Lord Botetourt High School and coach Andrew Hart, a graduate and former basketball player at Emory & Henry College, will be hosting the Bob Johnson Classic at LB this Saturday. The event will include five games with coaches who have Emory & Henry ties.
Robert J. “Bob” Johnson served Emory & Henry College as its men’s basketball coach and athletics director for 30 years. The winningest coach in program history with 370 victories across 27 seasons, Johnson is one of the legendary mentors in the history of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. He was selected as a member of the 2009 class of the Emory & Henry Sports Hall of Fame.
Saturday’s event includes five games, beginning at noon with Parry McCluer against John Battle. The Blues are coached by Mike Cartolaro, Class of 1983, and Battle is coached by Steve Posey, Class of ’87.
At 1:45 p.m., Liberty Christian Academy (Paul Redgate ’05) will meet Goochland (Presto Gordon ’04), followed by Moncan (RJ Spelsberg ’98) against Mountain View (Kevin Brown ‘87).
Botetourt will play the 5:15 p.m. game against Fluvanna, coached by Heath Bralley (’01). LB coach Hart is a 2009 graduate of E&H.
The final game of the day will have Altavista (Casey Johnson 2000) against Narrows (Patrick Bailey ’01).
There are currently 10 high school coaches who played for the Wasps under Johnson and other notable college coaches like Virginia Tech’s Mike Young, Army coach Jimmy Allen and current Wasps coach Paul Russo.