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 statisticsat
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