{"id":679522,"date":"2026-03-26T04:30:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T04:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/679522\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T04:30:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T04:30:18","slug":"basketball-camp-honors-beloved-coach-and-comforts-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/679522\/","title":{"rendered":"Basketball camp honors beloved coach and comforts family"},"content":{"rendered":"

HUNTINGTON, W.Va<\/a> . (WSAZ) – More than a month after the shooting in Huntington that killed Derious \u201cDJ\u201d Johnson and his brother, Adrian Phillips, the community is still holding their family close.<\/p>\n

Todd Maynard, who hired DJ at St. Joe Middle School and has known him for years, said the loss has been hard to process. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tough situation; we lost a great one,\u201d Maynard said.<\/p>\n

Those who knew DJ describe him as a devoted father, a coach, and a constant presence in Huntington\u2014someone whose future was taking shape. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a great vision for his life,\u201d Maynard said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what makes this thing extremely tough is he had a north star, knew where he wanted to go in life, knew what he wanted for his kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Thomas, one of the organizers of a basketball camp created in DJ\u2019s honor, said, \u201cA shining star and just at the start of his ascent.\u201d<\/p>\n

DJ\u2019s impact went far beyond the gym at St. Joe Middle. He trained players across the tri-state, building relationships with families and pushing kids to improve on and off the court. <\/p>\n

At the Phil Cline YMCA, DJ\u2019s impact was seen on the hardwood where more than 70 kids signed up for a camp named in his honor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you knew DJ you knew that no matter who you were as a kid, if he knew you or not, he wanted you to grow to your greatest potential,\u201d YMCA Program Director Darian Shackelford said. \u201cSo, we\u2019re just trying to do exactly what he would want us to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Thomas, the camp is personal\u2014and emotional. He says DJ would have been right there with them. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve watched him grow from a young boy literally to a man that had almost a cult like following with kids and the parents of the kids that he coached, mentored and taught,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n

The money raised through the camp will go directly to DJ\u2019s family, but organizers said the support is about more than finances. <\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that the family seeing this community support will feel like we\u2019re all family and maybe give them a couple hours of relief where they don\u2019t have to think about the tragedy so much,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n

He said DJ was passionate and intense but also grew into a leader who understood how to reach people. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf every play wasn\u2019t called exactly right, DJ would let the refs hear about it,\u201d Thomas said, \u201cbut as he grew, he realized you get more bees with honey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organizers said the camp is expected to become a tradition, turning grief into something lasting for the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even think it\u2019s a name,\u201d Maynard said. \u201cI think DJ left a legacy and there\u2019s a difference between just living a life and leaving a legacy and that\u2019s something that he\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some families have donated directly to DJ\u2019s family and even paid to give players a chance to attend camp for free. Coaches who knew DJ say that\u2019s exactly how he would have wanted it.<\/p>\n

For previous coverage, click here. <\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WSAZ. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HUNTINGTON, W.Va . (WSAZ) – More than a month after the shooting in Huntington that killed Derious \u201cDJ\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[86404,8091,7,86400,86401,86399,23632,86398,41867,86402,86403,86397,86396,86395,86405,38576],"class_list":["post-679522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-adrian-phillipos","tag-ball","tag-basketball","tag-coach-dj","tag-coach-dj-basketball-camp","tag-derious-johnson","tag-huntington","tag-luke-hamilton","tag-murder","tag-st-joe","tag-st-joe-middle-school","tag-wchs","tag-wowk","tag-wsaz","tag-wsaz-news","tag-ymca"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116293600742862648","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}