Vol Great Bill Johnson Passes Away

#1

CragrockVol

Yert! It's a Cragrock thing!
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#4
#4
Johnson was a gridiron star, playing guard and serving as co-captain of the 1957 squad. That same year, he was chosen as All-SEC and All-American. A stellar collegiate career behind him, Johnson graduated in 1958.

He was a family friend and mentor to many young men in Sparta, TN.

His big smile will be missed.

http://tshf.net/halloffame/johnson-william-m-bill/fbclid=IwAR2D1Wd06hSZ9z2EHhRjdaX5PD5-qiw1cfQppWOriLBwdlo_g5UolLDYHMw
I knew Bill. He was a great person and leader. He contributions and attitude will be missed.
 
#6
#6
Johnson was a gridiron star, playing guard and serving as co-captain of the 1957 squad. That same year, he was chosen as All-SEC and All-American. A stellar collegiate career behind him, Johnson graduated in 1958.

He was a family friend and mentor to many young men in Sparta, TN.

His big smile will be missed.

http://tshf.net/halloffame/johnson-william-m-bill/fbclid=IwAR2D1Wd06hSZ9z2EHhRjdaX5PD5-qiw1cfQppWOriLBwdlo_g5UolLDYHMw
Hate to hear that. It’s odd but I had searched late last week to see if he was still living because my 90’y.o. grandfather (originally from Sparta) asked me to see if he was still living . As I’m sure you knew Mr. Johnson’s father and grandfather ran the bank in Sparta as did Mr. Johnson himself . My grandfather told me a story a long time ago that when Bill was preparing to go to college his father asked him what choice he was leaning towards because he was being recruited by several big time schools. He told his father that he was going to go to play for Coach Dodd @ GT. His father said something like “That’s great son, Coach Dodd is a fine coach and Georgia Tech is a good school “ Then he said .... by the way son , what were you planning to do after you graduate? Mr Johnson said “well I always thought that I would come to work with you at the bank” to which his father replied. Son if that’s the case you may want to reconsider because if we go through the accounts ledger I know that it is full of people that love Tennessee football but to my knowledge there isn’t one single Georgia Tech fan on the books & more to the point I don’t know of any in all of White County”
 
#8
#8
For many years there have been many of us SOB's around. ( Son's of Bankers) Knew Bill from his career. Good bit older than me and doubt he ever knew he was a "member" of our club. Saw him a few time at meetings and once on a trip to Sparta where I had family connections. As I remember Mr. Johnson, he was a very nice man and am sure he will be missed.
 
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#9
#9
Hall of Famer, Obviously a Great Man. Those seem to be in short supply these days. RIP Bill Johnson, TENNESSEE was a better place because of You.
 
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#12
#12
Was he any relation to Bob Johnson, the AA center on the '67-68 teams? Good stories about Bill by the way...
 
#14
#14
Was he any relation to Bob Johnson, the AA center on the '67-68 teams? Good stories about Bill by the way...

Bob was from Cleveland and had 2 brothers also play at Tennessee but I don’t think he was a relative of Bill.
 
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