From the Advocate Messenger:

Alvis Johnson, who influenced countless lives from Harrodsburg to all corners of the country for more than 50 years as an educator, coach, board member and community leader, died Saturday at age 76.

Johnson was best known locally as a successful coach at Harrodsburg High School, where his football and track and field teams regularly competed for championships during a distinguished 24-year career at the school. However, he also made his mark in his adopted hometown as a leader in his school and his church and as a trusted resource in his community, and his impact was felt far beyond Harrodsburg through his work on state and national boards and associations. Genie Sims, a close friend and former colleague at Harrodsburg, said Johnson was welcomed and respected in each of those venues.

“Alvis was just the kind of person that you knew the things that he had to say had some meaning behind them, and he was always truthful with you in every way possible,” said Sims, who coached and taught alongside Johnson. “He was just the kind of person that you wanted to talk to because he had an answer … and if he didn’t have an answer he’d find one for you.”

Johnson coached at Harrodsburg from 1973-97, leading the boys track and field team to four state championships, the girls track and field team to one state title and the football team to three state runner-up finishes. He was inducted into the Dawahares/Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Kentucky Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1992. He won numerous state and national coach of the year and athletic administration awards.

Johnson served on the KHSAA Board of Control from 1988-95 and was the board’s president in 1991. He was elected to the National Federation of High School Athletics’ board of directors in 1992 and became that board’s first African American president in 1994.

Read more at: https://www.amnews.com/2023/07/17/longtime-harrodsburg-coach-educator-and-leader-alvis-johnson-dies-at-75/