Jimmy Johnson, recognized as one of the best San Francisco 49ers of all time and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 1994, has died at the age of 86. Johnson passed away on Wednesday night, according to a statement released by the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Prior to the 49ers’ hay days of the 1980s, featuring the trio of Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and coach Bill Walsh, Johnson emerged as not just one of San Francisco’s greatest players but one of the NFL’s elite defensive backs.
“Jimmy Johnson was extraordinarily athletically talented,” Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said in Thursday’s statement. “The 49ers enjoyed the luxury of using him on offense and defense early in his career to fill team needs. Once he settled in at left cornerback, he flourished. The notion that a ‘lockdown’ cornerback could cut the field in half for the opposition was true with Jimmy. Only rarely would other teams’ quarterbacks even look his direction, and more often than not regretted the decision if they challenged him.”
In an outstanding career, that spanned for16-season, playing entirely with the 49ers, Johnson was multidimensional, taking snaps at cornerback, wide receiver and safety from 1961 through 1976, earning five Pro Bowl nods, three first-team All-Pro selections and a coveted spot on the Hall of Fame’s All-Decade Team of the 1970s. His impact on the 49ers is cemented by his status as one of the original members of the franchise’s own Hall of Fame, which opened back in 2009. Also, his No. 37 has been permanently retired by the team since 1977.
Embed from Getty ImagesJohnson accumulated 47 career interceptions in 213 games, with 615 return yards. He also hauled in 40 catches for 690 yards and four touchdowns in two seasons as a wide receiver. At the time of Johnson’s retirement in 1976, no NFL player had put more time in at the defensive back position than him. At that time, Johnson’s 201 games and 198 starts were each the most for a DB in league history.
His interceptions and INT return yards remain second in 49ers history, behind only fellow Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott (51 interceptions, 643 yards).
Born March 31, 1938, in Dallas, Texas, James Earl “Jimmy” Johnson played college ball at UCLA. But Johnson was much more than just a football star for the Bruins, he was also fantastic on the track, though not quite as good as his brother. Johnson won All-American honors and an NCAA 100-meter championship, while his brother, Rafer, took home a gold medal in the decathlon at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.
Selected sixth overall by San Francisco in the 1961 NFL Draft, Johnson made his presence known right away, grabbing five interceptions in 12 games (10 starts). He then played flanker throughout the 1962 campaign, snagging 34 receptions for 627 yards (18.4 yards per catch) and four touchdowns. Johnson’s bread was buttered in the defensive backfield, though, playing safety in 1963 before returning to his natural position of cornerback full time in 1964.
From 1969 through 1972, Johnson went to four consecutive Pro Bowls and was a first-team All-Pro over the last three years of that stretch. Johnson’s All-Pro run coincided with the 49ers’ greatest success during his career, as head coach Dick Nolan’s squads won three straight NFC West titles to begin the 1970s. Unfortunately for Johnson, those were the only seasons of his career that came with playoff appearances, all of them ending with losses to ‘America’s Team’, the Dallas Cowboys.
San Francisco did post a winning record (8-6) in Johnson’s final season, with the cornerback snatching his last interception during a Week 3 win over a new expansion franchise called the Seattle Seahawks. Johnson was 38 years, 179 days old at the time of his final pick, becoming the oldest NFL player at any position to record an interception at the time.
For 16 seasons, Johnson provided the 49ers with consistent greatness.
