Terry Johnson; Sportswriter Covered Dodgers

Terry Johnson, a longtime Los Angeles sportswriter who covered the Dodgers for nearly two decades, died Wednesday while driving to Dodger Stadium. He was 50.

LAPD investigators said Johnson had a heart attack or stroke while driving to work as the official scorer for the Dodgers’ game against the San Francisco Giants.

Johnson, who also covered the Angels, Kings, USC and UCLA, was on the Dodger beat in 1981, at the height of Fernandomania, and was one of the few writers who could converse with Mexican native Fernando Valenzuela in Spanish.

While on a road trip in Cincinnati in 1984, Johnson helped save the life of Dodger closer Tom Niedenfuer, who passed out in Johnson’s arms at the team hotel.

Niedenfuer, suffering from a kidney stone, had stopped breathing and had swallowed his tongue. Dodger scout Charlie Metro began performing artificial respiration as Johnson held Niedenfuer’s tongue.

“For what seemed like 100 years,” Johnson wrote, “Niedenfuer didn’t breathe.”

Johnson left his mark on those he covered. “He was a fixture in Los Angeles and particularly in our clubhouse,” Dodger Vice President Derrick Hall said.

Johnson began his career as a baseball writer with the Pasadena Star-News in 1970 before moving to the Daily Breeze in Torrance. He became the sports editor of the Santa Clarita Signal in 1999, then became assistant sports editor of the Antelope Valley Press last year.

Through the Baseball Writers of America he had worked to provide scholarships for young sportswriters.

Johnson is survived by his wife, Vicky, and four children. Services are pending.