Johnson Was Able to Run From Trouble : Football Helped Put Saugus Fullback on the Right Track

When running back Chris Johnson first carried a football at Saugus High, he toppled his own linemen, left cleat marks on defenders, scored touchdowns and then shrugged afterward.

He knew little about football. But it didn’t matter. He was big, strong, tough and determined. He was raw, but he was good.

His first game as a freshman, Johnson fumbled the first time the quarterback handed him the ball. By the final gun, he had three touchdowns and more than 100 yards.

Today, Johnson, a 6-foot-2, 218-pound senior, is the area’s third-leading rusher with 1,233 yards and is on the brink of reaching 3,000 yards in his career. Saugus Coach Jack Bowman has a Division I prospect in his backfield.

“He’s learned how to read blocks and slip tackles,” Bowman said. “Two years ago, he couldn’t read blocks--he couldn’t find holes. He ran over people.”

At 14, Johnson said, he specialized in being tough. He hung around people who ran over innocent people every day.

“A lot of my friends were getting into trouble, destroying a lot of things, stealing off cars, tagging . . . a lot of that stuff,” said Johnson, an occasional participant. “There were seven or eight guys that I hung out with. Now three have dropped out of school already. Two have got kids on the way. And they’re only 17.”

Johnson and two of his wayward friends--Rich Pena and Josh Fullbright--decided near the end of eighth grade they would play freshman football at Saugus. They saw football as an opportunity to change their extracurricular habits, which had become more disturbing to Johnson with each passing day.

Johnson gravitated to Pena, who played Pop Warner football for several years and was a talented running back. As freshmen, Johnson and Pena ran out of the same backfield and both finished the season with more than 1,000 yards.

“I was basically trying to keep up with him the whole season,” Johnson said of Pena. “I looked up to him. I always watched him run the ball, trying to pick things up from him.”

Both took leadership roles on the team, but Pena was the No. 1 guy, Johnson said. He had experience and savvy. But after that season, Pena joined a gang and did not return to football, Johnson said .

“He got kicked out of school,” Johnson said. “He got into too much trouble with tagging and stuff.”

As a “tagger,” Pena had become a graffiti artist.

Fullbright, Johnson’s best friend in the eighth grade, never got the chance to play football.

On June 1, 1990, he was hit by a car near Arroyo Seco Junior High after school. For the next two days, Johnson made several trips to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, but Fullbright never regained consciousness. He died June 3.

“That made me realize there’s too much in life to pass up,” Johnson said. “Josh had a tough home life. His parents were split up. His dad was always gone. Whenever he wasn’t getting in trouble, it seemed like trouble was always around the corner for him.”

Johnson admits he is saddened by the fact that most of his old friends haven’t made the same discoveries as he--that the most important things in life are school, hard work and family.

When it comes to showing support for their only son, Bob and Linda Johnson aren’t bashful. They show for every game and even some practices dressed from head to toe in Saugus football wear.

Chris’ participation in the Saugus football program came as a relief to Bob, who played high school basketball in his native Dollar Bay, Mich., and remains an avid sports fan.

“I was a little bit concerned when he was in junior high,” Bob said. “I was wondering if he’d ever get into sports. I’m a sports fanatic, and he wasn’t the least bit interested.”

Chris dropped out of youth baseball after one season. “He hated it,” Linda said. Team sports bored him.

“I think I’m very independent, actually,” he said. And why not? He was born on Independence Day--July 4, 1975.

He was 9 pounds 7 ounces and 22 inches at birth, and Linda affectionately says that Chris has always been a load. Weighing 180 pounds for his first freshman football game, Chris was like a Brahma bull to the other 14- and 15-year-olds.

“He was out there dragging people with him,” Linda said. “He’s known for that, you know--dragging people while they’ve got him by the knees and ankles.”

Foothill League rival Hart is one of only three teams to have beaten Saugus this year. But even in its convincing 41-21 victory, Hart could only slow Johnson to 163 yards in 25 carries.

“Every time he gets the ball, we got 2-3 guys tackling him,” Hart defensive coordinator Rick Herrington said. “He knows how to find the tiniest opening and get through. When he gets up field, he’s faster than you think.”

It’s safe to say Johnson would have eclipsed the 3,000-yard mark by now, had he not missed 4 1/2 games because of a back injury last season.

Johnson has 2,872 yards with one regular-season game and probably a minimum of one playoff game remaining. He finished with 853 yards and 14 touchdowns last season. He had 786 as a sophomore when he still didn’t know where to run once he got the ball.

“When I first saw him, I knew he was our fullback,” said Bowman, who arrived at Saugus two seasons ago. “Just his tenacity as a sophomore--he was already a very physical character. He’s probably one of the hardest-working kids I’ve seen.

“He benches 350 pounds, and I’m sure--if we concentrated on weight lifting--he’d bench 400. He’s in extraordinary physical condition and he has tremendous courage.

“And now he makes the small moves where you just get a part of him. Believe me, you’ve got to get more than a part of him.”

The grit, determination and some newfound finesse on the football field have not only produced 37 touchdowns for Johnson, it will likely bring a scholarship and a chance to study mechanical engineering.

Johnson has been contacted by every Pacific 10 Conference school and several teams in the Western Athletic and Big West conferences. So far, Washington State and Colorado State have shown the most interest.

“He could be a fullback for a lot of teams,” Bowman said. “He could also be a great, great linebacker. And I think he can play in the Pac-10. He has a tremendous work ethic and he just does things right.”

It wasn’t always that way. And he doesn’t have to look very far to see how he used to be.

“See those guys over there?” Johnson said, pointing to three boys hanging out on campus. “Those are some of my friends. My best friends are still screw-ups.

“I think I’m a lot more mature now.”