Family and friends will be paying their final respects today in the Garden City to a student-athlete gone too soon.

Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. today at Howard Middle School gymnasium at 1225 Belleville Road for Newberry College senior and former Orangeburg-Wilkinson basketball player Kendrick Johnson. The 23-year-old Orangeburg native drowned in a pool accident last Friday at his girlfriend’s residence in Pendleton.

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

Johnson was a starting center at O-W and helped the Bruins reach their first Upper State finals in 21 years during the 2002-03 season. He signed with Newberry College and in three seasons became the school’s all-time blocked shots leader. Johnson’s 235 blocked shots also ranked him second in South Atlantic Conference history and 24th in NCAA Division II.

Newberry’s chief blocker swatted away 97 shots as a junior, which ranks fourth all-time for a single season in the SAC. Johnson holds the single-game school record with eight, which he accomplished on two occasions.

“Kendrick was an outstanding young man, and there are no words to describe the tragedy of losing such a fine young person,” Newberry College athletic director Brad Edwards said in a press release. “He will be greatly missed by everyone in the Newberry College family.”

At the time of his untimely passing, Johnson was completing a summer internship at Pendleton High School near Clemson University and had aspirations of pursuing a coaching career in basketball.

Following the services, burial will take place at Belleville Memorial Gardens in Orangeburg. Simmons Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

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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