Nomination year: 2020

Nominated by: Daniel Strong

Nomination category: Athletes & Coaches

Sport: Football, Basketball, Motocross, Men’s Softball, Golf, Tennis, Bowling

Years participating: 20+ years, beginning in 1973

Career Summary:

Johnny McLerran participated in, and coached, a multiplicity of sports for over 20 years.  He excelled in not only traditional athletics, but ventured into many untraditional realms.

Entering Celina High in the fall of 1973, McLerran played both basketball and football for the Bulldogs.  

On the gridiron he was the definition of a utility man⎼catching, running, and throwing touchdowns as a three-year starter.  His sophomore season, he was a key contributor to a stellar 10-1 season that saw coach Harold Watson’s team defeat David Lipscomb in the Lions Bowl.  As a junior and senior, he was the feature receiver for CCSHOF quarterback Roger Short, and each of the pair earned All-Midstate Honorable Mention in 1975 and then All-Midstate 3rd Team in 1976 for their efforts, while leading their 8-3 team to another Lions Bowl.

Individual highlights for McLerran include: 750 yards receiving (1976, currently ranks 3rd all-time), 7.6 yards/carry (1976), 202 yards rushing vs. Marion County (1976), 82-yard TD catch vs. RBS (1975), 75-yard kickoff return TD vs. Gordonsville (1975), and 2 interceptions vs. Baxter (1975).

On the harwood, McLerran was thrust into a starting role as a sophomore just prior to the region tournament due to injury, where he helped lead coach Thomas Watson’s team to a Substate berth.  He would start as point guard the next two seasons, and as a senior helped capture the district title, before being eliminated in the region tournament.  Coach Watson remembers McLerran as “a competent floor-leader.”

After graduating in 1977 and earning a degree, McLerran would return to Clay County as an educator and coach.  During his tenure in Celina, he coached Peewee football and basketball, junior high boys and girls basketball, was a high school baseball assistant for two years, and spent multiple years as a high school football assistant. 

McLerran had the opportunity to become the head football coach at Jackson County High in 1987, and he performed that role for seven seasons.  While in Gainesboro, he also assisted with baseball for four years and established the Upper Cumberland’s first high school bowling team, which he oversaw for five years.

While starring for the Black and Gold, McLerran was also competitive in other areas.  In 1973 he was a founding member of the Berm Busters Motocross Club and actively competed in races throughout Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee for the better part of a decade.

At the age of 14, he began playing on adult mens softball teams, for the better part of 20 years, and would often play 120 games per year.  Those exploits were highlighted by an appearance and 6th place finish in the USSSA World Tournament held in Tuscaloosa, AL.

Active golfing participation in the 1990’s saw McLerran on teams that won several tournaments.  Once at the par-3, Hole #10 of the Cookeville Country Club, he sank a hole-in-one that was rewarded with a ring valued at $10,000.  

McLerran also had the pleasure of participating in doubles tennis throughout the Upper Cumberland region with his grandmother Mary Emma “Momma Mae” Reneau.   

Nominator comment:

“The body of work that Johnny McLerran has put together concerning sports in Clay County is most likely unrivaled concerning duration, diversity, and successfulness.  He was a tremendous football player, and his “partner in crime” Roger Short has already been enshrined in the Hall.  Johnny McLerran deserves to be there with him, and that’s not even taking into consideration his tremendous resume outside of high school sports.”