Johnny Howington:
CLASS OF 1982
Western Harnett High SchoolClass of 1982
Lillington, NC
Johnny's Story
School
better not mention this! The two teachers that inspired me the most were: Frankie Stewart and Joyce Womble. They have also been in my church family since I was 16 years old and are still at Spring Hill Methodist Church. They both have given me alot of good advice over the course of my life. I would do it all over again if I would have all the same opportunities that my children have had in sports. We have driven all the way to Florida for my daughter (Casey) to play in the usssa world softball tournament and I'm going with my son (J.T.) to play in the usssa world 14 and under baseball tournament in Kingsport, Tennessee in July of this year. They go to all kind of camps and we practice 3 or 4 times a week. I love it. I coached baseball for 9 years at WHHS and now I coach girls fastpitch softball at WHHS and just completed my 2nd year of softball. I just completed my 11th year teaching at WHHS. Can you all believe this?
But yes I would love to go back to the 7th grade when sports started. I bet you one thing I would study alot more and try to be a better person to everyone!
I was working with the softball team one day on rundowns between home and 3rd base and I told the catcher to give me the glove because I was going to show her how to do it right you know. About 3 or 4 steps into me running the player back to 3rd I started noticing that my head was getting way out in front of my feet and I fell flat of my face. It was quite as a mouse at first and when everyone noticed I was ok everyone laughed at me for at least 10 minutes. needless to say I think my days of dimenstrating or about over.
While in school I remember hitting a homerun my last time at bat in baseball at South Johnston. Right over the flag pole. The craziest memories are to many and too embarrassing to tell . I also would not want my kids to see this.
College
There were not many of these believe it or not because I went to school from 8:00 am until 3:30 pm, then I went to work on secound shift at Trion, Inc. in Sanford from 4:00pm until 12:00 pm. So you can tell with this schedule there was not alot of time for no all-nighters. Every once in a while I would go crazy but not very often.
Workplace
I started out at Trion in Sanford runnimg a cnc shear. When I graduated form tool & Die from CCCC in Sanford I got a job working in the machine shop. I stayed at Trion for 3 years. In 1987 I was offered a job at Black & Decker in Fayetteville where I had a good 10 year work experience. This is where I learned alot about cnc programming on Lathes and Milling Machines. The last five years I worked at B&D I ran a Coordinate Measuring Machine. This was the best job I ever had....Expand for more
Alot of math and blueprint reading was an everyday part of the job and I was always working on something different with Engineers that involved problems in the processes going on the assembly lines. I think back to trying to decide what I wanted to do after high school and I always wanted to be a P.E. Teacher and a coach. Harnett County wanting to incorporate some newer technology programs and I got a call one day from Don Damon who was the vocational Director at the time and he asked me if I would be interested in teaching at WHHS. I immediatly said no. I did'nt think I could handle the kids this day and time. Then I got to thinking that this would be the only way I could ever fullfill the dream of coaching. So I went back to school and got my teaching certificate from ECU and started teaching in the summer of 1996. I have enjoyed every year since the first two years. The 1st two years really made me want to quit. Everyone said you have to give it at least 5 years. I'm glad I listened. The problems I was having was directly related to me not having a clue about how to conduct a class. From that point on I have really enjoyed every year and I have realized that you get better with time if you care about what you are doing and want to get better. The past two years I have had the highest VOCATS Scores in the school. Don't be to impressed it took me 10 years. We were also the 1st High School in the state to become NIMS Certified. Me as the instructor and the shop is NIMS Accredated which means we can certified kids in high school and they can find a better paying job right out of high school if they choose not to go onto college. We stress the importance of going to college but some kids just are not interested. Also I coached Varsity baseball for 9 years and now I have been coaching girls fastpitch softball for the past 2 years. We maded the playoffs this year. Yeah!! Both of my kids will be at WHHS this coming year. Casey will be in the 10th grade and J.T. will be in the 9th grade. God really blessed me and Tammy with two beautiful children. In case you are wondering yes J.T. looks alot like me except I think he is going to be alot taller than I was. He is already as tall as me now and I don't think by the way he is eating he is through growing. Both Of them do really well in school. Casey still has not maded less than an -A- in any class. She had a 100 average in Biology and I told her that she tied me. J.T. has maded 3 b's so you can tell both of them are smarter than their Daddy. Casey wants to be a Dentists (any help will be appreciated, money mainly) and J.T. wants to be a P.E. teacher and a coach. So this is how I ended up where I am today.
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