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Exploring the Life of Riley “Doc” Johns
A CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas (EOA) entry highlights the life and accomplishments of Riley “Doc” Johns, an African American athletic trainer at Little Rock High School (now Little Rock Central High) from 1930 to 1950. He was also associated with the sport of boxing alongside his duties as trainer/assistant coach at Little Rock High.
According the the EOA, Johns (born in Fort Smith in 1895) served four months during World War I as a mechanic with Company A, Sixty-Fifth Pioneer Infantry and was discharged on December 15, 1918. Johns then moved to Little Rock (Pulaski County) in 1928 to work as groundskeeper for Kavanaugh Field and trainer for the minor league Little Rock Baseball Club. Johns briefly worked for a minor league team in Montreal, Canada, as park caretaker and trainer, but he soon returned to Arkansas. He became the full-time groundskeeper for the Little Rock School Athletic Association in 1930. In a limited capacity during this time of racial segregation, he assisted in coaching football, basketball, and track. Nicknamed “Doc,” Johns was considered the best trainer in the South and had turned down better opportunities with large universities. His services were sought after by other teams playing in Little Rock, including the University of Arkansas Razorbacks. He also volunteered at other sports venues, such as boxing and wrestling facilities.
I wanted to know even more about Johns, so I headed to the newspaper databases available from the Central Arkansas Library System. They revealed some interesting details about Johns’s life. For example, an Arkansas Gazette article from March 28, 1939, titled “Target for Bullets” reported that he had escaped injury when he tried to stop two men from fighting outside the Dreamland ballroom at Taborian Hall at 9th and State in the predominately Black business and entertainment area of West Ninth Street. One of the men shot a pistol at him four times.
An article about the Greater Little Rock Golden Glove boxing tournament for “Negro boxers” announced an upcoming tournament at Dunbar High School in its April 10, 1938, edition. Johns would referee a fight between 200-pounders T. B. Robinson and Winston Alexander, leading contenders for the heavyweight title. The April 14, 1938, Arkansas Gazette labeled the event the “first annual city Negro invitation boxing tournament.” Coach W. Jackson of Dunbar was in charge of the event, and Johns was the referee.
Dreamland was the site of a boxing match between the Arkansas Amateur Boxing Association (Negro) and the Company A. 92nd Engineers featured in the Arkansas Gazette on August 24, 1941. Newspapers announced on September 29, 1946, that Johns was named director of the “first annual Negro boxing tournament,” which would be held at the “Auditorium.” This reference is to the Joseph Taylor Robinson Memorial Auditorium (now called Robinson Center Music Hall or Auditorium) completed in 1940 in downtown Little Rock. The last paragraph of this article states that a section of the auditorium would be reserved for white patrons, distinguishing it from smaller venues like the Little Rock High School (Central High) or Dunbar auditoriums. Thirty-four entries had been received from Hot Springs, Little Rock, Pine Bluff and North Little Rock. The Carver branch of the Little Rock YMCA helped organize the event, with D. P. Tyler handling the entries.
Newspapers in 1956 announced dates for the State Negro AAU Boxing Tournament with participants from the South End Boys Club, Little Rock East End Boys Club, North Little Rock Boys Club, Pine Bluff Negro Boys Club, and the Negro Boys Industrial School at Wrightsville. William Thrasher, director of the South End Boys Club (now known as William E. Thrasher Boys and Girls Club), organized the event. It was held at Jones High School Gym in North Little Rock and stated to be the second state AAU Negro boxing tournament.
The 1970s saw a renewed interest in boxing, with many participants fighting under the Golden Gloves organization. Some names mentioned in newspaper articles are Larry Morris, Ronnie Phillips, James Cotton, John Fink, Shannon Williams, James Tellis, Tony Nicklos, Keith Lognion, Antimore Jackson, Reggie Jackson, Ray Jackson, Robert Jackson, Andrew Jackson, and Fred Jackson. By May 1979, Fred Jackson was listed as the fifth-ranked flyweight in the United States.
Little Rock boxing received worldwide attention when Jermain Taylor won a bronze medal at the Goodwill Games in 1998 and earned a position on the U.S. Olympic boxing team in 2000. He won a bronze medal in the light middleweight division.
According to the EOA, when Johns died on October 22, 1950, his body lay in repose at Tiger Stadium’s east lobby so people could pay their respects. He is buried at Little Rock National Cemetery. The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame posthumously awarded him “Meritorious Service” at its 1988 banquet.
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Do you want to delve into some newspapers to see what they might reveal? Let us help you at the CALS Roberts Library Research Room. You can also access many newspaper archives online, some at home and some at any library branch.
By Rhonda Stewart, genealogy and local history specialist for the Central Arkansas Library System’s Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, housed in the CALS Bobby L. Roberts Library of Arkansas History & Art
