Player Storytelling: Johnnie Johnson

to support Diversity, equity and inclusion for all. Welcome Johnny, and there's great to be will you, uh, and thank you very much. Well. I want to first start off with happy be lated birthday. I thank you turned sixty four on October eight Is that correct? Then it's correct. Thank you very much, and uh, it's good to be closer to that senior citizen age. And also because I played with the Rams as well, I keep track of some of the records that are out there. Your records

still is intact. Nine nine yard interception return for a touchdown him all right. And then once I running very first NFL interception in the third game of my NFL career, and when and when I got that thing, the only thing I could think about when I got my hands on it, I just I thought about the back scratch of the phone under meters and I just kept running. Well, that record is still attack, so you did a wonderful job. So we still got the young guys going after your record.

So yes, they gotta go a long ways to break it, though they be shipped because when we introduce our guests, Johnny, we cover what's relevant to our listeners, which include current players and legends. For you, there's a whole lot that's elevant. First of all, you played ten seasons. Your brother is also a legend. Your son, Colin currently plays in Jacksonville.

You've written two books, you have a nonprofit, the Moving Family Foundation, which helps kids and their families when they relocate, and you write a lecture about a wide range of subjects. So there is an incredible amount that you have done and continue to do. My first question to you is this, If you could sum up your thirty year career after

football into one sentence, what would that sentence be, Johnny? Well, we will put here for a higher purpose, and football laid a tremendous platform for me, and that platform have propelled given me an opportunity to propel to perform on the planes that you just described. And UM, that's something that I look to do the rest of my life in terms of making a difference in the lives of the of all the people that I have an opportunity

to come in contact with. I'm thankful for family, UH, and I'm thankful for that opportunity to have the type of impact that we know only family can have UH in society. Today. Let's talk about football first, having your son play football of all positions, Johnny receiver right in the NFL. How are you doing watching Colin play? Well, you've got to be proud, honestly, Um, anytime you watch your son go on. But the fact that he plays wide receiver, you and I b n DBS. I tell

him all the time. I get all up in his grill if if I was playing against him. U. But you know, it's it's it's an honor, and I'm thankful and I wish him the best and and most of all, I just encourage him every day to play every every down and this and meetings and in the games like it's the last play that he ever play in his life.

Tell me, Johnny, you didn't teach your son the receiver in Jacksonville all of our secrets as defensive backs, right, because I don't want the current defensive backs to put a head out on you, all right, tell me you didn't teach him those things. It was the exact opposite. I purposely kept everything hidden from him, knowing that he would have a chance ultimately uh the one day play.

And although I'll watch him and wishing him the best, Uh, boy, is that a It's a tough call when you look and know that it's your son, but you know when each DD is going through when they're coming, not just him, but every wide receiver, uh that they play against. And what was it like watching and play at your el

Mo Mata the University of Texas? Well? What was ironic as my eldest son, uh play running back at Texas at the same time call and did and had Kurt Notton had the injuries that he had and uh, you know, without the pro day and mini camps and the training camps, I do believe he would be in the NFL at this time. So I had a chance to watch him both play in an ironic enuff is my daughter is currently a Texas on the track and field team, So uh,

it was a special treat. First of all, having them all end up going to the same school, that was a surprise, but I was pleased with that. Uh. And like any parents watching their kids, you want the very best for him. But having an opportunity to have that legacy carry on at the University of Texas is something special in the Johnson family. What changes do you see in the NFL now versus when you played on and off the field? Well, Uh, First of all, it's the tackling.

You know, back when I played, and even when you played, I'd be suspect that every every game just by the way, just by by the way we tackle back then. So I think that's one of the the the big differences there. Another, you see a lot more spread formations today, which back in the day they only ran those really in passing situations are on third down, So I think other than that, the primary one being the tackling. Have people ask you why you let your kids play football? Have you got

that question before? Ironic? I do, uh quite often. And I remember one time going to a skate park with my kids when they were very young, maybe seven eight years old, and they had this big old hold in the wall where kids can skate down I don't know ten and some of the tricks that the kids were done on those skateboards scared me a heck of a lot more. And then I've ever seen, you know, on the football field. And when I saw that, I remember saying to myself, I will never ever be fearful of

them playing football. I'm more concerned about them, you know, having an accident on a skateboard or something like that, uh, than playing football. What values have they learned from playing the game. Well, there's a competitive nature that we all are equipped with. And I think when you take the connect competitive nature and you incorporate it into a team environment, one that you can apply in every aspect of life.

