Retired high school baseball coach drowns in private pond

Former Newberry County educator and high school baseball coach, John Linwood Richardson, 82, of Prosperity, was identified as the man whose body was found overnight in a private pond.

“It is suspected that Richardson waded into the pond to secure a dropped fishing rod, lost his balance and fell,” Newberry County Coroner Craig Newton said.

Richardson was reported missing by his family at 11 p.m. Friday night after he failed to return home from an afternoon of fishing, the Newberry County Sheriff’s office said in a news release.

His car was spotted on highway 773 near St. Paul’s Lutheran Church around 11:30 p.m. near the pond where his body was found by a Newberry County dive team early Saturday morning.

Richardson was a well known figure in Newberry County. He had been a baseball coach at Mid-Carolina High School in Prosperity and worked as a special constable with the sheriff’s department.

This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 5:03 PM with the headline "Retired high school baseball coach drowns in private pond."