A LOOK AT RAIDER, RAM OPPONENTS : Vance Johnson Wears Many Hats and a Helmet

Vance Johnson was on the phone--but which Vance Johnson?

There’s a Vance Johnson who plays wide receiver for the Denver Broncos and writes bye-bye on the heels of his shoes to show to defensive backs.

Could he be any relation to the Vance Johnson who paints?

Same guy.

And wasn’t there a Vance Johnson who almost made the Olympic team? And which one collects pricey cars as if they were house plants?

Meet the many faces of Vance Edward Johnson, at least one of which will confront the Raiders at the Coliseum Sunday. Look fast, though, because he won’t be here long. Where football is concerned, he’s just passing through.

Johnson is only 24 but he has so many things to do that he’s trying do it all before he’s 25. He can’t make up his mind which he would like to do most.

“Everything!” he said. “I like to do everything. I can never stand still. I never stay in one place. I feel like this dream of mine of being in the NFL is going to go away, so I want to take advantage of it. There is nothing I won’t do.”

THE PLAYER Johnson, a second-round draft choice from the University of Arizona in 1985, is the Broncos’ leading receiver with 27 catches and 5 touchdowns in 6 games this season.

Last Monday night he scored when one of John Elway’s passes deflected off a defender into his hands in the end zone.

“A tip ball,” he said. “My goal has been to make a touchdown every game, and I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time for that one.”

Lucky? Maybe. But it was no accident. The rapid-fire scenario is less improvised than it looks. Elway runs around until he finds an open receiver, and the opponents are left with their tongues hanging out.

“We’re looking for the open area because we know John can throw anywhere on the field,” Johnson said. “The best thing to do is try to get the cornerback in a bad position where he can’t intercept the ball, then just find an open spot. We do it in practice all the time. That’s why we do it so well in the game.”

Johnson caught 51 passes as a rookie but only 31 last season, when he injured a knee in the opener against the Raiders and missed four games. He doesn’t worry about the knee. He’s even returning kickoffs again.

“I love it,” he said. “When I came into the league, I knew I’d be on special teams, and I thought with the kickoff and punt returns I’d have my best chance of making it to the Pro Bowl.”

THE WILD AND CRAZY GUY Last Monday, Johnson and another wide receiver, Mark Jackson, wrote bye-bye on the heels of their shoes--a subtle taunt at the Bear defenders.

“I like to be creative and give the DBs something to think about during the game,” Johnson said.

“We do something different every week, but we know the Raiders have fast defensive backs, so it would be kind of embarrassing if we put bye-bye on there and then got caught by one of those guys, so we’ll put on something else.”

Beginning to get the idea that we’re not dealing with a shrinking violet here? Johnson was in his element at the Super Bowl last January.

“Going to the Super Bowl, I thought the way I could really get myself known around the country was to be flamboyant and sort of crazy--just let people know the kind of person Vance was.

“It got a little boring after a while because I wanted to hurry up and play the game, but I had some good press and I had a great game. If we’d have won, I’m sure I would have been MVP because I had 6 catches and over 100 yards (121, including a 47-yard touchdown catch) in receptions.”

Johnson doesn’t just own a car or cars. He has a motor pool.

“I’ve had everything from a Ferrari to a truck,” he said. “I got rid of the Ferrari not too long ago. I want to get a bigger house, and I’m settling down a little now. I’m not as crazy as I used to be.

“I’ve had one Ferrari, a 911 turbo Porsche, a 911 Porsche, a 944 Porsche. I have an ’87 white Corvette now, a ’62 white Corvette, an ’87 Ford Bronco, an ’87 Blazer and the 911 turbo Porsche.

“I keep the trucks for the snow and I drive the other ones when it’s a nice day outside.”

He hopes to trade most of his fleet in for a $151,000 special set of wheels he’s had his eye on.

“Then I’ll get rid of everything else except for a truck.”

The recent strike didn’t slow Johnson down much.

“I was on MTV in New York,” he said. “I was a guest veejay for five hours. (Seattle linebacker Brian) Bosworth came on after me, (Giant receiver Phil) McConkey, Walter Payton--we all went on there.”

THE OLYMPIAN Johnson won the long jump title in the 1982 National Collegiate Athletic Assn. meet with a leap of 26 feet 11 1/2 inches. Two years later, he just missed the third spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

“It was less than a quarter of an inch,” he said. “It broke my heart when I wasn’t able to represent the United States in the Olympics.

“In ‘88, if my amateur status is reinstated, I’ll go out. But I’m not going to court and spend all my money (to do it).”

The Seoul Olympics are scheduled Sept. 17 through Oct. 2, so should the International Olympic Committee permit pro football players such as Johnson and the Rams’ Ron Brown to compete, as has been indicated, they would miss the first three or four games of the regular season.

“I don’t think (the Broncos) would want me to do it--and I really haven’t spoken to them about it,” Johnson said. “I just want to wait and see what happens.”

THE ARTIST Johnson majored in commercial art at Arizona and has had several exhibits around Denver.

“I’m starting to do football players now,” he said. “I just came out yesterday, giving away some posters. I have a few sponsors to get the printing done and had a free giveaway to see what the response was. Everyone loved them, so I wish I’d have sold them instead of giving them away.

“I sell quite a bit of my artwork. I paint women’s faces and football players. There’s been a real big demand here in Colorado for my work.”

Johnson originals have sold for between $2,000 and $6,000, poster prints for $35.

“I’ve probably made up to about 40 or 50 thousand dollars in half a year. I want to fall back on that after my career is over.”

THE LONER Johnson understands that the cost of notoriety is his privacy.

“That’s already happened here,” he said from Denver. “I was thinking about that the other day, whether I want to pay the price of being well known and not being able to go anywhere. But I think I can deal with it.

“I’m a loner, basically. I don’t go out and party. I like to be at home and just paint. That’s the image I want to portray, and it’s a good one for the kids, especially, so they can look up to a guy that is wild and crazy and has a lot of fun but isn’t dealing with drugs or anything like that and can just have a natural high.”

Sometimes he is hard to corner for an interview because he’s so much on the move, but once pinned down is an open and willing talker.

“I feel like this is a phase in my life, and I’m using it to open up other doors, especially in the art avenue,” he said.

“I’m not going to be here forever. I’m only in my third year in the league now, and it’s going really fast. So I’m just enjoying it while it’s here.”