SAN ANTONIO — Coach Raymond “R. A.” Johnson believed in guidelines, laws and pointers.
That construction, his spouse stated, made college students respect him. If their grades weren’t so as, he wouldn’t flip a blind eye, nor permit them to play — scholarship got here first.
Johnson was the top soccer coach and athletic coordinator at Sam Houston Excessive from 1983 to 1997. For 10 years, Francine Prosser Johnson has honored her late husband’s dedication to tutorial excellence by way of a memorial scholarship named for him.
The endowment is one in every of three grants that’s been awarded to college students from the college, generally known as the “Pleasure of the East Facet.”
Greater than 200 supporters honored 14 recipients this weekend on the Buddies of Sam Houston Annual Group Scholarship Breakfast on the Second Baptist Church Group Heart.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez speaks with a handful of the scholarship winners on the Buddies of Sam Houston Excessive Faculty annual neighborhood scholarship breakfast on the Second Baptist Church Group Heart on Saturday morning. (Kaylee Greenlee Beal/Contributor)
KAYLEE GREENLEE BEAL 2023“It’s necessary as a neighborhood that we come collectively and present college students there are individuals who look after them,” Prosser Johnson stated. “My aim is for them to know he was a coach who believed what they do on the sector is sweet and impactful, however in the event you don’t have aspirations past the sector, that’s going to have an effect on what occurs the remainder of your life.”
The R.A. Johnson scholarships are awarded to a female and male scholar athlete at Sam Houston Excessive. This years recipients have been seniors Amya Miller-Singleton and Elton Anderson. Amya, captain of her basketball crew, has a 3.3 grade level common. Elton, a varsity soccer participant, tutors a number of classmates from Honduras so the crew can stay academically eligible to play.
“We’re pleased with you and Coach Johnson could be pleased with you,” Prosser Johnson stated. “We thanks in your spirit, willpower and dedication. We’re going to be trying to watch and see you soar.”
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She stated alumni, supporters and neighborhood members’ contributions resulted in additional than $30,000 granted to 22 Sam Houston college students. The San Antonio Impartial Faculty District Basis works with the scholarship group to distribute the grants.
Sharene Dixon, the highschool’s principal, lauded college students who went by way of the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic however nonetheless confirmed the “tenacity to do no matter they wish to do.”
Francine Prosser Johnson awards Amya Singleton-Miller the Coach Raymond Johnson Memorial Scholarship throughout the Buddies of Sam Houston Excessive Faculty annual neighborhood scholarship breakfast on the Second Baptist Church Group Heart on Saturday morning. (Kaylee Greenlee Beal/Contributor)
KAYLEE GREENLEE BEAL 2023Mayor Ron Nirenberg, state Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins and state Sen. Roland Gutierrez have been among the many dignitaries, joined by former athletes who had performed for Johnson. Audio system recalled the coach as a no-nonsense man who had a ardour for the gamers and their training.
The Sam Houston Jazz Band entertained the breakfast crowd. The displays additionally included the Donald L. McClure Bridge Builder and the Tommy Louis McMillion Memorial Scholarships.
The McMillion scholarship is awarded to 2 recipients. The Bridge Builder scholarship, awarded to 10 recipients, honors McClure, a former Sam Houston Excessive Faculty principal who held key positions inside SAISD, underneath an endowment from the Buddies of Sam Houston Committee that dates to 1991.
Willie Mae Taylor leads the committee right now. Thus far it has awarded greater than $150,000 in scholarships, she stated.
“It’s that $1,000 that they could want for a e-book or tuition,” Taylor stated. “We all know it’s only a dent, however typically it’s that further push and the acknowledgment. We’re aiming for that scholar who needs to go to varsity and this may give them a push to truly go.”
A number of friends stopped to speak to Aaronetta Pierce, an advocate for the humanities and civic chief who counseled Prosser Johnson for her dedication to youth and their training.
The Sam Houston Excessive Faculty JROTC presents the colours on the Buddies of Sam Houston Excessive Faculty annual neighborhood scholarship breakfast on the Second Baptist Church Group Heart on Saturday morning. (Kaylee Greenlee Beal/Contributor)
KAYLEE GREENLEE BEAL 2023“Fran is such a doer and dedicated to the neighborhood,” Pierce stated. “It’s a mixture made in heaven. She’s a pressure of nature.”
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Prosser Johnson launched keynote speaker Ovie Dotson, who she has identified since she was 10. Dotson, a member of Sam Houston’s Class of 1975, stated he was proud to have grown up on the East Facet.
He performed on the College of Texas at Austin basketball crew that gained two Southwest Convention championships and the Nationwide Invitational Event, then went on to play eight seasons with the world-renown Harlem Globetrotters.
Dotson stated he was “a product of the village,” referencing the African proverb that it takes many individuals to lift kids in a flourishing setting the place they’ll search their hopes and desires.
“Each man has to shoot his personal free throw,” Dotson stated. “We have now to be educated and maintain shifting the needle.”
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