Peppie Jenkins wished Monday morning she had awakened from a nightmare.

The tragic news about her nephew, Newberry College senior and former Orangeburg-Wilkinson student-athlete, drowning in a pool accident in Pendleton three days ago was all an aberration. Upon waking up, Jenkins’ mind would be further eased by hearing Johnson’s voice over the telephone as he updated his aunt on the summer internship.

Later in the day as funeral arrangements for 11 a.m. Friday at Howard Middle School were finalized with Simmons Funeral Home, a harsh, painful reality began to set in. She would not get a chance to speak with Johnson again about his future.

Instead, Jenkins, family members and close acquaintances would be paying their last respects to the 23-year-old during services at Howard Middle School.

“It was one of those things that you know it’s not real and you’re sleeping and you’re hoping somebody wakes up or the medication wears off,” Jenkins said. “It’s real hard.”

Johnson died Friday evening at AnMed Health Medical Center in Anderson shortly after he had been transported to the emergency room after drowning in the pool of his girlfriend’s residence in Pendleton.

The 6-7 center, who was among the NCAA Division II’s leading shotblockers during his three seasons at Newberry College, was staying in Pendleton while commuting to Clemson University where he was completing a summer internship in coaching basketball.

“He had big plans,” Jenkins said. “His future was very big. He wanted to give back to the community because he played basketball here and he made great grades. He wanted to give back to the community. As a big brother, he wanted to help coach younger kids.”

Equally stunned by the events was Johnson’s high school coach, Alex Barron.

“He was doing real good up there and I had no idea that something like this would happen,” he said. “Of course, we have no idea and it’s sad for the Bruin family that he’s no longer with us.”

After helping the Bruins reach the Class 4-A Upper State finals as a junior, Johnson had a different career goal entering his senior year as Barron remembered.

“Kendrick, for some reason, wanted to be a truck driver,” Barron said.

“I told him ‘Well, you have a chance to go to college and get a free education. Instead of driving a truck, I said you could end up owning

2-3 trucks and becoming an owner. But you need to go to college and earn a degree so that you’ll be ahead of the game. Don’t be the driver of the truck, be the owner.”

Johnson took Barron’s advice to heart and developed into Newberry’s Chief Blocker. He set the Newberry single-game blocks record with eight 0 D blocks against Brevard on Jan. 30, and on Feb. 2, he blocked eight more shots in a game against Carson-Newman. His 138 blocks is a Newberry College record, and he was eighth in the South Atlantic Conference in blocks all-time.

“He did a great job for us and he was making great strides at Newberry College and he had another year before he earned his degree,” Barron said. “Never caused trouble. Never got into trouble. He was one of those kids who did a real good job on the court and in the classroom and I was hoping that he would finish up.”

It’s those memories which those close to Johnson will cherish as consolation during this difficult time.

“Kendrick was like one of those special kids,” Jenkins said. “He was very loving. He was very supportive. He had an all-around big heart.”

n T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.

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