Some sad news today for those followers of Washington Prep Football. Washington lost one of it's greatest Full Backs of all time with the passing of Jackson High School's Johnie Kirton. The "J-Train" as he was often referred to was found deceased. His body was found at 11 p.m. Monday at his hotel room after his girlfriend could not reach him, according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News. A police official was quoted as saying no crime appears to have been committed.
He had led the San Jose Sabre Cats to a victory scoring a touchdown late in the game Saturday Night.
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| John Kirton took his power running game to UDub and then went on to the Arena League after setting records at Jackson High School in Washington. |
The Washington Huskies do what the Huskies do best and that is protect their boarders and keep the Evergreen State’s best talent at home. The Dawgs picked up the verbal commitment of running back/linebacker John Kirton (6-3, 248, 4.6) from Mill Creek (Wash.) Jackson.
The Huskies want him to report to camp at about 235 pounds. The UW brass has huge plans for Kirton. They want him to be the big powerful tailback that the Huskies haven’t had since Corey Dillon.
Kirton is a tremendous athlete who came into the season as one of the state’s top linebacker prospects and ended up as the state’s best running prospect in a long a time.
The Dawgs get a player who came up one yard short of the State of Washington’s single season rushing record. Kirton rushed for 2,675 yards and 34 touchdowns.
Ironically Kirton played in one less game and four times this season, he didn’t play in the second half.
The opposition that he played against was impressed too.
Get a load of what one opposing coach said about Kirton.
“Athletes like Kirton are simply not normal,” Edmunds (Wash.) Woodway head coach John Gradwohl said. “Backs like Kirton only come around once every twenty years.”
“The only player that I can compare him to is (former KC Chief great) Christian Okoye,” Gradwohl said. “Kirton’s size, speed and moves make him that way.”
Washington wins the services of Kirton over offers from Oregon and Washington State. He also had interest from Oregon State, UCLA, Cal, Michigan and Nebraska.
This get harkens back to the day when Washington was landing the top talent in the northwest and competing for national championships.
northwestprepreport
May 30, 2012 at 7:21 am
Johnie was a fine young man who was full of spirit, respect, and kindness. He was such a respectful young man who was full of laughter and happiness to those around him. We had the joy to meet him at our sons arena football games and he always had a respectful and happy manner about him when he spoke with us. I know from my family he will be missed and our heart and prayers go out to his family especially his little girl we will keep them in our prayers.
Respectfully and sincerely from
The Davila Family
Jacqueline Riekena
May 31, 2012 at 3:14 am
#37 – I watched him score the winning touch down in OT on Saturday night. It was a late game and I will always remember Johnny. He was 1 yard shy of being the all time leading rusher for Washington, but accumulated so many accolades over the years. He had a productive AFL career and was respected by all opponents. The J-Train will be missed in this league, but surely will playing on a higher playing field now. God Bless!