Sports
For 60 years, Georgetown baseball has been a family business
Of all the historic places in Georgetown County, one that might get overlooked is Mike Johnson Park at the corner of Emanuel and Kaminski streets in Georgetown.
The park, which is home to the Georgetown High School baseball team and the American Legion Post 114 senior and junior baseball teams, started as Atlantic Coast Lumber Park in 1908.
At the time, Atlantic Coast Lumber was a major employer in Georgetown County.
It was renamed Georgetown County Stadium, and the city bought it in 1942 for baseball and football games. The Georgetown Athletics played semi-pro baseball in the stadium as part of the Palmetto Baseball League from 1948 to 1951.
Starting in 1962, the stadium was used exclusively for football games featuring Winyah and Howard high schools. Eventually it was reconfigured for baseball and football.
When Winyah and Howard were combined and Georgetown High School opened in 1982, the stadium continued to host baseball and football games until a football stadium was built behind the school in 1988.
In 2015 the facility received a South Carolina Historical Marker.
For the better part of the last 60 years, there have been Mike Johnsons playing or coaching – sometimes both – at the stadium.
Mike Johnson Sr. played at the park as a Winyah High School student. After graduating in 1965, he coached at the park for 46 years for Winyah, Howard and Georgetown high schools.
When the area around the visitors dugout had to be remodeled because it kept flooding, Johnson made sure the new dugout was built partially underground.
“We’ve got them in a hole to start off when they come in,” he said.
Michael Johnson Jr. played for his father while a student at Georgetown High in the mid-1990s. He said everyone always has great things to say about Mike Johnson Park.
“It’s unlike any other high school field that they play at,” Michael Jr. added. “It’s just such a special place. The way it’s designed and the history of it.”
Playing for his dad was difficult at times, Michael Jr. said, because Mike Sr. was sometimes harder on him than the other players.
“Looking back it was probably one of the best experiences that I’ve had in my playing career,” Michael Jr. added. “The lessons that I learned from him as a dad and a coach is unlike anything else. It’s a one-of-a-kind type opportunity.”
After graduating from Georgetown in 1998, Michael Jr. headed to Clemson University and played in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., in 2000 and 2002. He was also a coach on the Clemson squad that went to Omaha in 2010.
Michael Jr. is one of only three county residents to play in the College World Series. Winyah High graduate Clint Sawyer, a cousin of Michael Jr.’s, played in 1985, and Georgetown High graduate Woody Woodall won the title with Coastal Carolina University in 2016.
Michael Jr. lived in the Clemson area until 2019 when he moved back to Georgetown with his family and took a job with the Georgetown County School District.
That meant Mike Johnson III got a chance to play at Mike Johnson Park this year on Georgetown High’s junior varsity team, which his grandfather coached. He also played for Post 114’s junior team.
“I never thought I’d be able to, and then we moved down here and it was really cool to be able to this year,” Mike III said. “This is really nice. Some of the other stadiums … they’re not nearly as good as this.”
Mike III is an eighth-grader at Georgetown Middle School. Michael Jr. and his wife, Carrie, also have a son named Davis, a fourth-grader at Kensington Elementary School.
Michael Jr. said it was “very special” to watch his father coach his son.
“It’s so cool. Every time you come to a game, like this past season and [dad’s] in the dugout coaching and there’s Mike in uniform,” Michael Jr. said. “I’m that annoying dad that’s snapping photos because it’s kind of surreal. But it’s really neat.”
When his Mike III and Davis were born, Mike Sr. told Michael Jr. that he wanted to live long enough to see them play baseball.
In 1988, Mike Sr. led Georgetown to the Class 4A state title. The next year City Council renamed the stadium after him.
Although upgrades have been made in recent years – new front gate, new restrooms, handicapped seating – the stadium is much the same as it has been for decades, including the bleachers in centerfield that are a remnant of when the park hosted football games.
A new digital scoreboard was recently installed in right-center field, but an old manual one is still used in left field.
Mike Sr. considers the constant sights, sounds and smell coming from the nearby International Paper Mill an advantage for Georgetown High and Post 114 players and fans. The sound of the mill is something regular visitors to the park are so used to it becomes background noise. Newbies to the park must think “what is that?”
The thick plumes of smoke from the mill can be seen over the pitcher’s mound from the third base side of the field.
International Paper and Mike Johnson Park have been linked since 1991, when the IPaper Classic tournament started. The annual event kicks off the baseball season and attracts the top high school baseball teams from around the state.
Mike Sr. retired in 2013 with a record of 733-435. That remains the second most wins by a high school baseball coach in state history.
He was elected to the S.C. Athlete Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2014.