You see that there are a number of life skills, character traits, patients, perseverance, resiliency, but most of all teamwork, being able to collaborate. Of course, you and I notice anytime I got in the huddling, Coach called a blitz and I look at the linebacker and I look at that difference a line man, and that the first thing I said to him, get home, need to get home. And and that's just the part of that collaboration that sports teaches you, but football really teaches you because everything

is so interconnected. When you think of how not only defensive backs and linebackers and defensive linemen coordinating work together, think of the coordination between defense and offense, or defense and special teams. So just knowing and have an opportunity to talk to him about what collaboration. Also, another big one that I thought was real interested is the diversity piece.

You know, you've got a big old, big old defensive lineman, medium sized linebackers, and the little guys our size, uh, and we all have to come together and and collaborate for the purpose of achieving the goal of the defense. A lot of your work and the thesis of your first book boils down to ethics. What is your definition of ethics? Well, at the core values, it's believing in

what those values are and values. Uh. If you look at the values and a football on a football team, and you look at values in life, what did they give you the greatest opportunity to be successful? And ethics is at the core of the foundation though basis that gives you an opportunity to be successful in whatever space that you are operating. Man and at the core, ethics and values and things along those lines are gonna be

at the basis of that foundation. How do we, when we're bombarded by conflicting messages in our society, Johnny, reclaim our own ethics to move our best selves forward. That's a great question. Um. There is a higher purpose that we all are pursuing in life, UH, and that should drive us. And in order to reach that, they give

yourself the greatest opportunity to reach it. You know, you're going to run into obstacles and barriers and twists and turns, So you need some basis to make good, sound, affective decisions to keep your own track to achieve in whatever

goals that you've set for yourself. So when you incorporate those ethics and those values into that foundation driven by a higher purpose, it gives you uh an opportunity, regardless of who you are, your age or whatever, to stay on path when you run into obstacles of barriers along the way, and we are guaranteed to run into those no matter who we are, no matter what level we reach. And that's what not only I encourage my kids, I seek to encourage you know, the people that I come

in contact with UH to do the same. And there's one of the things that you and I are so so awareness and and and coming from our sports world. If they're going to be obstacles, they're going to be barriers, UH. And sometimes they come out of nowhere. And you look at what we're dealing with today, from from the pandemic to the social unggress too or whether it be on employment, uh, climate change, I mean, you name it if we and those are just the major items that we're dealing with.

And when you drill down what we deal with every on an everyday basis in our households. Without that foundation, life is challenging. With it, it's still challenging. And you seem like you're sixty or four years old, but you still like you're still learning, like like you're a life alone learner. It's a process. And sports talking me a lot of things, and one of the things that taught me is every day you have to wake up knowing that we have to be better today than yesterday and

better than the margin today. And in order to do that, we've got to be on this constant track being the very best that we can do. That requires the ongoing process of become a more knowledgeable learning same fundamentals, but it is a process that where I feel like I'm learning something every day on just how to communicate, whether it's how to communicate better, how to connect to someone, how to overcome an obstacle our barrier. UH is all

part of that process. Diversity, equity and inclusion are top of mind in this country now, and your book From Athletics to Engineering, Eight Ways to Support Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for All takes this head on. Let's talk about the concept of engineering first. How did engineering connect with athletics for you? It's pretty ironic. Um. Dr Michael Webber is an esteemed mechanical engineering professor at the University of Texas.

Do my coaching organization world class coaches. I have had the pleasure of serving as Dr Webber's personal and business coach for the past thirteen years. So, now, when you think of it, just from UH stereotypical standpoint, why would a farmer NFL player, African American be coaching a white, prominent mechanical engineering professor. You have what is it that

this black man going to teach this prominent individual. So through that relationship, over the years, I've had the pleasure of coaching his energy research group, and so I've gotten to know him really well. And so when we look at what's happened in sports, our position as a defensive back. When I started in high school, it was a predominantly white high school, one dB black and three white dbs started in the secondary. When I got to Texas, there

were two white dbs, two black dbs. Four years later there were one white dB and there were three black uh dbs. When I got to the NFL, there were one white dd in three black dbs, and when I left the NFL, we were all black. And so during that short period, you ask yourself, with all the scruggles that we are dealing with with from equity, UH diversity and inclusion standpoint, why is it that sports had that type of a transition in such a short period of time.

