Name:
Thomas "Sarge" Johnson
Rank:
Sergeant
Serial Number:
Unit:
Date of Death:
1980-03-14
State:
Indiana
Cemetery:
Lincoln Memory Gardens, Whitestown, Indiana
Plot:
Garden of the Last Supper, Plot 208B
Row:
Grave:
Decoration:
Comments:
Born March 26, 1921, Johnson was a retired army sergeant who is best remembered as the trainer for the highly successful 1976 U.S. Olympic boxing team, a squad that included Sugar Ray Leonard, Michael Spinks, Howard Davis, Leon Spinks, Leo Randolph and John Tate. He was also among those who helped groom Indianapolis' Marvin Johnson to become a world champion light heavyweight. He was killed with the 1980 U.S. National Boxing team in a crash near Warsaw, Poland. Indianapolis' Sarge Johnson Boxing Center was named in his honor, as was the Thomas "Sarge" Johnson Scholarship.