The Warren County and beyond sports community lost a dear friend this week with the passing of Dean Johnson due to cancer.

The longtime youth wrestling coach was inducted into the Warren County Sports Hall of Fame in 2010, the Hall’s most recent chapter.

“We will miss this wonderful man,” said a post on the Warren Athletics Fund Facebook page. “It’s a sad day to be a Dragon.”

Johnson wrestled at Warren from 1973 to 1976 under head coach Lee Chew. He was an junior college All-American at Alfred State College (44 wins over two seasons), and wrestled at Division I Virginia Tech.

Johnson also played football as a defensive end at Warren for head coach John “Toby” Shea.

Following his own wrestling career, he was a longtime football and wrestling coach in Sheffield and Warren, including head wrestling coach at Beaty Warren Middle School, and an assistant coach for the Warren ninth-grade football team. He and his brother, Dennis, held Johnson’s Keystone Wrestling Camp for more than a decade.

His YouTube WCSHOF induction video can be viewed at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEoNjH5_glo