And so I was intrigued by that, and I wanted to be able to just share some of the messages, some of the lessons from a life experience standpoint, But I knew my voice alone wouldn't have the impact if I had a teammate. When Michael and I started talking about it, we started discussing the parallels between engineering and athletics, and it dawned on me. I said, you know what,

here's what's ironic. As a dB. One of the things that I believe made me, gave me an opportunity to be the best that I could be, was I practiced geometry I just needed on the on the run practiced physics every day because that you and I noticed the angles that we take so critically important and so on. The difference is we do that stuff in our head on the run as a football player, where the engineers

are dina with a slide rule. And I thought, if we combine those two, that's a pretty powerful message when we look at that from the standpoint of um seeing how that can improve diversity, equity, and inclusion for all throughout society, because that eliminates a lot of obstacles of barriers when we look at it from that standpoint. It also brings out the intelligence of that the wet right.

But what's ironic is, you know, typically when you look at it from a stereotypical standpoint in general, in society, athletes and particularly black athletes are not always thought to be the smartest guys around, when in reality they may be one of the most smartest around, at least when it comes to taking in practice and geometry and physics and all those things in a in a live setting

where the competition is the best in the world. I mean, name another profession where you have a three on the pound lineman at a hundred ninety pound dB and youre telling me goes two are going to be able to provide the same value on a team. But yet that's what we do. Now, how do we go about making sure everyone has a fair shot at opportunities in America? Well,

it's about opportunity. Um, not everyone is going to be a professional athlete, but everyone can be an executive, or everyone can be a salesperson or whatever profession that they might be in. And so when you look at blind spots, a biases that we may have or that certain people may have against let's say people of color, there are limitations that are placed on us. My mom had a great saying when I was growing up as a kid. She said, God does not place limitations on any of

us either. We place them on ourselves. Are we allow someone else to place them on us? And that makes that makes a lot of sense. So, but when you look at it. We've made tremendous progress in sports in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. I gave the example earlier in the defensive backfield. But if you go in corporate America and you look at the challenges that people of color have seeking to climb the ladder in corporate America, there are still tremendous challenges for many of them.

And when you ask yourself, how do you now break that we've made tremendous progress? How do we break that cycle? And there are skills that we have to continue to develop, but there are relationships and networks that we probably need more to provide opportunities because it's lack of opportunities that usually denies someone from having a shot at a position.

And when I say that, it truly extensive. Sell. If I'm a if I'm a coach, if I'm a general manager, I'm usually going to hire a coach in in football that I feel comfortable with. And so I'm a look in my network or someone close to my network two to hire someone. But if I don't have a capable person who may be of color, because we're not looking for, you know, a box to be checked we're looking at

the qualifications. So opportunities usually are present as a result of who we know, not so much what we know uh when network would may be a part of our certain relationships that will open certain doors. Well, the young players that the current guys using their voice, how do you how do you talk with Colin about using his voice? What do you think about the current generational players using their voices? Well, there there's a higher purpose that needs

to be pursued. And obviously part of that higher purpose, when when we think of liberty and justice for all we just think of what that means, that doesn't mean, you know, if if we just think of uh biases and we think of blind spots that we might have, and so because we all have them, some people unbeknownally are going two do things or say things that are not let's just say that their beliefs, in their habits and their attitudes are not going to be properly aligned

with their desired outcome, even if that outcome is is for the good of all people. So the young people have a chance to voice their opinion in different ways and take action all the way down to voting something as simple as voting, But they really have a chance to create opportunities for others by the steps they take and what they say, what they communicate in, who they communicate with. And I think that's a critical part of

the process of making their voice heard. Was it that's in the area of social justice, whether it's in the area diversity, equity and inclusion. You have these little windows and if they take advantage of those windows, it puts them in a position to be able to make a difference in the lives of a lot of different people. So there's a question where can someone find your book from Athletics to Engineering. So I just got an update

today on that. And the pre sale period is going to start in January, and then we with with COVID and everything. We've had a delay in that with the COVID the pandemic which is affecting all of us UH and then we are going to have the release pushed back till April. But beginning beginning in January, if they go go to Amazon, go online during the pre sale period, they'll be able to get a copy, and I encourage

them to do so. Johnny, let's talk about how the Moving Family is initiative tries to even the skill in our society. You know this we noticed from from our world. Often players, frequently families are disrupted because they have a sudden move. So the Moving Families Initiative, it's at the court. It's mission is to simplify that moving process through a single platform at Moving Families Initiative dot com. But that's

to help simplified the process for the parents. But there's a specific focus on helping the kids deal with the physical and the emotional challenges of changing neighborhoods, school and friends. And the Moving Families Foundation has two primary objectives directly

related to the kids. First of all, every kid ages nineteen younger, male or female, when they move or relocate are aimed by December thirty two is for each one of them to participate in an extracurricular activity of their choice, and each one who goes through the foundation will receive a five dollar extracurricular activity scholarship to pay for their

participation fees. In addition, each high school student so if if they move or relocate with their parents during their high school careers, then they will receive a four thousand dollar college scholarship to any trade school, junior college, community college.

