NATCHITOCHES – The Southland Conference announced Thursday its Men's Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year Award will now be named the Leon Johnson Award after the Northwestern State coaching legend who has retired after more than three decades of service to the institution, the conference and the larger track and field community.

Southland Commissioner Tom Burnett made the announcement last Saturday at the "Lunch With Leon" gathering in Johnson's honor on the NSU campus, attended by almost 250 former athletes, colleagues and friends, including Sam Seemes, the CEO of the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Burnett's announcement was among a series of recognitions and honors bestowed on Johnson, who July 3 announced he was retiring after 31 years in charge of the Northwestern program. Only H. Lee Prather, basketball coach for 36 seasons until 1950, served longer as a head coach at Northwestern.

The additional honors included:

• NSU president Dr. Randy Webb, in concurrence with the University of Louisiana System, conferred him emeritus status as track and field coach, an honor usually reserved for esteemed academics and rarely granted in state history to a coach.

• Webb also presented him with the Nth Degree given to those in the Northwestern family for extraordinary service and bringing great credit to the university.

• The entrance road to NSU's Walter Ledet Track Complex will be renamed Leon Johnson Lane, announced director of athletics Greg Burke.

• An endowed scholarship for track and field has been created in his name.

• Last Saturday night, NSU's three columns were lit purple in his honor.

"We are very proud to honor Coach Johnson with this annual award beginning in 2014," Burnett said. "Leon has proven to be a legend in every sense of the word throughout his accomplished coaching career, and it's appropriate we acknowledge all the great things he has done with this award. His impact on Southland Conference track and field and cross country was abundantly clear when our athletic directors met recently and unanimously agreed to extend this honor."

Johnson, already a championship prep coach in Louisiana when he joined the Northwestern State program in 1982, quickly made his presence felt and maintained the high expectations of the Demon track & field program, and he was also entrusted with the startup of the Lady Demons' program in 1986.

For 16 consecutive seasons from 1989-2005, the Demons finished in the top half of the men's team standings at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships, including championships in 1993, 1999 and 2002. Additionally, his men's indoor teams won four Southland championships. He owns seven Southland Conference Track & Coach of the Year honors, including a pair of newly-named Johnson Awards in 1999 and 2002.

During his tenure, Johnson has coached 57 All-Americans, nearly 100 NCAA championship qualifiers, numerous national champions and USA Olympians, triple jumpers LaMark Carter (2000 Sydney Games) and Kenta Bell (2004 Athens Games and 2008 Beijing Games). Johnson coached NSU to top-20 finishes in both the NCAA Division I Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

He was the only active coach in the country to have a home meet named in his honor. In 2011, the university rebranded its annual home meet as The Leon Johnson NSU Invitational.

For over 20 years, he has been the driving force behind the annual Louisiana High School Athletic Association Cross Country Championships. Hosted each November on campus, that event brings tens of thousands of people to the community. This year's meet is next Monday and Tuesday.

He has volunteered his time to causes such as Louisiana Special Olympics, the American Heart Association, and the American Cancer Society. Johnson said he plans to continue assisting those causes, the sport in general, and the NSU program.