ASU player known for character
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, October 10, 2001
[10/10/01]When his former coaches talk about JeKelcy Johnson, football isn’t the first thing they bring up.
“He was a great person … an outstanding student,” Alcorn State coach Johnny Thomas said.
Bo Wright, who coached Johnson at Port Gibson High, said: “He’s one of the best kids I’ve ever been around.”
Johnson lost his life trying to do the right thing, Alcorn President Clinton Bristow Jr. said.
Johnson, 20, died at Claiborne County Hospital late Monday night after being shot at the Lorman campus. He went to the aid of another student, Kim Puttman, who was attacked by four non-students. They drove by and hit her with a bottle. Another student, Roddel Devoual, was shot in the side and is at University Medical Center in Jackson in stable condition. Puttman was treated and released from UMC.
Four suspects are being held in Natchez. None has been charged.
“He stood up to them,” Bristow said of Johnson.
Johnson, at 5-foot-10 and 215 pounds, was an undersized backup linebacker, but he was a “disciplined, hard worker,” Thomas said.
“He was always jolly … just very likable,” Thomas said.
Johnson, majoring in computer integrated management, wanted to be a mechanical engineer, according to the ASU media guide.
“He always had a smile on his face,” Wright said. “He wasn’t the biggest or the fastest or the strongest, but he made himself better with his work ethic.”
Wright and Thomas said the Braves and Blue Waves have lost “part of our family.”
“I talked with the team (Tuesday) morning and they were in a state of shock,” Thomas said.
Johnson was selected division MVP in 1998, his senior year at Port Gibson, despite an 0-11 finish. That was Wright’s first season as head coach.
“I never would have made it through that first year without him,” said Wright, whose team has overcome winless seasons and is off to a 3-2 start this year. “He set the tone for the success we’re starting to have.”