Our full year school anywhere in the country. They will receive a thousand dollars each of their freshman sophomorees in your senior years when they get to college if they go through the Foundation as well, because one of our goals on that front is by December thirty first twenty four is for each of those high school students to have an opportunity to go to a college of their choice.

And this will help them not only with the transition, but help them develop the type of relationships that we believe. These are high school kids that we believe that will provide them uh the next opportunities in life for them. Now, what gave you that target point failers in transition? When I was with the Rams during my seventh year of my NFL career, I had a vision of the coaching process that we use as world class athletes being available

to all sectors of society. I shared that vision with my life coach and he asked me a life changing question. He asked me, how large did I want my plan feel to be? That I wanted to be right, you know, right here in Los Ange, the listen that I wanted to be something larger, And I said, I didn't know. He told me to think about it. Six months later, I came back and said I got it. Like for my plan failed to be the world and from that vision, the company that I leave today, World Class Coaches, was

born as a personal professional and executive organization. And he also suggested that I gained some business experience and some other profession other than football, and I chose real estate sales UH the game that business experience. For the last three years of my NFL career, I did football, so real estate and I was working on the coaching as well. But the ironic thing is observing how many of my

teammates had to move or relocate with families. Initially planted the seed, but when I realized that more than approximately ten million kids ages nineteen and younger move a relocated every year. That's hard. Moving is difficult on anyone, but it's really challenging for kids. I knew that that was a space that I wanted to get involved with and and that ultimately led to the Moving Families Initiative and

the Moving Families Foundation. So your worldwide coaching, your World Class Coaching is their website something so we can go to yes um if you go to World Class Coaches dot com www dot world Class Coaches dot Com. They'll find the coaching aspect of it. And then if you go to moving if you go to www Dot Moving Families Initiative dot com, they'll find all of the information on the Moving Families Initiative and the Moving Families Foundation there. So as we close it out this podcast, I'm getting

I'll do a couple of rapid fires for you. Okay, all right, we want to hear your sage advice and your sage wisdom. Here we go. Best advice for players, current players and legends for creative their best cells thirty years after they end their playing experience. Okay, Um, football is a is not an economic vehicle. It's a It's

a stepping stone. So when you retire from the game, find something you're passionate about, something you believe in, something you can wake up every day and pursue with the same loving passion that you pursue football with, and have that vehicle make a difference not only in your world, but in the world the people that you come in contact with and you serve, and UM life would be in my opinion, uh life provide you with an opportunity to make a difference consistent with the way you have

always made a difference in the game of football. Now you said something, you said, football is not a economic Football is not a football is not your economic vehicle. So when you think of your economic vehicle, this is what you use to meet your financial needs to from a retirement. As great as the money is in football, one day you wake up, you're going to retire. So even if you have a hundred billion dollars in the bank,

you have the rest of your life. And so what is it that that's going to get you out of bed, that's going to cause you to have the same drive, the same motivation that got you out of bed at five o'clock in the morning every day to go to practice and so usually and that's that these these are things right here when you really study elite people who've made a difference in the world, it is something greater from an economic vehicle standpoint, It is something greater than

a game of football. Here's the final question, how do we as a look support each other and even the current players like Colin in our journeys. Great question network it's it's it's about relationships. How can we is someone who's Colin, who's a rookie. How can he and every other young player who went all the way back to kids who are in high school, even kids who are in pop one of the day, what relationships are we

were going to be able to develop? Uh, to be able to provide us with an opportunity, to be able to put us in position to achieve our goals. And a great example is my relationship with Dr Michael Webber. Who would have thought that that relationship not just because I have an opportunity to serve as his coach, but him being a co author in this book and him being instrumental This is a book that I couldn't have

written without him. But who would have thought that a former NFL player who's an executive coach today wouldin up partnering and collaborating with an esteem mechanical engineering professor. Those are the type relationships that I would encourage um all athletes in all sports, but particularly football players, regardless of your age, to start to develop and seek the main

thing and seek to maintain through their careers and their lives. Johnny, this has been great, Thanks for joining us, thanks for listening in, and the best is yet to come. Thank you, always a pleasure get to see you. By the way, this has been the NFL Legends podcast. To provide feedback or request a topic for discussion, email us at NFL Legends at nfl dot com.