Remembering Cat Johnson

No experience was quite like sitting in the middle of the Joplin Memorial fan section during a basketball game.

Any time you have a high school basketball game, especially a hard-fought game between two evenly matched teams, the crowd is loud, raucous and half of it agrees with the referee's calls at the same time the other half is ready to call for an investigation.

It was that way the night I sat in the Joplin Memorial section at a tournament final at Neosho High School, but with a few notable exceptions.

Memorial fans never argued with the referees- they had loud conversations with them.

Extremely loud conversations...and incredibly funny.

"You couldn't have seen that one, ref," one would say and another helpful fan would make an offer of his glasses.

If a call went Memorial's way, the referee would be congratulated. "You finally got one right, ref," with a note both of congratulations and sheer disbelief.

When a time out was called, the conversation would continue, often eliciting smiles from the referees, and once or twice they even joined in on the conversation.

I am guessing it would have been different if the game had been closer and that was what surprised everyone in the gymnasium, except for the Memorial fans.

This was supposed to be a showcase for McDonald County legend Charles Harvey, one of the best big men southwest Missouri had ever seen.

Instead, it was two different brands of basketball.

Harvey was a tough, agile center who hustled on both ends of the court. If he missed a shot, he invariably grabbed the rebound and nailed the putback.

I remembered a game in a tournament at Mount Vernon when the East Newton cheering section decided to verbally harass Harvey whenever he went to the foul line. He missed several free throws that night, missed more easy shots than usual and we thought we had played a key role in cutting down on the Mustangs' victory margin by neutralizing Charles Harvey.

The scorebook told a different story. Harvey scored 42 points that night.

Harvey played his usual game that night in the Neosho High School gymnasium, but his Mustangs did not claim the tournament championship.

As good as he was, and he was good, Charles Harvey appeared to be in slow motion when he was matched up against Joplin's 6-5 center Notie Pate. Pate's strength and quickness were too much for Harvey on the offensive and defensive boards.

And while Harvey was not the only good player McDonald County had, his teammates were no match for the Eagles, especially the Eagles point guard.

It was the first time I ever saw Cat Johnson play and well over 40 years later I can still see it in my mind.

If memory serves correctly, he was a sophomore at the time, but there was no doubt who was in charge.

Even at that point, he was a coach on the court and if someone guarding him let his attention slip for even a fraction of a second, Cat was past him and on his way. No one could keep up with him.

Unfortunately for the Mustangs, even if they did not let their guard down, there was no stopping this perpetual motion machine. He knew where his teammates were on the court and he knew how to get them the ball where they could do the most damage, especially Pate.

What was worse for his opponents was that Cat Johnson was not just a ballhandler and a passer. He could also score, often by winding his way through much taller players and kissing it in off the glass.

When those Memorial teams played, it was a social occasion for the fans. Everyone was there and everyone had a good time. It is hard not to have a good time when your team is winning state championships.

Cat Johnson continued his basketball career after graduating from Memorial in 1978 at Oral Roberts University, then played professional basketball for eight years overseas before returning to the community he loved and becoming a successful businessman.

High school basketball careers have a short shelf life, but the love affair between Joplin and Gary "Cat" Johnson, whose style of basketball brought both joy and championships, never faded.

That is why the news that after months of failing health, Cat Johnson died today at age 58, brought an overwhelming grief to the thousands whose lives he has touched.

His time at Joplin Memorial was a thing of joy, but the true measure of Cat Johnson was how he continued to build on that joy and share it with the community he loved- a community that also loved him.