Jaclyn "Jackie" Johnson, a former player in the WNBA, was named Pasadena City College's new athletic director after being confirmed Wednesday night at the school's Board of Trustees meeting. Johnson is scheduled to begin her post in October.
Johnson transitions to PCC from serving as AD for three years (2019-2022) at Evergreen Valley College, a California Community College in San Jose. She makes the step up in managing a 3-sport campus (men's and women's soccer, just added badminton for 2023) at EVC to supervising Pasadena's 16 intercollegiate sports teams, coaches, and staff.
Johnson, 43, is just the second black woman* to serve as PCC AD after Beverly Tate held the position from 2008-2011. Johnson reports to Dean of Kinesiology, Health & Athletics Dyan Miller, also an African-American woman. Breaking barriers in diversity at PCC, it is believed to be the first all-black women dean-AD tandem in the history of California Community College athletics.
Johnson previously served as interim AD at Santa Monica College (2016-2018) where she started first as an athletic coordinator in 2012. She originally worked in an athletic director role for two years at Bellarmine-Jefferson High in Burbank. She was also girls basketball coach at her alma mater, directing two Santa Cruz League title teams in 2011 and 2012.
She attended Bell-Jeff as a student-athlete and as a senior on the Guards, Johnson helped the team win the 1997 CIF Southern Section Division IV championship as the division's player of the year.
Johnson earned a basketball scholarship to the University of Kansas. During her four years as a Jayhawk (1997-2001), Johnson climbed on to the college's 1,000-point club, and ranked fifth on KU's all-time rebounding list with 846 boards. She was twice named All-Big 12 honorable mention in 2000 and 2001.
As a freshman, she helped Kansas reach the Sweet 16 of the 1998 NCAA Tournament. Johnson averaged 10.0 points per game for KU in the tourney, and she scored a game-high 18 points against Arkansas in the West Regional semifinals.
After graduating from Kansas, Johnson was chosen as the 42nd overall pick in the 2001 WNBA draft by the Orlando Miracle. She played one season for Orlando and then continued her pro career playing in Europe for several seasons. She decided to retire in 2010 in order to pursue a personal goal of becoming an athletics administrator.
In a tweet from Evergreen Valley's official college Twitter site last year, Johnson said, "Never let anyone talk you out of believing you can achieve anything. Yes, you may get knocked down over and over again, but all of your failures are just preparing you for the many successes you will have in the future. Never give up or give in."
She earned a master's degree in athletic administration from Concordia University Irvine and her bachelor's degree from Kansas.
*--As late as the 1980s, PCC and many CCCs carried different athletic directors for men's and women's sports. Jo Ann Zwanziger (caucasian and LBGTQ member) was the last women's sports AD at PCC before Tate.
Johnson as a WNBA player in 2001
