No. 30
Michigan
"Almost a throw-in when the Giants obtained defensive tackle Jim Kanicki from Cleveland, Ron Johnson became an instant star for his new team. It was quite a year for the Johnson family as Ron's baseball-playing brother Alex won the American League batting crown and Ron broke the Giants' season rushing record with 1,027 yards, second best in the league. In addition, Ron led the league in pass catching for part of the season and finished eighth with 48 receptions. His combined rushing-receiving yardage, 1,514, topped the NFC
The 23-year-old former Michigan All-American isn't sprinter-fast, but he has the knack of finding holes and, once in the open, his deceptive moves and acceleration make him tough to catch.
At Cleveland he was Leroy Kelly's understudy. Last year, ironically, Ron outgained the great (and injured) Kelly by nearly 400 yards- and the feeling is that Johnson will get better with more experience."
-Brenda Zanger, Pro Football 1971
"Johnson led the Giants in a number of departments in his first season at Yankee Stadium after coming to New York from Cleveland with Jim Kanicki for Homer Jones. He was the team's leading rusher- and second behind Washington's Larry Brown in the entire NFL- with a total of 1,027 yards, and an average of 3.9. He was second on the team in pass receptions, gaining an average of 10.1 yards a catch. Johnson also led the team in kickoff returns, running back five for an average of 28 yards a return. He was second on the club in scoring to place-kicker Pete Gogolak with 12 touchdowns, scoring eight by running and four by receiving.
He broke Tommy Harmon's rushing record at Michigan. He was the Browns' No. 1 draft choice and rushed 17 times for 118 yards in the Browns' first game of 1969. Afterwards, Johnson played in the shadow of Leroy Kelly and was considered expendable by Cleveland in the Browns' eagerness to get deep receiver Jones. That could turn out to be a costly Browns' mistake as Ron shows signs of being an All-Pro.
He is the younger brother of Alex Johnson, the American League's batting champion. He is considering a career in stocks and bonds."
-John Devaney, The Complete Handbook of Pro Football (1971 Edition)
"The second-leading rusher in the NFL in 1970, Ron broke the Giants' all-time rushing record by becoming the first player in their history to top the 1000-yard mark in one season. Traded to the Giants for the 1970 season, he had a 68-yard touchdown run for his longest gainer last year.
Ron was a real record-breaker while earning All-America honors at Michigan. He rushed for 2,440 yards in three seasons to break Tom Harmon's mark. He also set an NCAA single-game high with 347 yards rushing against Wisconsin. Ron owns seven other Big Ten rushing offensive records, made All-Big Ten twice, was Michigan's MVP in 1967 and 1968 and was the Big Ten MVP in 1968.
Cleveland's first draft pick in 1969, he broke in with a bang as he rushed 17 times for 118 yards in the Browns' opener against the Eagles. Ron's brother Alex was the American League batting champ in 1970."
-1971 Topps No. 51
RON JOHNSON: "I WAS NEVER BEST IN ANYTHING"
"Ron Johnson has no special formula for success- unless it is that he never allows himself to forget that it is not far from Yankee Stadium to the bare ghetto streets of Detroit.
No, not far in miles ... or in time ... or in a sense of being.
Ron Johnson, just 23 years old, is already a celebrity in his chosen profession, a record-breaking running back with the New York Giants, an All-Pro after just two seasons in the NFL, a young man of wealth and substance and bearing, articulate, respected, admired.
This instant success, however, has not turned Ron's head. He continually reminds himself that he was one of the 'lucky ones' and that, were it not for the help and guidance of many fine people, he might never have stepped on the road that led him from those Detroit streets to the campus of the U. of Michigan and thence to Cleveland and New York as a professional.
'I can't forget,' he says, 'that I was never the best in anything as a youngster. There was always someone bigger and faster and stronger. Some guys deserved just as much as I got but they weren't as lucky.'
Ron stops for a moment and lets his memory drift back to his days at Northwestern High School in the Motor City. The names come to him in swift succession, some like hollow echos.
'Have ever heard of Billy Esters or Alfonzo Gibson or Johnny Hawkins?' he asks.
'They mean nothing to you, right? But to me, they were the greatest athletes I've ever been associated with. Esters was a fabulous running back; he could have played in the NFL any day. And Gibson- well, he broke all of Willie Horton's batting records in school. And there were a lot of others, too, all great athletes. Why didn't these fellows go as far as I did? Maybe, as I said, they just weren't as lucky. And maybe- well, if you've had experience with the ghetto, you know what you need to break away.'
Young Ron Johnson, like any kid from the street world, needed love and direction. He got it from his parents, from the strength of family unity, and he got it from his high school coaches, Don Fears and Van Jenkins.
'My father quit school in the fourth grade to help support his family,' says Ron. 'He took pride in our achievements because he had to re-live his younger years through his children. This always motivated me. Knowing that I was bringing such joy to my father, who worked from dawn to dusk to give me the opportunities he never had, I simply could not fail ... because then I would not only be failing myself but also my father and mother.'
Johnson received moral strength from his home. From Fears, he learned all about football. ('He helped develop me physically and give me confidence in my athletic ability.') From Jenkins, he learned to be a better person. ('He taught me character.')
Although Ron was an all-state player at Northwestern High, he confesses that he did not enter Michigan with a 'can't-miss' label.
'I was a second-team freshman back until the fellow ahead of me- a good friend, by the way- fouled up by missing practice. They moved me up and I finally got a chance to play. As a soph, though, I was back on the bench. I guess I was what you would call an 'obscure reserve.' '
Luck even played a part in Johnson's career prior to his junior year. 'They were of making me a defensive back,' he recalls. 'But the guy who was to replace me as a running back hurt his knee, so they left me in the backfield.'
