Sneak Peek: Legends & Lore for October 6th

Here's a sneak peek at this week's edition of Sooner Legends & Lore. Oklahoma football stat extraordinaire Mike Brooks highlights some of the legends and lore associated with Sooner football in his weekly O-Zone column.

Johnson & Johnson & Johnson...
In the 97-games played between Oklahoma and Texas, only once has a player run a kickoff return for a touchdown. Monford "Hap" Johnson did the trick in 1914 with a 75-yard return for the Sooners' only score in a 32-7 defeat. However, that play wasn't old "Hap's" only contribution to Sooner history. In fact, it was just the beginning.

The following year in the Texas game, "Hap" scored both Sooner TD's and led OU to a 14-13 victory over the Longhorns.

"Hap" also had three brothers who played for the Sooners. They included older brother Neil, was a Sooner letterman in 1913-14, and younger brothers Graham (lettered in 1916-17) and Eddie Johnson (who was a four-year letterman in 1921, '22, '23,and '24). Eddie joined Hap in the OU record book in 1923 with a 94-yard interception return for a touchdown in a 12-0 victory against Oklahoma A&M (later Oklahoma State).

Monford "Hap" Johnson also had a son play for the Sooners in 1941. Monford T. Johnson Jr. played at Amarillo High School and was a member of the 1940 Texas High School Championship team. He followed his Dad and uncles to Norman the following Autumn to play football for the Sooners.

When America entered World War II following Pearl Harbor, Monford Jr. joined the Navy and served the nation with distinction. Monford did not get another chance to play college football but he also had a son who would later have the opportunity to play football at any college in the country.

Monford T. Johnson III, "Monty", was a blue-chip player at Amarillo Tascosa High School in 1967. Dave Campbell's "Texas Football Magazine" described Johnson as a quadruple-threat, who could run, pass, punt and handle placement with equal skill. His coach, R.M. Patterson, in the same article was quoted as saying, "We have been blessed with fine quarterback's in the past but Monty will be the best of all."

With his Dad, Grandfather, and three great Uncles all OU letterwinners, you would have thought that Monty would have been a lock to be a Sooner. But it didn't look to be the case.

Johnson broke hearts all across the Sooner Nation in 1967 by signing with rival Texas. "I was a little rebellious at the time and I really like Darrell Royal," Johnson would remember. "He was personable and I respected him a great deal"

Even though he was a key member of an undefeated freshman team at Texas his first year, Johnson wasn't happy in Austin and wanted a change.

After the spring semester of his freshman year, Monty left the University of Texas. He left on good terms with Coach Royal and the Longhorn staff but he felt it was the right thing for him to do.

"I was burnt out, I came to the point that I didn't want to play football anymore," recalled Johnson. "I just wanted to go to school and that I wanted to go to OU."

Monty Johnson, the highly coveted QB with the great all-round game, came to Norman and moved -- not into the athletic dorm -- but the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house.

"When I got to school at OU I'd thought that my football playing career was over for good," said Johnson. "But when I got to watch the OU-Texas game in Dallas, I got the fever to play again."

Coach Chuck Fairbanks had heard that the former All-Star quarterback was attending school and Johnson recalls Fairbanks making a trip to the fraternity house to visit with him. "He was willing to give me a chance and he made me feel truly excited about joining the team," Johnson would later remember.

In the spring of 1969, Monty Johnson became a third generation Sooner. "It was great fun but it so was tough on me. I had gained weight during the year I was off and I weighed 218 pounds. The Coaches wanted me at 185."

During the five weeks of spring practice, Johnson lost the weight, and gained the starting free safety spot including the punting chores.

Johnson started all 22 games of his Sooner career and gained All-Big 8 recognition his senior year in 1970. Johnson led the Sooners in interceptions in both 1969 and 1970. He also held the OU record for defensive backs for tackles with 100 in the 1970 season -- a record that was not broken until 1996 when Gana Joseph had 105 tackles.

Monford T. "Monty" Johnson III had a career his great Sooner family could be proud of. Certainly, no Sooner family has been more intetwined with OU-Texas history as the Johnson's.

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Legend Born Against Texas
Marcus Dupree's 63-yard run in the 1982 OU-Texas classic was the start of one of the greatest string of games for a running back in Sooner history. Dupree, who was regarded as the top high school player in the nation after his senior year at Philadelphia High School in Philadelphia, Mississippi, initially got off to a slow start with the Sooners...

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Sneak Peek: Legends & Lore for October 6th

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