Johnson turns tragic losses to inspiration
MSU running back has ‘something to play for’ after deaths of 2 friends
STARKVILLE — Dillon Johnson waited all day for a text message.
Everyone at St. Joseph High School in Greenville couldn’t wait for that night’s 2018 semifinal playoff game against Brookhaven Academy. The school’s do-it-all starting quarterback and tailback would have had the same frame of mind most other weeks. But not that one.
Physically, Johnson was getting ready to travel to Brookhaven. Mentally, he was at a hospital in Jackson. He knew the impending text would forever change his life one way or the other.
English class went by. So did lunch. Johnson made it all the way to the last period of the day without receiving the message. It finally came moments before the bell rang. It was exactly what Johnson tried so hard to prepare for but knew he would not be able to bear once he read the words.
It was official.
Johnson’s best friend, Jeremiah Williams, died from a neck injury he sustained a week prior playing football for Greenville High School in a game against Madison Central.
Johnson broke down crying in the middle of the classroom.
“Everyone was shocked because they didn’t know what I was crying for, and usually I was the person in my school that everyone looked up to,” Johnson said. “They knew it had to be something serious. I couldn’t even look at anybody. I just left the school.”
Johnson gathered himself and boarded the team bus with help from teammate Kaleb Lockett. Johnson didn’t want to play and didn’t think he’d be able to. His heart was not in the right place, but Lockett helped him get it there.
Johnson wrote “#LLJW” (Long Live Jeremiah Williams) on his wrist tape, closed his eyes, said a prayer and accounted for 229 yards and three touchdowns in a 40-0 win.
St. Joseph won its second-straight state title with a 42-22 win over Centreville the next week. Johnson, again with an acronym memorializing Williams written on his forearm and the memory of him firmly on his mind, had 316 total yards and four touchdowns.
“There was no stopping him that night,” St. Joseph coach John Baker said. “He ran like a beast. He just played lights out.”
Johnson said he had the strength of a higher power.
“Jeremiah would have wanted me to go out there and compete,” Johnson said. “He would have wanted me on the field doing what he couldn’t do anymore.”
Playing in honor of a fallen friend is something Johnson, now a freshman running back at Mississippi State, experienced before he lost Williams. Tragedy struck in Greenville five months earlier, and Johnson was at the center of that incident, too.
‘Some kids would shut down’
Johnson will never forget the flashing red and blue lights. Johnson’s mother, Gwen Moore, will never forget the phone call she had with her son that night. Many people from Greenville, especially Johnson, will never forget Jeffiun Howard.
Another friend of Johnson’s through time bonding on basketball courts, Howard was killed on June 17, 2018, in a four-wheeling accident. An ATV flipped and landed on him while he was leisurely riding with some friends.
Johnson could have been there with them but passed on the invitation. Howard and Johnson played ball at the YMCA two days prior on Johnson’s 17th birthday.
Johnson was alerted about the accident moments after it happened and immediately ran to the scene. That’s when he called Moore.
“He was crying and howling on the phone,” Moore said. “I really didn’t know what was going on.”
“All of my emotions just left my body,” Johnson added. “I went up to Jeff ’s best friend who was at the scene and we just cried. It was crazy. You just don’t experience things like that very often.”
Johnson experienced it twice in less than half a year. He found many ways to cope.
He changed his number from 7 to 2 in honor of Howard’s favorite numeral. He got a tattoo of the number 2 on his right shoulder. Inside the number are things important to him. Family. Faith. Prayer. Howard’s name. Williams’ nickname.
The number is surrounded by a Bible verse — Matthew 22:14: “For many are called, but few are chosen.” Johnson believes he was chosen to mourn the loss of two of his best friends in a way that would make them proud.
“Some kids would shut down. But instead of shutting down and crawling into a shell, he stepped up his game and played for them,” Baker said. “He always has something to play for.”
‘They’ll never be forgotten’
Moore always knew her son was genuine, intuitive and emotional, but she worried the sudden loss of two of his closest companions would change him in irreparable ways.
A friend of Moore’s from the medical field advised that Johnson might need counseling. Moore considered bringing it up with Johnson, but she saw him enact his own form of therapy instead.
Johnson contacted Williams’ and Howard’s mothers on nearly a daily basis. He went over to their houses countless times to grieve with them. He became so close with Williams’ mom that she attended his signing day ceremony.
“His way of dealing with it was being a support system for them and helping them make it through the tough times,” Moore said. “I know that when they looked at Dillon, it reminded them of their sons. That was a way for them to heal.”
The dedication to Howard, Williams and his craft has Johnson suiting up in maroon and white on Saturdays, writing “#LLJH” and “#LLJW” on his tape every time he does so.
“I had my ups and downs, and sometimes I felt like I just wasn’t going to be able to do it, but my whole community had my back since the tragedies,” Johnson said. “I always thank the people who were there for me because without them I probably wouldn’t be here.”
Contact Tyler Horka at thorka@gannett.com. Follow @tbhorka on Twitter. To read more of Tyler’s work, subscribe to the Clarion Ledger today!