R.I.P. John Youngblood

By Elwyn Henderson

The Army of Buckeyes and all of Gilmer lost a good friend and a warrior on Monday, December 15th when John-John Youngblood lost his fight against an aggressive cancer. He fought as hard as he could to beat the dreaded disease until his body could finally fight no longer. While all of us who were good friends of his will miss him, we know he is pain free now and has a perfect body and he is in a much better place.

The Mirror ran a story about his fight last year and got some thoughts from people he had worked with. They all talked about his dedication and hard work and each one talked about how much he meant to them.

We also contacted some of those folks to notify them of John-John’s passing and wanted to share their comments.

Neal McCoy, who John-John worked for several years as his merchandise man, said “Thanks a bunch, Elwyn. He was a fighter for sure!! He will sure be missed.” He also asked for the info on his service when that was set and we got that to him.

Stephen Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, who John-John had worked for in logistics for the past few years, responded with a simple “Very sad.”

Tad Carper, Senior Vice-President/Communications for the Dallas Cowboys, said “Thanks for letting us know, Elwyn. John-John was a wonderful person to get to know and he will be missed! When you know of the arrangements for funeral, etc. could you please pass them along as well? Thank you.”

Scott Agulnek, Director of Football Communications for the Dallas Cowboys, said “This is incredibly sad news. I became good friends with him since he began working with us, and we remained close through his battle. My thoughts are with you and his family. Please keep me posted with any information in regard to a service or anything of the sort. I’m sorry you had to share this.”

John-John and I had been good friends since he was in high school. We kept in touch through the years and communicated frequently after he began his battle, texting weekly for quite a while and we had lunch together a few times when he was up to eating.

Funeral services for John-John were held last Saturday, December 20th at 11 AM at First Baptist Church Gilmer before an almost filled sanctuary. Coach Mike Maddox read the obituary and shared some stories from his family. Country artist Neal McCoy who John-John worked for as merchandise director and part-time percussionist told a couple of stories and then sang Amazing Grace a capella and then Gilmer Buckeye Head Coach and Chapel in the Pines Pastor Alan Metzel brought the main eulogy. It was a touching celebration of John-John’s life.

John-John had become very good friends with Cowboys Quarterback Dak Prescott over the past couple of years and after the Cowboys game against the Los Angeles Chargers game Sunday afternoon the Mirror had a chance to ask Dak for his comments on his friendship and his thoughts on what an amazing man John-John was.

“Any time that I came in contact with him, he was a guy that you just felt his energy and you could see the adversity and struggles that he was fighting but his energy, his aura, his demeanor and his mentality, he never ever asked anybody to feel sorry for him. He never asked anybody to ever do anything for him and I think whenever you’re around people like that it’s contagious and you’re thankful and blessed for every opportunity that you have in life. To see somebody have physical disabilities, you know, and all the things that go along with that and they never have a hiccup and just the way they approach life, it’s inspiring. I know that it was inspiring to me, and I’m sure anybody that met him.”

After we finished visiting with Dak, Mickey Spagnola, who has been covering the Cowboys for many years and now works with DallasCowboys.com came over and said he would like to give his thoughts on John-John and the Mirror was happy to have that opportunity to visit with him.

He said, “Hearing the passing of John-John really broke my heart. We had become friends because of his availability and wanting to participate in our Legends radio shows, and especially up in the Cowboys Club. He was there all of the time and then when he started taking care of the Cowboys bus and I was using the bus to go to Training Camp we got to know each other awfully well. He might be one of the most courageous people I think I’ve ever met. He didn’t let his disability slow him down; it didn’t stop him from doing what he wanted to do. He wanted to travel, be on the bus and be close to the Cowboys and I know he loved that. I loved talking to him too, so what a great guy, like I said, didn’t let his disabilities slow him down. He lived his life to the fullest. The stuff that he did with Neal McCoy was remarkable and Neal’s remarkable for having taken care of John-John. For me, it kind of broke my heart, but knowing that he did all he could and nothing slowed him down.”

John-John, go rest high on that mountain. We grieve for you but know you are rejoicing in glory and have a perfect body free of pain and suffering in Heaven. We will see you soon, friend!