan-shaped [in Illinois] — and over here you've got rectangular," he told the Tribune-Star.

"If you've ever seen the fan-shaped, they are very small backboards and they were hard to bank a shot on. So when we came over here, we shot extremely well, compared to playing in Illinois."

Johnson also mentioned how practically whole towns would drive to the city of the finals to see their high schools play. Imagine, that was back in the days of no cell phones, no Facebook or X and no internet.

What else could people do besides stay home and watch reruns of "The Andy Griffith Show" on their televisions?

Even with far more life distractions existing nowadays, Johnson thinks the Classic atmosphere remains exciting.

"It's a real social event," he said. "I see older people, people even older than me, sitting in the top row. It's a great atmosphere.

"It brings back a lot of memories for the [former] players who actually played in it."

Johnson, who hasn't lost his shooting touch when he practices from various locations on the court, emphasized that coaching isn't as physically demanding as playing in the Classic.

"Mentally, you still need to be into the game and understand what's going on and not get caught up in a lot of other things," he explained. "We're excited [as a team] and I'm excited."