El Camino Badminton/Soccer Coaching Icon John Britton Dies At 70

John Britton, the only women's badminton coach in El Camino College's history in the sport, died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 70 in his hometown of Scotland on April 11.

Britton also coached the Warriors' men's and women's soccer programs for 26 years before retiring from that sport in 2021. 

He directed four consecutive South Coast Conference champion badminton teams from 2002-2005 and guided 2003 state individual singles champion in Minako Akiyama and 2001 state runner-up Phyrun Than. The pair were state doubles runners-up in 2002. 

In 2014, he coached the El Camino men's soccer team to the SCC championship and was named Coach of the Year. He also won three SCC titles in women's soccer in the 1990s, twice helping the Warriors reach the state tournament finals. 

Britton is a member of the ECC Athletics Hall of Fame along with his wife Traci Britton (2000, Badminton) and daughter Jaymie Baquero (2011, Multi-Sport Athlete), who is currently women's soccer coach at Santa Ana College.

A multi-sport athlete himself in soccer, rugby, cricket, water polo, and tennis, Britton played on the 1978-1979 ECC soccer teams. He ended up making his mark as one the United States' greatest badminton doubles players. He won five U.S. national doubles titles and was ranked as high as #8 in the world. 

Known for his great wit and positive nature, Britton battled health adversity as a diabetic and had his leg amputated due to the condition in 2012. He continued with a prosthetic right leg to coach. He was a full-time instructor in ECC's Athletics area for the past 24 years.  

Britton joked often about losing his leg. 

"I could continue my career at (El Camino) as a soccer coach or I could get a job at Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland with my peg leg, but EC paid more," he remarked in a ECC Union school newspaper article in 2013. 

Mike Jacobsen, who succeeded Britton as men's soccer coach in 2018, said in a Union article released this week: "Salt of the earth. That's what this man was. He was just the most kind-hearted, unbelievably funny, caring person and just a perfect coach, instructor at a junior college level."

Release by Robert Lewis, SCC SID