Jimmy Johnson

Did You Know?

• Johnson was the younger brother of Rafer Johnson, winner of the decathlon gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics.
• He attended Kingsburg High School in Kingsburg, Fresno County, California.
• Johnson was born in Dallas and his family moved to central California when he was a boy.

College career

Jimmy Johnson began his college football career at Santa Monica College, suiting up for the Corsairs in 1957 and 1958. He then moved to UCLA, where he played wingback and cornerback for the Bruins, racking up 812 yards from scrimmage across the 1959 and 1960 seasons. Johnson also excelled in track, winning the NCAA 110-meter hurdles title and earning All-American honors. At UCLA, he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity.

Professional career

Johnson was selected by the San Francisco 49ers with the sixth overall pick in the first round of the 1961 NFL draft, and also by the San Diego Chargers in the fourth round of the 1961 AFL draft. He signed with the 49ers in June 1961. As a rookie, he played in 12 games at cornerback, intercepting five passes for a career-high 116 return yards. In 1962 he moved to flanker, catching 34 passes for 626 yards and four touchdowns; his most productive game came against the Detroit Lions with 11 catches for 181 yards, and earlier that season he caught a game-winning 80-yard touchdown reception against the Chicago Bears, then the longest scoring pass in 49ers history.

He returned to defense in 1963 and played principally at cornerback for the rest of his career, appearing in 213 NFL games over 16 seasons. He intercepted 47 passes for 615 return yards and two touchdowns. He was selected four times as a first-team All-Pro (1969–1972) and played in five Pro Bowls (1969–1972, 1974).

Honors

Jimmy Johnson’s No. 37 jersey was retired by the 49ers in 1977 during a Monday night event known as Jimmy Johnson Night at Candlestick Park. A year later, he entered the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame. In 1980, he and Willie Brown were chosen as the starting cornerbacks for the NFL’s 1970s All-Decade Team. Johnson was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1990, the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994. He became a charter member of the San Francisco 49ers Hall of Fame in 2009.