Reginald Corwin "Reggie" Johnson, a longtime Baltimore County and Carroll County football coach who helped lead Randallstown High School to the 1984 state championship, died Wednesday of heart failure related to diabetes at Northwest Hospital Center. He was 84.
Born in Waynesboro, Pa., Mr. Johnson played on his high school football team and followed his coach, Rip Engle, to Penn State.
He left after his freshman year to enlist in the Navy during World War II, serving in the Pacific, said his son, Kenith "Speedy" Johnson.
Mr. Johnson met his future wife, Mary Elizabeth McCleaf, at the dentist's office, where she was a dental assistant. They had been married for 40 years when she died in 1988, his son said.
After Mr. Johnson finished an undergraduate degree in physical education and health at Lock Haven State Teachers College, he taught for a short time but later became a salesman for Armour & Co., a meatpacking company, his son said.
His company transferred him to Maryland, where Mr. Johnson and his wife settled in Randallstown. He worked there for several years before taking a sales position at Boyle-Midway, a chemical company, Kenith Johnson said.
His father started coaching a football team for the Randallstown Optimist Club after his son joined that team, Kenith Johnson said.
When the Baltimore County school system started a high school football program in the mid-1960s, Mr. Johnson volunteered to coach at Milford Mill High School, said James "Jim" Higgins, who was football coach there at the time.
That motivated Mr. Johnson to return to education, starting as a teacher at what was known then as Woodlawn Junior High School while continuing to volunteer at Milford Mill. Mr. Johnson joined the teaching staff at Randallstown High School when it opened in 1969 and coached football and lacrosse, Mr. Higgins said.
He called Mr. Johnson a loyal and honest friend.
The coach "just had the knack to motivate kids that were hard to motivate," Mr. Higgins said. "They had problems in the home, maybe problems in school, but Reggie always seemed to have the right answer for them."
Mr. Johnson's son followed in his footsteps, becoming an assistant junior varsity coach under his father. But when Mr. Johnson retired in 1988 their roles had switched - Kenith Johnson was head coach and took his father's faculty position.
Mr. Johnson continued to coach in his retirement until 2003, following his son as Kenith Johnson moved to Chesapeake High School and later Liberty and Winters Mill high schools in Carroll County.
"He had a gift of making young men relax and be themselves," Kenith Johnson said. "He really was a good influence on a lot of people."
Mr. Johnson was also an avid deer hunter, enjoying family trips to a cabin in western Pennsylvania.
Mr. Johnson remained a fan of the Colts long after they left Baltimore and would judge the Ravens' performance after each game - calling them "Ravens" if they played well but "Sparrows" if they were sub-par.
A graveside service was held Saturday at Green Hill Cemetery in Waynesboro, Pa.
In addition to his son, Mr. Johnson is survived by a daughter, Debbie Sue Ziomek of Reisterstown; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.