How many wrestlers learn a hip toss from mom? DeAndre' Johnson got his first wrestling move as a young boy while playing with his mother, Angel, and he’s been using it ever since.
“Her favorite move was the hip toss,” Johnson said. “It was because of her that I was successful with that move so much.”
Johnson will be taking that toss to Gaffney, S.C., when he joins the Limestone College wrestling team this fall. The 20-year-old will make the transition from Spartanburg Methodist, a junior college, to the Division II program where he has earned an athletic scholarship.
But Johnson has taken his share of hits on the road to Limestone, and the hardest one came nowhere near a wrestling mat.
In 2008, when Johnson was only in eighth grade, he woke up to police officers explaining his mother had just had a heart attack. Angel survived, but she wasn’t the same. Her mood changed, and she could no longer be the active, athletic mom that taught tossed DeAndre' around the house.
It was difficult for Johnson to deal with not knowing each day how his mother would feel or if he would wake up to bad news again. There was frustration for years, but he finally found an outlet his junior year at Battery Creek High School in Beaufort, S.C.
“I had a whole bunch of, I don’t want to say anger, but it was something built up inside of me and I couldn’t let it go,” Johnson said. “Wrestling was the perfect sport to fall back on. I used my built-up emotion in a positive way.”
He caught on quickly, learning proper techniques and adding moves to his repertoire — along with that classic hip toss, of course.
“When (the hip toss) is available, I always hit it. I don’t just go for it. I try not to force it, but whenever that move is there, I can always sense it.
“I have been feeling how it feels to be in that position basically my whole life.”
While he has enjoyed great success on the mat (he competed in the NJCAA Wrestling National Championships this past season), Johnson is also looking beyond his wrestling career. He hopes to get a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Limestone.
“I chose criminal justice because I wanted to have knowledge of the law and I love learning about stuff like that,” Johnson said. “I could be maybe an attorney. I’m also thinking about going into the Marine Corps. I’ve wanted to go into the Marine Corps and be a military officer, so I’ll have that knowledge.”
Regardless of what path Johnson takes, he won't let whatever adversity comes his way pin him down.
“Everything that has happened, good and bad, has motivated me to do much better in life. It makes me want to push harder even more.”
