Known as ‘Father of Atmore youth baseball’
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Murray Johnson, whose name is synonymous with youth sports, especially baseball, in Atmore, passed away last week at home with family members by his bedside, bringing to an end a 50-years-plus commitment to the community’s youth.
Family members confirmed that a “celebration of life” will be held this Saturday, June 28, at First Baptist Church of Atmore. Visitation will start at 1:30 p.m. and continue until the 3 p.m. service time. Burial will follow at Magnolia Cemetery in Evergreen.
The loss of the local legend was evident by more than 90,000 views within the first 24 hours after his death announcement and funeral arrangements were posted on the Atmore News Facebook page. More than 150 people commented on how Johnson changed or enhanced their lives and the lives of their children and grandchildren.
Former Atmore Mayor Jim Staff said he struck up a friendship with Johnson when Murray and Staff’s brother, Bill, played baseball against each other in the program Murray would one day take charge of.
“He was a great citizen, he really was, and he was a good friend,” said Staff as he remembered their seven-decades friendship. “There’s no telling how many lives he affected through little league (youth) baseball and football. He was one of those folks who wouldn’t quit. If you had a project that was within his scope, he would work like the devil to get it done. He stayed after it.”
Staff admitted the friendship included several incidents of a more private type.
“I can’t tell you a lot of the stuff Murray, or Murray and I, did,” Staff laughed. “And that’s all I’m going to say about that.”
Johnson was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce in 2016. He took over leadership of the local baseball and football programs in 1973. For the next five decades he ironed out the wrinkles in the local youth sports scene and raised organizational and operational standards to levels eventually adopted by numerous communities across Alabama.
Murray, who was 86 when he rounded third and headed for home last week, had retired earlier this year after more than 50 years of dedication and service to the youth of the community and beyond. He was recognized by state youth organizations across the state and even coordinated state and regional tournaments.
Fittingly, Atmore City Council members unanimously approved on June 9 the naming of the baseball complex at Tom Byrne Park, where the former insurance agent spent most of his time (all of which was volunteered), as the Murray Johnson Baseball Complex.
Atmore Public Library Director Hope Lassiter, who got to know Murray when she worked at the baseball complex’s concessions stand, expressed sentiments that were shared by most who knew the man who reshaped the landscape of youth sports in the city.
“To say I’ll miss him won’t begin to cover it,” said Hope Lassiter, who worked for Johnson at the park’s concession stand, said in a published report. “He didn’t have to love all of us the way he did, but he chose to. And that choice changed so many lives.”