DEWAYNE JOHNSON…FROM PLYMOUTH AND BEYOND

While doing some research on teams from the 1980’s I noticed, looking at the WIAA web site (FOOT Playoff Scores), that Plymouth had won the 1976 first Class B WIAA state title, beating Iowa-Grant 42-12.  In 1977 the Panthers lost in the opening round of the Class B playoffs to the eventual champion, Iowa Grant 21-7.  The next year, 1978, Plymouth was back in the playoffs and won the Division 3 title for a second time, beating Prairie du Chien 34-14. (Don’t be confused …the WIAA changed the titles of the playoffs from Class to Division).  These were terrific teams.

Looking at another WIAA page…Team Champs…I noticed the name of the Plymouth coach, DeWayne Johnson.  Investigating the records further I noticed that the school didn’t make the playoffs for another 13-years (1991).  So, what happened to Johnson?  I was afraid of a tragedy.

At Plymouth   The Sheboygan Press March 29, 1979

While researching the 1979 Two Rivers regular season ending game, I noticed that Johnson wasn’t listed in the game story as being the Plymouth coach.  I then checked the WFCA Hall of Fame where I expected to find his name and get more information.  Not there.  How could a coach just drop out of sight after developing a good program?  Where did he go?  From the mid-season of 1975 the school won 35 of 36 games.  6-3- in 1975, 11-0 in 1976, 9-1 in 1977 and 11-0 in 1978.  I found a story dated March 29, 1979 in The Sheboygan Press that Told what and where he was going.  The story stated that he was resigning to take another coaching position at Anoka High School, about 25-miles northwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He was taking over at a school that had 2,000+ students, grades 10-12 vs. 650+ students, grades 9-12 at Plymouth.  Anoka came calling, Johnson listened and moved on.  But like a lot of coaching moves there is additional information about the new landing spot.

DeWayne Johnson graduated from Cameron High School in 1961 who earned 11 letters playing four sports.  He went on to UW-River Falls where he co-captained the 1966 football team as he earned honors as a defensive end and center.  While at River Falls, he also played on two conference championship baseball teams.  Following graduation DeWayne took a math teaching position and a coaching job at New Richmond.  He was the head baseball coach at New Richmond and assisted with football and basketball.  His baseball teams won two conference titles.  The New Richmond Tigers football squads had a 10-8 record during his two years there.

In 1969 he took the head football position at Plymouth and taught math as well.  Things started slow as the school won only five games the first three years but in 1972 things began to change.  Creating what many thought was the best off-season weight-training program in the state was a start.  The Plymouth Panthers began to quickly improve as a result of the training.  The school won their last two games in 1971 and the won the 10-team Packerland Conference title in 1972 by ending with a 9-0 record.  beginning in 1972 Plymouth won 53 conference games and four titles. 

DeWayne Johnson and his family, wife Sharon who was also a teacher at the Riverview Middle School in Plymouth, and two young boys moved to Anoka in June of 1979.  The Minnesota program he was taking over was a good one. 

Under the previous Coach Stan Nelson, who retired, Anoka had posted a career 154-70-8 record in 26-seasons.  The 1978 season the school had gone 6-3.  Nelson would be inducted into the Minnesota State Football Coaches Hall of Fame.  His team, playing in one of the state’s toughest conferences in Minnesota was the state runner-up in 1963 and then won the 1964 state title.  He also coached three players who went on to play in the NFL, including his son, Steve.  As a linebacker who played 14-seasons with the New England Patriots Steve totaled 207 career tackles.

Johnson at Anoka from the school profile page

Johnson coached and taught for 24-years at Anoka, posting a 212-122-2 record. His Tornado teams won the 1990 and 1994 state titles. In 1996 he was named the state Coach of the Year and was inducted into the Minnesota State Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 2009. DeWayne coached 14 first team All-State players and two who eventually played in the NFL.

Coach Johnson instituted several practices that became staples of the Tornado football program such as a player-parent mixer on the first day of fall camp; an annual team pig roast; a spaghetti dinner the day before a game and a team party following the game. There is an annual community clean-up day during which players volunteer for various tasks to improve the local community. All events that have continued after his coaching days. Anoka's success and team spirit continued after DeWayne Johnson retired in 2002.

He sadly passed in 2019 at age 76.

As I mentioned in the start of this story, it took Plymouth 13 years to make it back to the playoffs. While there have not been any additional state championships the Panthers have made the post season every year, 32 consecutive seasons (Except for the non-playoff 2020 COVID year) since 1991.