Lincoln Prep mourning loss of beloved coach Roy Johnson

Roy Johnson, a longtime volunteer and assistant coach in the Grambling community, died Tuesday morning, leaving behind a strong legacy of commitment to Lincoln Prep and its students.

Johnson, who started as an unpaid volunteer assistant coach when the school was still Grambling Lab, was one of the first hires Lincoln Prep Executive Director Gordan Ford made when the school transitioned into a charter school in 2016.

Since then, Johnson took on the role of full-time custodian, as well as assistant coaching duties for the Lincoln Prep football, baseball, and basketball teams.

“People are still digesting it,” Ford said. “Kids in this generation, they don’t know how to process grief very well. I don’t even know if it’s really hit them. Roy was that guy that was always around. He’ll never be replaced. We’ll try and find some folks to pick up some of the work that has to be done, but you’ll never replace a guy like that.”

Ford knew from the beginning Johnson was a valuable staff member to keep on board, even after the school went through its transition.

“He was working when he didn’t get paid,” he said. “He was here when we were still a small school, when we were dying. Now, we’ve got this big campus, and everyone wants to come and work. He was there when we needed somebody.”

Glen Hall, Lincoln Prep athletic director and head football coach, called Johnson a jack of all trades, someone willing to step into any role asked of him.

From defensive backs, wide receivers, or special teams work, Johnson took his duties, and the responsibility he had in teaching kids, seriously, according to Hall.

As the team heard the news over the holiday and into the following morning, Hall gathered his squad after their morning workout Wednesday to meet with local pastors and school counselors and give his young roster a chance to share their feelings on the loss of someone so close to them.

“He was a guy that enjoyed life, and he got along with the kids, and he was a jokester too, but he also knew when to get serious,” Hall said. “He was a guy where it was hard not to like him.”

Coach Roy wasn’t viewed as the Xs and Os coach tasked with drawing up concepts and complicated systems. He was a relationship builder – a coach and friend in one.

Hall recalls how much work Johnson put in when no one was looking.

“Always one of the first ones to work and one of the last ones to leave,” Hall said.

In the first years of Antonio Hudson’s tenure as boys basketball coach at Lincoln Prep, Johnson stepped up to help his friend build his program.

Hudson, who knew Johnson as a friend prior to coaching, still remembers asking him to join him at Prep for the beginning stages of the process.

Johnson didn’t hesitate. “Roy would give you the shirt off his back,” Hudson said. “He’d do anything you’d ask him to do. Everybody holds their own important role here, but Roy worked his tail off for Lincoln Prep. I can’t believe anyone worked as hard as he did for Lincoln Prep.”

As of press time Wednesday, funeral and visitation arrangements have not been announced.