Bio

After losing the majority of his original senior campaign in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gavin Johns returned for the 2021 season and earned Man of the Year accolades while providing unheralded leadership both for the baseball team and the athletic department as a whole.

A transfer from UCLA in 2019, Johns made his three years in Cookeville count, particularly with his involvement in the community and on campus. He served as a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Leadership Team and the Center of Diversity Education (C.O.D.E.) while participating as a mentor and coach in Putnam County Youth Baseball.

Johns volunteered in many avenues, including organizing a holiday gear drive donation for kids in need, helping feed the homeless every week during the 2021 season, assisting with Samaritans Purse's cleanup efforts after the tornado that ravage through Putnam County in 2020, and several other opportunities around the community.

In the classroom, Johns earned a 3.8 GPA on his way to earning a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies in December 2019. He followed it up with a perfect 4.0 mark while acquiring his master's in professional studies with an emphasis in strategic leadership in May 2021. The Temecula, Calif. native was a six-time member of the Athletic Director's Honor Roll, a two-time member of the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll, and a one-time winner of the OVC Medal of Honor. 

In three seasons on the diamond, he posted a .275 batting average with 45 runs, 95 hits, 20 doubles, nine home runs, and 57 RBI. Johns proved to be an unselfish player, willing to plug in wherever needed and playing as many as six different positions during his career.

With the honor, Johns became the sixth member of the Golden Eagle baseball team to earn Tech's Man of the Year Award, joining a group including Ben Holt (1993), Mike Kinney (1994), Thomas Nelson (2008), Tristan Archer (2013), and Trevor Putzig (2018).