DOVER, Fla. — The baseball players that Ernie Johns coaches at Strawberry Crest High School could be his grandkids.
“I have one kid here. I coached his dad at Brandon,” Johns said.
But there is no Grandpa Ernie here, just Coach Ernie.
“I can’t even tell that he’s the oldest guy out here,” Chargers freshman catcher Toby Highsmith said. “He’s got such a fun personality. He’s great to work with, he’s great as a coach, he’s awesome.”
“For me, it’s never judging a book by its cover,” Chargers senior catcher Adrian Vo added.
Johns is soon to be 69 years old. He has two knee braces and uses a cane and a walker to get around.
“I love baseball. Family and baseball, dude. That’s it,” Johns told ABC Action News sports anchor Kyle Burger. “I tell people all the time. I don’t hunt. I don’t fish. I don’t hang out in bars. If you want to find me, if you got a baseball game on, I’ll be there. That’s what I love.”
Johns was a walk-on catcher at Southeastern Louisiana University in the 1970s. He played one season of minor league ball in the Baltimore Orioles organization. He began coaching at Brandon High School in 1990 and was there for nearly three decades.
Johns took a break in 2018, then began to substitute teaching at Strawberry Crest High School. Head coach Eric Beattie knew of Johns when he coached at Brandon and had to get him on his team.
“I found Ernie at South Brandon Little League back in the 90’s when I was playing there,” Beattie said. “Then I found him again when I was at Riverview High School playing against Brandon. We just re-connected over the years. We’ve always gotten along and loved each other. Here we are. Teammates again.”
Johns is at every practice and every game, bringing his unique perspective on the sport. His specialty is coaching up the catchers.
“The little things turn into big things like feet work,” Vo said. “Feet work has a big role on our throwing motion to generate more power.”
“Not only does he teach us the physical part of the game, but he also helps us with the mental side and making sure we’re in control and not in our own head,” Highsmith added.
Johns had a hip replacement at the end of 2020. He was back on the field in March 2021. He’s due for a knee replacement soon.
“I have the walker; kids say, ‘why you bring it out here now?’ It’s my own chair. I got a basket in the bottom. Bring stuff for y’all. I got a chart in there—everything I use. I got a chair anywhere I go,” he said.
That’s not all he keeps in the chair.
“He gives us Jolly Ranchers any time we ask,” Highsmith said. “He gave all the catchers a bag. He said if we take care of him, he’ll take care of us.”
“(Baseball) is a people business,” Beattie said. “That’s what we’re in. There’s a lot of great people in baseball and he’s one of them.”
