Lawrence "Trooper" Johnson is a former Paralympic coach for the United States women's national wheelchair basketball team and former

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is a style of basketball played using a sports wheelchair. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as ...

player. He won a bronze medal with Team USA at the

1996 Summer Paralympics The 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, were held from August 16 to 25. It was the first Paralympics to get mass media sponsorship, and had a budget of USD $81 million. It was the first Paralympic Games where Internatio ...

and

2000 Summer Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was the last time that the Summer Paralympics were organized by two different Organ ...

. In December 2021, he resigned as head coach of the women's national team after players alleged emotional misconduct. He said he would cooperate with a United States Center for SafeSport investigation, and believed there would not be any findings.

Early life

Johnson was born to a military family and grew up on military base camps. Once able to drive, Johnson crashed his car into a tree in a drunk driving incident but remained unscathed. His paralyzation happened once he attempted to dislodge his jeep from the tree, causing it to run him over. About a year after the crash, Johnson began playing

, but stopped to continue his education until 1989.

Career

Playing career

In 1989, Johnson joined the Golden State 76ers, now called the Golden State Road Warriors, a men's wheelchair basketball team. From 1990 until 2004, Johnson competed with the United States men's national wheelchair basketball team at various international competitions. With the team, he won a bronze medal at the

by scoring eight points in a 66–60 win over Spain. The next year, Johnson was named the 1997

National Wheelchair Basketball Association National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) is composed of 181 wheelchair basketball teams within twenty-two conferences. Founded in 1949 by Timothy Nugent, the NWBA today consists of men's, women's, intercollegiate, and youth teams throug ...

's (NWBA) Most Valuable Player after averaging 29 points per game. He also led the Golden State Road Warriors to their first Final Four in 1997 and was named MVP in 1998 at the first wheelchair basketball game played during the NBA Jam at the NBA All-Star Game. That same year, he became the second paraplegic to climb

El Capitan El Capitan (; ) is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granite monolith is about from base to summit alo ...

. He would later take home another bronze medal from the

. Johnson was appointed captain of the Golden State Warriors team for 24 years, where he set the record for the most three-point field goals in a game. His shooting and play making ability has been compared to that of

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...

Coaching career

Johnson was appointed an assistant coach for the 2013 U.S. Men's U23 and U.S. Women's U21 at the Junior ParaPan American Games. He was later promoted to assistant coach of the United States women's national wheelchair basketball team from 2013 until 2016. In March 2016, he was inducted into the NWBA Hall of Fame. The next year, Johnson was promoted to head coach of the United States women's national wheelchair basketball team from 2017 until 2020. While serving as coach, Johnson also sat on the board of directors for the Northern California Olympians and Paralympians, as the Sports Program Coordinator for the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program, and head coach of the Junior Road Warriors Wheelchair Basketball Team. In December 2021, Johnson resigned as head coach of the women's national team after current and former players alleged emotional misconduct. He said he would cooperate with a United States Center for SafeSport investigation, and believed there would not be any findings.

References

External links

Paralympic profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Trooper Living people Paralympic wheelchair basketball coaches Wheelchair basketball players at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Paralympic bronze medalists for the United States Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics American men's wheelchair basketball players Year of birth missing (living people) Paralympic medalists in wheelchair basketball Paralympic wheelchair basketball players for the United States 20th-century American sportsmen