Being a professor at New Mexico State University has been as memorable as playing in the NFL with legends like John David Crow, Ken Gray and Jackie Smith forBig Spring native Charley Johnson.

How so? The students he teaches and the players he played against and with have something in common. “The kids are great. They have to be tough to decide to get a degree in chemical engineering,” Johnson said. “I don’t say that because I am. It’s true. It’s a hard curriculum.”

Johnson’s playing days as a standout quarterback in the NFL, at New Mexico State and at Big Spring High School are behind him, but he has something to look forward to after the holidays. Johnson will be inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame on Feb. 7, 2011 in Waco, adding another accolade to a career that’s come full circle. Johnson starred for three teams in his 15-year NFL career — the St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Oilers and Denver Broncos. Before that, he was rewriting record books at New Mexico State as the Aggies’ signal caller.

And it all started in Big Spring. Being inducted hasn’t really soaked in yet for Johnson, but it brings back memories of his time here in Big Spring and of his playing career. At Big Spring High School in the mid-50s, it would have been hard to foreshadow how Johnson’s career was going to turn out. Johnson didn’t start at quarterback until his senior season and he wasn’t heavily recruited because of run-first offense used at the time. He earned a scholarship to play at Schreiner Institute, but the school dropped the football program after one season. To go from that to the NFL is remarkable in itself, but Johnson said his time in Big Spring allowed him to build the foundation to succeed in football. “I think probably one of the best things that happened to me was in ‘53 when the Steers went all the way to the state championship game,” he said. “I got moved up to the varsity to go to the playoffs and I actually got to play almost a whole quarter in the first game. Then I got to play almost a whole quarter in the second game. Those really helped my confidence.”

Getting into New Mexico State from Schreiner happened almost unexpectedly for Johnson, too. As a multi-sport star, Johnson actually went to NMSU on a basketball scholarship, by way of being noticed at a basketball tournament at Howard College. Johnson had to walk on at New Mexico State for football and he earned the starting job under a coach who opened the passing game. He started every game for the next three seasons as the Aggies’ quarterback, leading them to wins over North Texas and Utah State in the Sun Bowl in 1958 and 1959, respectively. He was the MVP in both of those bowl games. “Going undefeated my senior year was big,” Johnson said. “I think we were the first team to win 11 games in one season — certainly here at New Mexico State. But back-to-back wins in the Sun Bowl was really, really memorable.”

Gaining a career in the Army was also of high importance to Johnson. He juggled that and the NFL during his professional football career. Playing for the Cardinals, Johnson said he did his two years of service in 1967 and 1968 and the team was supportive in his efforts, flying him in for games. Johnson was stationed in Fort Sill, Okla., as an artillery officer, avoiding the Vietnam War at the time because of knee operations. Before this, his active duty was delayed so he could attend graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis. He also served at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

Johnson entered the NFL at the right time, too. He said television got involved in the sport, making it more popular. As a result, salaries started growing larger, but not big until the mid-70s, at an average of $50,000 to $60,000. It was a different NFL compared to what most are used to today. Johnson said everyone had an off-season job because football salaries usually were not enough at the time. That’s certainly far from the salaries and contracts in today’s league, but Johnson is glad things have changed for today’s professional football players. “I’m happy as heck for them,” he said. “I wish they would include some of the older guys in some of their retirement benefits, but that’ll be slow in coming. It grew really fast in the 70s and 80s, but it had just gone out of sight in ‘95 and ‘96. “For a guy to be able to sign a contract with five or six million dollars guaranteed, it’s just awesome.”
Johnson may be remembered more as a Bronco in the NFL than any other team. Johnson said his time in Houston was tough, going through a number of surgeries and being on the brink of retiring in 1972. But a trade to Denver turned things around. He was somewhat healthy, the Broncos started winning and Johnson had a lot of talent around him at quarterback. It was then when Johnson enjoyed football the most in the NFL. In 15 years in the NFL, Johnson threw for more than 24,000 yards and 170 touchdowns, winning more than 60 percent of the games he played in.
He was selected to the Denver Broncos’ Ring of Honor after his retirement, the retirement being something his family was happy about. “Everybody was so thrilled when he was traded to Houston and expected so much from him,” Dorothy Johnson, Charley’s mother said. “Of course he got hurt right away. One of the games that I saw, they were playing the Chicago Bears. I don’t know what happened, but you could see blood flowing and they took him out. But it wasn’t long until he was back in there. “Things like that really get to you. I guess his wife and I were happiest when he finally decided to

Dorothy said seeing Charley get recognized in the Texas Sports Hall of Fame is a long time coming. Getting recognized in his home state put a smile on her face. “I just thought, well it’s about time,” Dorothy said. “That’s pretty crude and unjustified maybe, but he was recognized everywhere else before he was recognized in his own state, where he was born and started his career. In a way you can kind of understand it because his fame occurred in St. Louis and Virginia and New Mexico.”

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