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 (appro ...

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

Early life

Johnson was born and grew up in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Professional career

In August 1978, Johnson signed as a player-coach with Fram 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 Valur 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 known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

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 Valur 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 club ÍA in December 1979. Johnson re-signed with ÍA the following season and in October 1980 he was loaned to Valur 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 sports club, club based in Zagreb, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the ABA League JTD, Adriatic Basketba ...

in the

FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners Cup'', was the name of the European professional club basketball system, second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winn ...

. 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 20th-century American sportsmen