As the crowd cheers, the Grizzlies players, Grizz Girls and Grizzline go out to the floor for a lively and dynamic basketball game in Memphis, Tennessee. Among the multitude of people on the floor, the White Station High School (WSHS) Spartans can spot their very own basketball coach Quinton Johnson with the drumline for the Grizzline.
Johnson’s interest in basketball can go all the way back to his childhood, but on a professional level, he decided to take the role of a basketball team’s manager when he was in high school. After playing college basketball up until 2014, he came back to the basketball world due to Coach Patino’s request and started his job as an assistant coach.
“Coach Patino showed up here my junior year [in high school] and we’ve been sticking together ever since,” Johnson said. “In 2014, [when] I came back home that summer, he was like ‘I need an assistant coach’ so there it began.”
Johnson played basketball at Southeast Missouri State University in his freshman year and came back to Memphis for two years due to family issues. However, he played basketball at Valley Christian College from 2013 to 2014.
“I’ve learned more about myself than basketball,” Johnson said. “[I have learned the importance of] will, desire, what you can really push yourself to do and just making a commitment to be the best version of you.”
Growing up, Johnson was exposed to many different instruments, with his uncle being a drummer and Johnson taking piano lessons to be part of the White Station Middle School band all the way through high school. Stepping out of his boundaries with the desire to show off his drumming skills and enthusiastic character, Johnson picked up a job to be part of the Grizzlies Claw Crew, the entertainment team for the Grizzlies.
“We’re doing [end-of-game] activities, throwing t-shirts, and interacting with the crowd,” Johnson said.
He is also part of the Memphis Grizz, which is better known as the Memphis Grizzlies drumline. He has been drumming with them since 2017 and mostly plays on cymbals, but occasionally plays on bass drums too. “We perform on Beale Street before the game and we do a time-out during the game,” Johnson said. “It’s an opportunity to be a performer and be an entertainer.” The Grizzline is known for playing along Beale Street just outside of the Forum before games, and they take on the floor during half-times. One of the students from WSHS noticed Johnson playing on Beale Street.
“I saw him on Beale Street before the game [when he was] playing on the drum line,” Oliver Franklin (12) said. “I recognized him because of his beard.”
Because he sees the professional NBA players up close and warming up and interacting with other coaches, Johnson has picked up on some important lessons and training that can benefit WSHS’s basketball team.
“It’s an opportunity to [improve] my coaching skills and to be more observant,” Johnson said. “There is more attention to detail and intricate things that coaches out there give out and we do our best to give it to our kids.”
At school, Johnson picked up on other school-spirited activities such as being on aux during pep rallies and dj-ing for orientation days. For the freshman, he was known as the ‘school dj’ for some time.
“With the dj-ing, he knows how to get us super pumped up and that same energy can be seen at the Grizzlies games,” Logan Thompson (12) said. “You can see [his character and spirit] around the school as much as you can see at Grizzlies games.”
As much fun as it sounds, being part of the Grizzline is time-consuming just as any other job with two- to four-hour practice sessions on every Sunday for upcoming performances. However, Johnson manages his time well, even with his role as the Assistant Head Coach for the varsity boys’ basketball team at WSHS.
“Some days you can be at the Forum five days a week just because you’re prepping for home games,” Johnson said. “Just last week, we had four home games and Tony Allen’s retirement [and] had a couple of big halftime performances. It’s really a show inside the show … and a big stage production and big entertainment. Some people come to see the games [but] you got the dancers, the kids and the games to keep all 18,000 people entertained.”
Johnson’s passion for the world of basketball and talent for playing drums keeps him away from stop performing.
“I’m going to do this until my body says, ‘We’re not going to do this anymore,”’ Johnson said. “It’s really too much fun and I get to go to the Grizzlies game and be behind-the-scenes and interact with different people. I get to build a network. I will keep showing up as long as I can.”