Jonathan M. Johnson (born 12 July 1955) is an American former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and coach. He was part of the first influx of foreign basketball players in Iceland in the late 1970s. In 1979, he set the single game scoring record in the Icelandic top-tier Úrvalsdeild karla when he scored 71 points for

Fram Fram may refer to: Ships * ''Fram'' (ship), an arctic exploration vessel from Norway * MS ''Fram'', expedition cruise ship owned by Hurtigruten Group Places and geography * Fram, Paraguay, a town in Itapúa, Paraguay * Fram Formation, a se ...

against ÍS. In 1980, he won the Icelandic championship and the Icelandic cup as an assistant coach with

Valur Valur may refer to: People * Birkir Valur Jónsson (born 1998), Icelandic football player * Björn Valur Gíslason (born 1959), Icelandic politician * Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson (born 1979), Icelandic handball player * Guðni Valur Guðnason (born ...

Early life

Johnson was born and grew up in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Professional career

In August 1978, Johnson signed as a player-coach with

in the Icelandic second-tier 1. deild karla. In his debut on 23 September, he scored 55 points in Fram's 93–81 victory against Ármann in the annual pre-season Reykjavík Basketball Tournament. He led the team to the tournament finals where the team lost to

despite Johnson scoring 41 points. On 12 November, he scored 52 points in a victory against

KFÍ The Vestri men's basketball team, commonly known as Vestri, is a basketball team based in Ísafjörður, Iceland. The club was founded in 1965 as Körfuknattleiksfélag Ísafjarðar and held that name until it merged with newly founded Íþrótta ...

. In November 1978, Johnson was loaned to ÍS for their upcoming games against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

in the

1978–79 FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup The 1978–79 FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup was the thirteenth edition of FIBA's 2nd-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, contested between national domestic cup champions, running from 1 November 1978, to 22 March 1 ...

. Although Johnson played well and scored 24 points in both games, ÍS suffered a lopsided losses. At the season's end, Fram finished first in the league and achieved promotion to the top-tier Úrvalsdeild karla. After some uncertainty of his return due to Fram's poor financial situation, Johnson re-signed with the team for the 1979–80 season. On 17 November 1979, Johnson set the Úrvalsdeild single game scoring record when he scored 71 points in a victory against ÍS. In the beginning of December, tension between Johnson and the team reached a breaking point with Johnson being unhappy with the lateness of his salary while the board of the team was unhappy with his temperament. In the end, Johnson left the team after playing 7 games where he averaged 35.0 points per game. After his departure from Fram, he served as an assistant coach to Tim Dwyer of

where he would win the national championship and the Icelandic cup in March 1980. Alongside assisting Dwyer, Johnson was hired as a player-coach for

2. deild karla 2. deild karla (English: Men's Second Division) is a football league in Iceland. It is the third division in the Icelandic football league system. The current champions are Afturelding from Mosfellsbær, who won their 1st title in 2018. The divi ...

club ÍA in December 1979. Johnson re-signed with ÍA the following season and in October 1980 he was loaned to

for its upcoming games against

Cibona Zagreb Košarkaški klub Cibona, commonly referred to as Cibona Zagreb or simply Cibona, is a men's professional basketball club based in Zagreb, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Association, and competes ...

in the

FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against each other. The competition was organized by FIBA E ...

. After scoring only 14 points in the first game between the teams, Johnson scored a game high 31 points in the second game. In 1994, Johnson signed with 1. deild karla club Ungmennafélag Selfoss. He was released by the team after appearing in 7 games.

References

External links

Úrvalsdeild statistics
at

Icelandic Basketball Association The Icelandic Basketball Association (''Icelandic:Körfuknattleikssamband Íslands - KKÍ'') is the national governing body of basketball in Iceland and is a member of the continental association FIBA Europe and the global International Basketbal ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, John 1956 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Iceland American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from Los Angeles Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball) players