Photo: Former Brandon Bobcat Tracy Johnson coaches Saskatchewan's 16 and-under girls' team at the Prairie Challenge — exhibition basketball games between Saskatchewan and Manitoba provincial teams — at the Healthy Living Centre on Saturday. BRUCE BUMSTEAD/BRANDON SUN

Tracy Johnson (nee MacLeod) inspired a lot of people as a player with the Brandon University Bobcats women's basketball team in the 1990s and now she's inspiring a new generation.

Johnson suffered one of the most horrific injuries in BU history when she broke the tibia and fibula in her right leg during a game in 1992. The leg eventually had to be amputated, but it didn't stop her from playing. Three months after the amputation, Johnson rejoined the Bobcats to become the first ever player with a prosthetic in Canadian Interuniversity Sport.

The Bobcats, CIS and other universities have named awards after her.

Now 42, a mother of four and living in Warman, Sask., Johnson is teaching both her kids and others the game she loves. She will coach a high school boys' basketball team next season and currently is the bench boss of Saskatchewan's

16-and-under girls' team.

"I love this so much, it's not even funny," said Johnson, who is a substitute teacher and was in Brandon on Saturday for the Prairie Challenge, a series of exhibition games between Saskatchewan and Manitoba's provincial teams. "I spend my life in the gym and with my kids and other kids. I just look forward to this.

"This is my life. Ball is life. It's a commitment, but I just wouldn't change it for the world. I love getting up in the morning, I love going to practice, I love planning practice, I love going to games and seeing the rewards of hard work in practice, but it's about the people."

Although Johnson has an incredible story about overcoming tremendous odds to pursue her passion, it's not a story she tells all that often.

Part of the reason is Johnson doesn't want anything given to her kids — Bailey, 17, Zachary, 15, Ethan, 13, and Gabrielle, nine — because of what their parents have done. She wants to instil an attitude of hard work.

If people ask her about her leg, she'll tell them, but she doesn't go out of her way to let them know.

"I kind of want to let that out on it's own time," she said. "People are going to Google you and the age of social media, there's no excuses. They'll find out soon enough. A lot of that is adjusting and not truly understanding or grasping that I kind of did something really awesome. I think it's the humble nature …

"The girls ask and I tell them. I share it with all the kids I coach because it provides inspiration that when the going gets tough, you can still do it. And when people say we can't. I have a little bag of tricks. People who want to know will find out."

Johnson's passion is basketball is spreading. All of her kids have taken up the sport and she'll have an opportunity to coach Zachary next season.

She's also spread it to the players on Saskatchewan's 16U team, even if it means she has to spend time away from her family. The team will be off to Chicago for a tournament this month before they compete in the Western Canada Summer Games from Aug. 7 to 16 in Wood Buffalo, Alta.

Johnson's team swept Manitoba in its games at the Prairie Challenge, winning 72-67 and 56-41.

She did enjoy her time back in the Wheat City. Johnson had not been in Brandon since 1998 and, while the games took place in the new gymnasium at the Healthy Living Centre, she couldn't help but stick her head in the one in which she used to play.

"It's kind of bittersweet and everything," she said. "Looking at my old gym right now and seeing it brings back a lot of good memories.

"I kind of anticipated more feelings. I didn't know what I was going to think. I thought maybe there would be some panic and what's it going to feel like to see where it all started. It brings me back to basketball, which brings me back to my passion, which brings me full circle almost. Like why do I do this. … It's just nice to be back."

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Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition July 6, 2015