How Bessemer AL’s Jace Johnson Landed a Spot on the U.S. World Cup Bobsled Team

By Sym Posey | The Birmingham Times Basketball and bobsledding may not appear to have much in common, but they do in Alabama—for Bessemer’s Jace Johnson. Born and raised in Bessemer, athlete Jace Johnson has landed a spot on the U.S. World Cup Bobsled Team. (Provided) Johnson made a smooth-as-ice transition from the hardwood floor to the frozen track, landing a spot on the U.S. World Cup Bobsled Team. Shifting from basketball to bobsledding was more than just a change in sports for the athlete; it was a change in lifestyle, what he calls “the biggest transition of my life.” Bobsledding [is] the sport of sliding down an ice-covered natural or artificial incline on a four-runner sled, called a bobsled, bobsleigh, or bob, that carries either two or four persons. On a four-person bobsled team, the last person, or the brakeman, operates the brake, controlling skids and stopping the sled. This is Johnson’s position. “It feels like you’re in a trash can rolling down a hill. As a brakeman, I have no control over what is going on,” he said. Comparing bobsledding and basketball, Johnson said the sports are similar because of the “explosiveness” required to succeed. “You have to...