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noel johnson - inductee #191

Noel Johnson

Johnson’s exceptional career as basketball player and coach began in Kelton, the tiniest of school districts near Shamrock.

In 1989, as a sophomore, she helped lead Kelton – with barely enough to field a team -- to the 1A regional finals where they lost to the Nazareth dynasty. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Dean Johnson, her father, became superintendent at Nazareth, and his daughter followed to become two-time all-state and lead the Swiftettes to the 1990 and 1991 1A state titles.

Texas Tech won the recruiting battle, and for the next four years, she was a key part of the Lady Raiders’ golden era that included the 1993 national championship and a 119-17 record. As a rock steady point guard, Johnson was a three-time All-Southwest Conference selection and named to the all-time Lady Raider team. She was the best three-point shooter in program history, shooting 43 percent for her career. In 135 games, she scored 1,244 points and her 410 assists rank seventh. Johnson has been honored by several associations, notably the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame, the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Texas Tech Athletics Hall of Fame.  

Johnson embarked on a college coaching career, spending her last 12 years as head coach at Midwestern University in Wichita Falls. She guided the Lady Mustangs to one Lone Star Conference championship and one LSC tournament title. She is the school’s all-time winningest women’s coach. She was still MSU’s coach when she died on June 9, 2020 at age 47 after a battle with cancer.

thank you to our inductee #191 sponsor