Then, modestly, Ron adds:
'That should give you an idea that they didn't exactly consider me the most dangerous running back at Michigan. If that fellow hadn't banged up his knee, they might never have heard about Ron Johnson in New York.'
But they did hear about Johnson- and long before he arrived in Yankee Stadium. Given the chance to flash his speed and power at Michigan, he proceeded to rush for 2,440 yards during his career, erasing the legendary Tommy Harmon's mark, and also set an NCAA record with a Herculean 347-yard rushing effort against Wisconsin. All told, Ron established seven Big Ten offensive marks and was Big Ten MVP in 1968 along with his almost unanimous designation as an All-American.
Despite these credentials, many professional scouts apparently underestimated Johnson's ability. Nineteen clubs passed on him in the draft before the Cleveland Browns made him their No. 1 choice for the 1969 NFL season.
'Yes,' remarked former Browns' coach Blanton Collier, 'Johnson fooled a lot of people in our league. He's a total football player.'
Ron almost didn't sign with Cleveland in the first place. He and his agent, Arthur Morse, were deadlocked in their salary negotiations with owner Art Modell, a siege that lasted 189 days, and it was resolved only when Ron dismissed Morse and negotiated his own contract.
'Mr. Morse is a fine man,' Ron says, 'and his main concern for me was from a monetary point of view. But I was more concerned with playing football at that time. The Browns had to go up a little and I had to come down a little but we finally settled it.'
When he signed, Johnson offered this self-appraisal"
'I have never been one of those super-athletes, those fellows who starred in four sports. In high school, I played only two years of baseball and football, and at Michigan I really only had one great year. When I was a kid and they asked, 'What are you going to be, banker, lawyer, Indian chief?' I never said I was going to be a pro football player. Frankly, I didn't think I'd ever be good enough. But now that I've got the chance, I think I can play regularly.'
Since the Browns were loaded with such top running backs as All-Pro Leroy Kelly, Bo Scott, Reece Morrison and Charlie Harraway (since traded), the opportunity to become a regular did not immediately present itself. But when he got his big chance subbing for the injured Kelly against Philadelphia, the 205-pound rookie responded with a two-touchdown performance that included 118 yards on 17 carries, two acrobatic pass receptions and some old-time Cleveland blocking.
At one point in this game, with a fourth and two situation, Johnson said, 'Okay, give me the ball. I'll make it.'
Johnson earned a starting job with that performance but was relegated to reserve status later in the season. Still, he finished with 472 yards on 137 carries for a 3.7 average and seven touchdowns.
Ron's career took another sudden and dramatic turn after the 1969 season. He was traded to the New York Giants, along with defensive tackle Jim Kanicki and linebacker Wayne Meylan, for receiver Homer Jones. It was a deal that was to elevate Johnson to All-Pro stature in his second NFL season while at the same time elevating the Giants to a 9-5 record and almost into the NFC's playoffs ahead of Dallas.
'The good thing about being traded to the Giants,' recalls Ron, 'was that I knew I would be a starter. They needed help in the backfield, and I was going to get my chance to prove I really belonged.'
Prove it he did with 1,027 yards on 263 carries (the first Giant to surpass 1,000 yards in a season), 12 touchdowns, 48 receptions for 487 yards, a 3.9 per carry average and- well, you name it. Ron was a whirlwind who swept into Yankee Stadium on flying cleats and transformed the Giant attack into a potent, yard-gouging machine that put together an amazing six-game victory skein in mid-season. His combination run-reception yardage of 1,514 was the highest in the entire NFL. Four times Ron's swift ground thrusts accounted for more than 100 yards in a single afternoon. His 142-yard performance on 18 tries against Philadelphia was the second best day of the year, behind Larry Brown's 28-for-146 for Washington- and had not an 87-yard touchdown run been nullified by a penalty, he would have himself a 229-yard day.
After Ron racked up 140 yards on 20 carries against the vaunted and supposedly impregnable Dallas Doomsday Defense, quarterback Fran Tarkenton was quick to remark:
'Ron Johnson is the best halfback in football today. He catches passes, he can block and he runs inside as well as outside. He makes our offense go.'
Similar praise, some of it grudging, was heard up and down the league. Ron Johnson made a legion of believers in his second pro season. While the great Kelly floundered in Cleveland, the victim of injuries, his one-time sub tore apart the NFL week after week, a lightning thrust to the inside here, a darting sweep to the outside there. He was a tireless performer, a fine blocker, a great team player.
'He was,' says coach Alex Webster with genuine admiration, 'everything we could hope for.'
Yes, it was a truly fine season and undoubtedly there are many more to come; Ron Johnson is only a youngster with his best years ahead of him in professional football. His horizons are unlimited.
And yet Ron's sense of self-achievement and success is ever tempered by the stark realization that he was one of the 'lucky ones' from those ghetto streets. 'Sometimes I get really depressed,' he admits, 'when I think of all the things that fell in my favor and all the guys who were better than me (at least I thought they were) who didn't get the breaks.
'Of course, I'm not saying that all you need are breaks because you also have to be able to capitalize on a break when you get one. This is where talent and the proper mental attitude comes into play. What I'm trying to say is that talent isn't always the measure of success. You need some luck.'
Ron pauses again.
'I had the luck. Some of those guys back on the street didn't. It could just as easily have been one of them, maybe Billy Esters, playing for the Giants today- and nobody would have heard of Ron Johnson.' "
-1971 New York Giants Official Yearbook
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