Tuesday, July 11, 2023
https://www.loscerritosnews.net/2023/07/07/johnson-retires-after-long-run-as-cerritos-aquatic-club-coach/
July 7, 2023
By Loren Kopff
All good things must come to an end, and after a lengthy
run of nearly 50 years with the Cerritos Aquatic Club, longtime coach Mark
Johnson has retired. Johnson, who will turn 74 years old later this month, was
the aquatics coach for Cerritos High in 1984 and later at Whitney High, among
other accomplishments.
Johnson said he finally decided at the end of last year
and beginning of this year that he was going to retire this summer. He said he
had always hoped to be able to be free when, as he put it, it is ‘lovely here
in Southern California’, which is from July to October, and felt like it was
time, especially for the Cerritos Aquatic Club. Johnson also cited that there
has been some coaching changes.
“It’s been a long, long haul and I can feel the age a
little bit,” said Johnson. “I had cataract surgery, my hearing is not great and
just other medical…I had some teeth pulled and stuff. Eyesight kind of gave me
a clue…and I just felt like it was a good time.”
Johnson said the club went through a ‘very good selection
process’ of interviewing his replacement, which will be Vince Carmosino.
Johnson added that the retirement is bittersweet and that the emotions have
welled up a couple of times and admitted his retirement hasn’t hit yet. There
was a big retirement party last Saturday at Cerritos Park East in which there
was a large contingent of past and present athletes, families, coaches and
officials. Johnson called the event ‘overwhelming’.
“I been overwhelmed with all the coaching throughout the
years and the little stuff that just doesn’t get done,” said Johnson. “But it’s
been a good run. The party was outrageous; there was a huge number of people
[with] swimmers who now have kids. It was just wonderful.
“The overwhelming feeling is just…the familiness of it is
really what stands out, which I feel the most proud of, I guess, and the
overall emotions connected with that,” he later said. “Not necessarily any
particular super performance, because there have been lots of them. But the
feeling of togetherness and working together for a common goal.”
Johnson began with the Cerritos Aquatic Club in 1975 and
was a Junior Olympic swimming champion with the Lakewood Aquatic Club under
coaching legend Jim Montrella. Johnson attended Warren High where he was a
CIF-Southern Section swimming champion. Post-high school, Johnson was an
All-American water polo player and captain of the Yale University swimming and
water polo teams.
Johnson has coached many Junior Olympic finalists, high
school league and CIF-SS champions at both Cerritos and Whitney over the years.
He also runs a popular bodysurfing contest every summer at Huntington Beach,
which he still intends to keep even though he’s retired from the high school
and club scene.
“Bodysurfing is really fun because…it’s so much fun to go
fast and if you’re in the right place at the right time, you can go really
fast,” said Johnson. “I’m still trying to get in the water. Now I’ll have some
more time to actually swim. I’ve been out of shape because of Covid and I broke
a couple of ribs a couple of years back.”
Several of his swimmers and water polo athletes have
competed at the university level and one of the club’s water polo players went
on to play for the United States Olympic team, which won several medals.
Johnson said he would like to credit much of the area’s
success to the ‘excellent’ assistant coaches the Cerritos Aquatic Club has had
and the support of the families and schools in Cerritos. He is most proud of
all the swimmers who have learned to love swimming, water polo and bodysurfing
for the competition, friendships and life-long healthy exercise they offer.
“What I also would like to do is teach swimming,” he
continued. “I’ve been telling the kids over and over, thousands of times how to
swim and get into college, find a roommate or friend that doesn’t know how to
[swim], and help them. I would really like to teach adults that have been
afraid of swimming or had a bad experience or are afraid to get near the water.
That’s probably in the future. I hope it is.”
Now that he has more time on his hand, Johnson admitted
he is ready to learn some more Spanish and get much better at it along with
reading a lot more and trying to keep the same discipline as far as going to
bed early and eating extremely well and taking care of himself and try to stay
healthy.
“It’s been an incredibly rewarding career,” he said.