DALEVILLE, Va. – The first ever Bob Johnson Classic was underway at Lord Botetourt Saturday, honoring the late “Coach J”, the winningest basketball coach at Emory & Henry. Lord Botetourt head coach Andrew Hart reached out to coaches all over Virginia who were Emory & Henry basketball alumni, encouraging them to bring their teams to Daleville for a bit of a reunion, and to remember the man who lead them to where they are today.
“None of the alumni and the coaches that are here today hesitated for one second to agree and commit to this. We have teams coming from three plus hours away, that just speaks volumes to how special our Emory & Henry alumni family is,” Hart said. “This is just to honor the time we spent together and the time we worked hard, and to honor Coach Johnson and what he left for all of us. It’s definitely a unique event, it’s already turned out to be a great day, and it’s going to be a great day of basketball action as well.”
Area coaches competing Saturday included Altavista’s Casey Johnson (’00), Narrows’ Patrick Bailey (’01), Salem’s Hank Luton (’07), Lord Botetourt’s Andrew Hart (’09), LCA’s Paul Redgate (’05), and Parry McCluer’s Mike Cartolaro (’83).