The only coach in the history of Michigan high school sports to win at least 200 football games and 400 basketball games, Oscar E “Okie” Johnson led Muskegon Heights High School to six mythical Class A grid crowns and three Class A cage titles over his 37 seasons at the Tigers helm.
A three-sport star and captain of the football squad in his senior year at Western State Normal College (today known as Western Michigan University) he coached at Mount Pleasant High School for two years before accepting the Heights position in 1927.  Johnson’s football coaching debut against his old teammate at Western and future coaching rival, Muskegon High’s C. Leo “Tiny” Redmond, was a total embarrassment, losing 89-0.  But within three years Johnson’s Tiger teams became a respected and feared opponent for the Big Reds and handed Redmond four straight defeats from 1932 to 1935.  After that, the rivalry became one of the fiercest in Michigan, often with the mythical state championship on the line in this traditional season-ending contest.
The final clash between the two legendary grid mentors took place in 1946, Redmond’s final season, with the Tigers prevailing 7-0.  That victory gave Johnson another state championship and evened the record of this great coaching rivalry at 9-9-2.  For 10 more seasons, Okie carried on a new Big Red-Tiger rivalry with another former college teammate, Muskegon’s Harry Potter.  The posted a 6-4 mark in contests with Muskegon, giving Johnson a 6-4 edge in this personal rivalry.  The deterioration of the once-mighty Southwestern Conference diluted the rivalry in Johnson’s final years as coach.
His finest years as a basketball coach were from 1954 to 1957 when his Tiger cagers captured three Class A championships in four years.  He officially retired from coaching following the 1963-64 season, but he had one last fling in the fall of 1979, leading the Baldwin Panthers to three football victories during a teacher’s strike.  His final coaching totals show a 209-106-28 record on the football field and a 408-241 record on the basketball court.