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Gary "Cat" Johnson (1960 - 2019)


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Sad to report that ORU Hall of Famer Gary "Cat" Johnson passed away Tuesday at a St. Louis hospital at the age of 58.

Cat had been dealing with a number of health issues the past few years, but that didn't stop him from a number of business ventures in his hometown of Joplin (MO), the latest of which was a restaurant called "Cat Johnson's Taste Of The South".  Here's a tribute posted from one of his friends:

https://www.fourstateshomepage.com/news/one-of-joplin-s-greatest-athletes-gary-cat-johnson-has-died/1912698096

Cat was a schoolboy legend in Joplin, leading his Joplin Memorial high school team to back-to-back state championships in the late 70's against much larger schools from St. Louis and Kansas City.  Here's a link to his bio from the Joplin Sports Hall of Fame website:

https://joplinsports.org/hall-of-fame/entry/gary-cat-johnson

At ORU, Cat teamed with fellow Hall of Famer Steve Bontrager to form arguably the greatest back court duo in school history.  He had a flamboyant yet controlled style that reminded me of Isaiah Thomas.  He really was "quick as a cat"; and he had a personality as flashy as his nickname. Cat was instrumental in convincing teammate Calvin Garrett to return to ORU in 2018 for Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, and coordinated a reunion of former ORU players from that time as part of the festivities.

Cat was one-of-a-kind, and I'm sure there will be other tributes coming in the next few days that I will try to post as I find them.

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Cat Johnson's quickness’s combined with his ability to stop on a dime helped him to excel at the “stop and pop.”  His defenders had great difficulty staying with him and as I recall he loved to stop and pop from the area just behind the free throw line.  He was short but he could really elevate and had a very accurate jump shot.

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TheEagleman is very saddened to hear this news.....Cat Johnson played at ORU a few years after I graduated but I am very familiar with his exploits during the late 70s-early 80s when ORU basketball was still a force in D-1.....58 is far too young to go....especially since I am well past that....those photos of Cat in the old ORU uniforms bring back many memories....love the pic of Cat, Bontrager and Showman....😎....sincere sympathies to his family.....Gary "Cat" Johnson will always be an ORU legend and HOFer.....😥

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O T and i both got to see cats last oru game in a rocking mabee center until a guy named little got hot! Had contact with him cause he knew herman ken stan who were on my wing. fun loving guy and fortunate to play with the "blur"at the a c .best point guard i ever played with. last memory of him was when we played the athletic dorm in softball and of course cat was great as a shortstop. prayers of Gods comfort and strength to his family

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Cat, on the Athletic Dorm's intramural Team, took away a bunch of hits as shortstop, running in the hole and throwing people out against our team.

It wasn't fair, it seemed playing the Athletic Dorm in intramurals, was like playing the Dream Team!

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I played on the Law School's intramural team as catcher/pitcher.  Normally I was catcher.  When we played the Athletic Dorm team I loved talking trash as each one of those guys came to the plate.  I especially remember talking trash to both Cat Johnson and Mark Acres, trying to get them distracted.  They would look at me and shake their heads like who is this idiot.  It was all in good fun.  They looked at our team as the "old guys".  It was a lot of fun.  It was also a true pleasure watching guys like Cat, Mark Acres and his brother Jeff and Steve Bontrager play in Mabee.  Great times.

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Wonderful memories of watching Cat play. Prayers for his family & loved ones.

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Getting a kick out of these intramural/varsity crossover stories; used to love going up to the AC during school and playing alongside baseball guys like Mike Moore, Bud Bartholow, Jeff Baker, Paul Haley, et al and seeing those guys just dominate the best intramural teams from "up campus" like Legacy, Youngblood, Am Heratz, etc.

I honestly don't know how much Mike Moore could have played on those Titan basketball teams from back in the day, but I guarantee you he could not only have contributed to this current ORU roster, he might have started at 2-guard this past season.  The guy could really shoot and run the floor!

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Keith miller too agressive of course todd burns lots of fun was it fri afternoons?

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Services for Cat were held today in Joplin. Here’s a great article from The Joplin Globe, including quotes from Cat’s high school coach at Joplin Memorial, Mike O’Rourke, who followed Cat to Tulsa and served as an assistant coach on Ken Hayes’ staff at ORU before a successful run at Tulsa Memorial High School. 

https://www.joplinglobe.com/sports/local_sports/gary-cat-johnson-remembered-as-consummate-team-player/article_64672d8a-5c0d-11e9-8b38-9b2e36ad6f32.html

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